Page 69 of Pucking Grey

I nod. “I bet Addie knows someone who colors hair. Do you think I should for the party?”

“On a whim?” she questions.

“Yeah. I’ve been talking about it for far too long. I think I have the time to do it today because we’ll arrive early.” I pass my phone to her. “Text Baddie Addie and ask if she can book me an appointment to color my hair.”

I notice Crew is looking over Sydney’s shoulder at my phone.

He asks, “Have you talked to Grey?”

I shake my head. “Not since last night.”

“So, you didn’t know he went to McGregor’s party?”

My eyes dart to his.

“What?” I ask. My heart plummets into my stomach. It’s swimming around as I envision him at McGregors. He went to a party last night after our text messages? Those awkward texts about our deal being done? Oh, no. I need Crew to tell me right now. “What happened?”

Crew breaks eye contact with me to look out of the window now. Wrong freaking answer, buddy. I adjust the mirror so that I’m only seeing him. “Crew,” I scold. “Tell me right now.”

He sighs. “Fucking Grey! I can’t believe–”

“What is it?” I interrupt. My heart is in my throat. “Just tell me.”

Sydney puts her book down to stare at Crew.

He lifts his hands up. “I saw him coming downstairs with Poppy.”

I bite my cheek by accident, gripping the steering wheel. The image overtakes my mind, and it’s all I see. Him and Poppy. Of course, that’s his go-to. He asked if the deal was off just so he could go fuck Poppy. Is he fucking serious? I ask, “You saw him with Poppy upstairs?”

Crew nods. “I was staring right at him, and I could see the guilt when he stared back. Poppy didn’t come down right away, but I’m assuming because of… you know.”

I imagine that bastard fucking Poppy upstairs during the party last night, and my blood boils. When I grab my phone from Sydney, she says, “Maddie, don’t text him.”

“I’m going to call him,” I scoff.

She reaches for my phone. “Don’t.” She grabs it from my palm and puts it in her car door.

“I’m sorry you had to find out this way,” Crew says from the backseat. I’m reminded that everyone thinks I’m in a relationship with Grey. Sydney is right. I can’t just call Grey right now. I fix my mirror to focus back on the drive and remove my sight of Crew as much as possible. But it’s impossible with his height.

I mutter, “You guys all warned me. I should have expected it.”

“Guys like that don’t change, Mads. They’re selfish. You shouldn’t date hockey players, just like Ryan warned you. They’re hot-headed, impulsive, and you deserve better.”

Sydney nods. “You do deserve better.”

“Two hockey players in a row caught cheating. I think I’ve learned my lesson here,” I admit.

Crew sits in my view of the mirror now and reassures me, “We’ll have fun tonight.”

I nod. “Yeah. And don’t tell Ryan, okay. He knows I’m with Greyson, and I don’t know how I’m going to handle this yet.”

Crew fixates on me again. “You don’t know how you’re going to handle it? He cheated on you. You expect us to act like nothing is happening?”

I shrug because I don’t know. I glance at Sydney because she knows the secret. If I was catching feelings for Grey, that’s on me. I need to hold up on my end of the bargain, which is helping Grey with his reputation. I know it seems so silly, but Grey is the only reason Matt hasn’t persuaded me back into his life. In fact, if Matt knows about this, I might be in big trouble.

“Yeah,” I answer. “Should be as easy as that, okay?”

He widens his eyes at me, but I don’t know what else to say.

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