Page 93 of Pucked Up

It was odd thinking of him as a friend, but something had shifted. “You can’t call me that on the ice,” I warned him.

He grinned and winked at Boden. “Whatever you say.”

Micah reached out for me, and I took his hand. “I’m sorry I wasn’t there last night,” he said. “I felt like a complete fucking jackass after I realized why you needed a friend.”

I squeezed his fingers. “I wasn’t alone. And it looks like you both had fun.”

“Don’t tell us about the porn you watched,” Boden warned.

Micah let me go and held up his hands in surrender, his cane hanging off his wrist by the strap. “No porn. We binge-watched all the Dragon Training movies.”

“How To Train Your Dragon,” Ford clarified.

I had no idea what they were talking about, but they all looked happy, so it didn’t matter.

“I didn’t jizz in your sheets, I promise,” Micah added. “But I have a feeling you can’t say the same thing.”

“We respected your bed,” Boden said, his smile a little wider. He turned to me, then grabbed me by the front and tugged me into a kiss.

“Oh shit, they’re kissing,” Ford told Micah. “Oh my God, it’s so intense. He’s using tongue. I think he’s hard?—”

“Shut the fuck up!” Boden said, pulling away to smack Ford. “Do me a favor and FaceTime Tucker.”

Ford looked delighted. “Two seconds.” He tapped his screen, and then I heard the noise of the call ringing.

“Hey, babe! Deo, Ford’s FaceTiming me. You missed me, huh?”

“Yeah. It’s been torture. You would not fucking believe what I have to put up with.”

Micah leaned over and smooshed his cheek next to Ford’s. “It makes me wish I had eyes so I could claw them out. The smacking. The slurping. That wet mac-and-cheese sound? It’s too much.”

“Uh…what thefuck?” Tucker asked.

Before I could react, Boden yanked me into another kiss—deeper and messier than the one before. I knew it was for show, but it was so easy to lose myself in him. I wrapped my hand around the back of his neck and tilted his head, kissing him the way I liked—the way he loved. He moaned against my mouth.

“Fuck off. Fuck all the way off, come back around, then fuck off again! Do you see this, babe?”

“They look happy,” Amedeo said softly.

Those words snapped me out of it, and I broke the kiss, holding Boden close as I turned my gaze to the phone. Tucker and Amedeo were smiling at us both. “I am happy.”

Tucker rolled his eyes. “I can’tbelieveyou. This is some romance novel–level bullshit.”

“Says the man who drunk married the love of his life in Vegas,” Boden shot back, flipping him off.

Tucker burst into laughter. “So this is real, right? It’s a thing? We don’t have to pretend that you two don’t have giant emotional boners for each other anymore?”

“Putain. Was I really that obvious?”

Tucker grimaced. “Sorry to say, Coach, but yeah. You were.”

After a beat, I shrugged and lifted Boden’s knuckles to my lips, kissing them. “I can live with the shame.”

“Gross! Boo! Shame! Fine!” Tucker called.

“A hundred dollars fine for that sappy-ass shit!” Ford added.

“A thousand. He can afford it,” Micah added in.

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