Page 33 of Game Changer

He hadn’t noticed Jeremy skate up beside him, “Where’s the fire?” he asked. When AJ ignored him, he continued. “Bet you can’t light the lamp against Duzzi,” Jeremy teased as he skated towards the pile of pucks that had just been dumped at center ice.

“What’s the bet?”

“You’ll wash my car.”

“And if I light it up, you’ll wash mine?”

“I’ll pay for your dinner with Lisa tonight.”

“How the hell do you know I’m having–” he paused, “Chelsea?”

Jeremy nodded, “Deal?”

“Grub’s on Captain Jer tonight!”

***

“I can’t believe you scored on Duzzi.”

“I know, you’ve said that about twelve times since we left the rink,” AJ grinned.

“Twice, though?”

“Must be my lucky day.”

As soon as he’d stepped out of the rink, AJ began to feel anxious.

What were you thinking? Asking her out on a date. In PUBLIC. You idiot. People here know that you’re married. You’re supposed to be with Britt. You can’t go out to dinner with someone who turns you into a babbling idiot.

You’ll just have to keep your distance.He snorted out loud and Jeremy cast him a concerned look.

AJ shook his head in an ‘it’s fine’ dismissal and went back to the battle in his mind.

You think you can keep your hands to yourself? From the moment you laid eyes on that girl you’ve wanted to bed her. There’s no way you can pretend she’s just your friend… and let’s not forget she came a LONG way to see you.

Shit.

Can I cancel? I can’t cancel, can I?

No. You can’t cancel. What about changing location? Somewhere more private, perhaps.

Great idea.

By this time, they’d arrived at Jeremy’s apartment.

“I could have walked home if I’d known we were going to spend the drive in complete silence. What’s on your mind?”

“Lisa. I don’t know how I’m going to pretend to be anything other than madly in love with her at dinner tonight. You couldn’t have hauled all your gear home, either. We have a lot of crap, but you always seem to have the most crap out of everyone. What the hell do you have in here?” he asked as he pulled a hockey bag out of the trunk.

“Hair products. You think I stay this pretty by chance?”

AJ laughed and shook his head.

“Try not to worry too much about tonight, Pim. It’ll all fall into place.”

***

Two-thirty, I have to go get her at five-thirty. How the hell am I going to fix this?

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