Page 78 of No Pucks

“How come we’re allowed to drink in here?” I ask, thinking I’d read somewhere about strict rules at sex clubs.

“We’re watching a show, not participating. Calm down.”

I mutter under my breath about rules and needing to know the etiquette.

She laughs. “You are such…”

“If you say stick in the mud...” I glare.

“I was going to say type A, but sure, we’ll go with stick in the mud.”

I huff and change the subject. “Tell me why you’re getting out of a date you were going to take to a club.”

“Because it got weird today.”

Our drinks come out, and I don’t pick mine up right away. “Another doctor?”

“I don’t want to talk about me. Why did you need to come out tonight?”

“That’s not fair.” I spin my glass on the table. “This is a friendship. It’s a back and forth, and if I’m just the one complaining?—”

She cuts me off. “Yes, a doctor, but she’s too young for me—and a resident.”

“A resident?”

“Not my resident.” She holds up a finger. “But I need to date outside of work. My cold feet are me, not her. But I spend too much time in that building to date outside it.”

“Well, I can tell you going after someone you work with isn’t a good idea either.”

“Trouble in paradise? You’ve been so busy getting dicked down, I was wondering when you’d come up for air.”

I roll my eyes and bring my glass to my lips. “Not trouble exactly.”

“Then why do you need a distraction?”

“Because he’s out with the team.”

“Ah, you’re remembering your time here.”

I lift my shoulders and nod. There’s no denying anything to Krista. She witnessed it. “A bit.”

“Hasn’t this been going on for months? Do you think he’d drop you so easily?” She rests both her elbows on the table, leaning forward.

I look at the ceiling. “Yes, but seeing each other regularly doesn’t mean anything. We’ve never said we won’t see other people.”

“This hasn’t come up before?” she asks.

“We haven’t spent much time apart since it became regular.” I avoid her eyes, knowing there will be questions there I don’t want to answer.

She whistles. “Damn, Ice Daddy. That much time together? It sounds serious.”

“Will you stop using that name?” I say under my breath, looking around to make sure no one is close enough to hear.

“I’m going to be using it for the rest of our friendship,” she says gleefully.

“I’d say I’ll stop talking to you, but we both know I don’t have any other friends, and I’m too much of an asshole to make new ones.”

“You mean you’re too busy being balls deep…”

---