Page 50 of The Puckable Playbook

She looks fucking fantastic.

I move in front of them, and Clark sees me first. If it’s possible, his face gets even more sour.

“Hey!” Len says, throwing her arms around me.

I squeeze her, closing my eyes as I do. She backs away. “Mmm, you smell good.”

I cock my head, taking her in. Her unfocused eyes and the way she laughs staring into her drink give her away.

Oh, here we go.“Been drinking a little, have you?”

She lifts her shoulders, but it’s an exaggerated motion, and I can’t help but chuckle. “Hey, this is Adam.”

“Hey, Adam. I know you.” She opens her arms, and the fucker smirks at me as he hugs her. He’ll pay for that in practice once I get my ass back out on the ice.

“This is Clark,” Len announces. “He’s the editor for the newspaper.”

I grin, noticing she didn’t introduce him as her boyfriend or her date.

“Hey, Clark.” Adam shakes his hand, and I have to hide a snicker when Clark’s eyes widen. The big lug is squeezing the hell out of him.

“We should get a seat,” I say. “No sense in being wallflowers.”

“Clark said they were all gross.”

“Well, that’s half the fun.” Turning, I roll my eyes. Too gross to sit? Why’d they even come? On the way to the seating area, I grab a waitress and motion toward a free booth that will fit all of us. “Can we spray this down?”

“Sure thing, handsome.”

She wipes both the table and the booth, then stands there as we sit. “Can I get a drink order?”

“Beer for me. Whatever you got on tap.”

“Same,” Adam says.

“I’ll have another one of these,” Len says, pointing to her cup.

“Is that the Bubble special?”

“I think so.”

Clark asks for a rum and coke.

When she walks away, I wrap my arm around the back of the half-circle booth that happens to also go around Len. “Have you guys danced?”

Len slurps up the rest of her drink. “Nope.”

Let me guess, the floor is unsanitary, too?

“Where are your friends?”

“No one else could make it,” Clark answers.

Yeah, I bet. If there ever was anyone else going.

“Have they dropped the first Bubbles yet?”

“Nope,” Len says, and I swear to God, she’s so cute like this. Unreserved. “I can’t wait, though.”

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