Page 14 of Confessions of a Former Puck Bunny

Lindsay:How about meet me at the library in, like, thirty? Same table as last time?

Obviously I’d rather meet here, where we could kick back and have a more intimate setting, but she was still erecting boundaries, and I’d try to respect them until I could get her to change her mind.

Me:See you then.

I slammed the shake and headed for the shower. When I came out a few minutes later, Dane scrutinized me from his spot on the couch.

He spoke around a bite of eggs. “Are you going somewhere?”

“Yeah, Mom. I am.”

“But you never go anywhere on game days. You watch game film and do your stoic thing.”

“I’m doing it somewhere else today.”

“Is a certain editor going to be there?” he asked. I didn’t answer, and he took that and ran with it. “Bro, I’m impressed. I never thought she’d let her grudge against the hockey team go. You know that’s why Whitney started at the paper in the first place? Lindsay wanted her to make us look bad.”

I’d heard something about it, but I hadn’t paid much attention—I usually stayed as far away as I could from drama. The only reason I went into the newspaper office was because Hudson asked for my help, and he didn’t ask for help often. But that visit marked the first time in a long time I was interested in anything outside of hockey, the gym, and classes.

Dane set his empty plate on the coffee table. “I’m not telling you that to make you change your mind. Just…be careful. She might have ulterior motives.”

“Yes, I’m sure she avoided me for a solid month as part of some grand scheme to take us all down.”

Dane shrugged. “Hey, I’m just saying. In case you didn’t notice, I tried to help you anyway.”

“I appreciate that. And just when I almost gave up on you as wingman, too.”

“The Shakespeare thing was Megan, really. I had to make her swear not to offer Lindsay math tutoring help so you’d have a better chance, and she said she’d only do it because it was you.”

The door swung open, and speak of the devil, in came Megan—Dane’s pregame ritual was vastly different from mine. His prep started about an hour before the game, and the rest of the time he just lived his life as usual. Sometimes I thought he should focus more, and sometimes I wished I could be more like that.

I thanked Megan for her help the night of the play and followed it up by asking for a favor. “If I can talk Lindsay into coming to the game, can you save her a spot next to you and the other girls?” I liked the idea of looking up and seeing her in the stands. Of having her there after the game.

“Sure. She and Whitney are sort of friends, I think, and I had a good time the other night.”

“Thanks.” With that my time was up, so I hopped in my car and headed to the library. So I wouldn’t totally throw off my game prep, I ran plays in my head.

By the time I made it to the tutoring center, Lindsay was already there. Jeremy was talking to her, leaning over her as he pointed at problems in her textbook, and a surge of jealousy twisted through me.

He’s just helping her,I told myself before I got carried away and growled at him.Which was good—I wanted her to pass her class. I just wanted to be the one to help her do it.

He better be focused on the fucking math.I didn’t like the way he was smiling at her as he explained it, or how close he thought he needed to be to do it.

I sat down on the other side of Lindsay and shot him a tight smile edged with enough threat that he straightened.

“Well, I’ll, uh, let Ryder take over,” he said as he backed away. “But if you need any help, I’m usually around.”

You won’t be after I break your scrawny neck.

I turned my full attention to Lindsay, scooting even closer than Jeremy had been. “Hey.”

She bit her lip and smiled. “Hey.”

“Thinking of replacing me?” I asked it lightly, but suddenly I wanted to know the answer, and there was nothing light about it.

She glanced at him and lowered her voice. “I have no idea what he was saying. Five minutes in I zoned out and just kept nodding. If I didn’t have you here to help me get ready for the quiz, now would be the moment I’d start having a panic attack.”

I placed my hand on her knee and gave it a squeeze. “Good thing I’m here now, then.”

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