Page 66 of Pucking Grey

She laughs. “Yeah. Why does it matter?”

Seeing her mock me really hits a nerve. “Because this means he’s probably going to go find someone to hook up with, and I can’t have that because Matt will flock over to me once he finds out.”

She glares at me, and I feel like crawling into a hole. “Is this about Matt, or is it about Grey?”

I shrug. “I don’t know! Both!”

“See… you like him,” she teases, and I drop my shoulders to look up at the ceiling. I blow air into my cheeks, and she pops them for me. “Just admit that you like him, and I will help you.”

“I must if I get a hint of jealousy on my tongue when I think about him hooking up with someone.”

She smiles. “Okay. You’re out of the denial phase. Let the real fun begin.”

“Hardy har,” I roll my eyes. “What am I supposed to text him?”

“Tell him your eyebrows are bad because they are.”

It’s been a few minutes since I sent that last text, and I’m wondering what the hell is taking so long for her to reply. I can’t bear to wait any longer, so now that I know she won’t be coming to my place tonight, I’m off the hook.

When I walk back into the man cave, I shout, “I’m a free bird, boys!”

Knox glances over at me with concerned eyes.

Ace stands up to shake my hand. “Let’s go to that party.”

“Yeah, let’s go.”

I check my phone. Maddie texted me a minute ago.

Maddie: My brow lady really screwed up my eyebrows

Okay, cool excuse.I turn off my phone screen, shove it in my pocket and follow Ace up the stairs.

Knox hollers, “What’s going on with Madison Wilder?”

“She’s not coming back,” I answer.

When Knox is out of sight, Ace says to me, “I know you like this girl, dude. You might have to rubberneck it if you want to keep her. But I know you’re not that kind of guy.”

“Bro, her excuse is Sydney. We both know that girl can hold her own and then she mentioned some bullshit about her eyebrows. I’m good to go. Let’s fucking party like old times.”

Chapter 19

The party at McGregor’s doesn’t fucking disappoint. Kegs in the backyard, a jacuzzi bubbling, and a mix of people from campus – not just hockey players.

Ace, Knox, and I make our way through the house, greeting a few people we know. We end up drinking a few more beers and talking with McGregor about our last game.

Poppy and her friend, Emma, appear in the conversation out of nowhere. And Poppy is touching my shoulders as the conversation continues. Her eyes are surrounded by gray powder when I look into them.

She says, “Where’s Maddie?”

I drink from my beer, glancing down at my hands. Normally, I like it when Poppy is all over me, but right now, I’m not feeling it.

“I knew she wouldn’t last,” Poppy says, leaning on me.

My eyes dart to Ace who’s staring at Poppy. And then he looks at me. I slightly shake my head to tell him to stop thinking what he’s thinking. I know he finds her attractive. He’s always egging me on to hook up with her. I think in some weird way, he’s happy that I’m scoring when he knows Poppy is fucking obsessed with me and won’t give him the time of day. When she tries to sit on my lap, I’m so fucking turned off by this woman throwing herself at me that I stand up and grab her by the wrist. She’s drunk, but so am I. She waggles her eyebrows at the group as I drag her through the crowd. I glance back to look at Ace, he’s just drinking his cup and minding his business. He probably thinks I’m taking her to a bedroom to fuck because that’s what I normally do, but I’m trying to get her alone in a quiet room so that I don’t have to reject her in front of everyone.

Her hands crawl on my shoulders as I tug her into an empty bedroom and shut the door. When she tries to kiss me, I look at the ceiling. With my height, she can’t reach my lips.

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