Page 138 of Puck Me Secretly

Oh Max!

I squeezed his hand. “I’m sorry.”

He sat so quiet before he spoke. “When I was five, she dropped me off to live with Ronny.”

“Ronny told me that.”

“I was a terrible kid.”

“Max, you were five.”

He shrugged. “She couldn’t handle me.”

“She was the mom.”

His serious eyes held mine. “She came back when I was 12. Things were going well. I had friends, I was doing good in school, and I excelled at hockey. I lived for hockey. But she wasn’t back two days before she demanded I quit playing. In the heat of a huge fight, she told me about her assault.”

My eyes filled with tears.

“Our relationship wasn’t good. I wanted to be a good son, but I couldn’t give up hockey for her.”

“Max, no one should ask you to give up hockey.”

“When I was 15, I got offered a scholarship to go to hockey school. She told me that if I went, she’d never forgive me.”

I could hear the emotion in his voice and it made me want to weep.

“I’m glad you went,” my voice sounded fierce.

He leaned over and wiped a tear off my cheek. “Are you crying for me?”

“Yes.”

He pulled me over so I straddled his lap. His two thumbs wiped the tears off my face. “I never want you to worry about Lolita, okay?”

“Okay.”

“She’s only a friend.”

I stared into his concerned eyes. “That’s why you’re helping her, because she’s like your mom.”

“In part. And because no one deserves what happened to her.”

I touched the butterfly bandage on his forehead and then traced my fingers over his lips. “You are an amazing man, Max Logan.”

His kiss covered my mouth. I moaned and then I felt him lift me up. He carried me through the kitchen and then lay me down on the bed.

“I want it to be different this time,” he lay down beside me.

I rolled over to face him. “How so?”

“I want to savor you.”

“Okay, but let’s hurry to the good parts.”

His smile spread over his face. “The good parts?”

“You know what I mean.”

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