Page 52 of The Worst Kind of Promise
“Yep.” Faye positions herself in front of Fulton, grabbing his hands and bringing them to the curves of her sides, then sliding them all the way down to rest just inches above her ass. “Doggy, right?”
I like to think of myself as a sensible person. Level-headed. Reasonable. But I’ve never, in my entire life, felt anger this intense. Not when I was punted three consecutive times into the plexiglass during a game. Not when I missed the winning shot. Not when I was cussed out on the ice. Not when my nose was broken during a subsequent fight.
“Faye…” I warn, those stupid, green-eyed monsters sending my stomach into a nauseous upset, every muscle in my body constricting with a barely checked rage. My hands—which I’m envisioning cutting off Fulton’s circulation—knot into fists.
Fulton freezes like one of those fainting goats. “I feel like I’m intruding on something,” he murmurs.
Faye and I speak at the same time.
“You’re not,” she says.
“Yes, you are,” I snarl loudly, stepping an inch closer, staring down at the panicked expression on his face from the five inches I hold over him. If Fulton doesn’t get his hands off Faye in the next three seconds, I’m going to break his wrists so badly that he’ll never be able to hold a hockey stick again.
“Yeah…I’m…just…” And then, at a speed I’ve never seen before, Fulton slips out of the tense circle, sprinting toward Gage to evade my reign of wrath.
First smart decision he’s made.
Smugly, I feel the agitated ripple in my belly smooth out, and once my thoughts disembark from the rotating carousel of violence and vengeance, I turn to Faye with a triumphant grin.
“I’m not doing this,” Faye snaps, planting her hands on her hips.
“You either talk to me, or you get on your hands and knees.”
I was going to ask her politely, but after that stunt she just pulled, now we both have a reason to be mad. All I’m asking is for her to hear me out. Why is she making this so hard? I made a mistake. People deserve second chances, don’t they?
“I have nothing to say to you.”
“Then I guess we’re doing this the hard way.”
Faye slinks closer to me, twirling the ends of the bow in her hair, giving me a heart-stopping dose of bedroom eyes. “Thiswon’t be hard at all. Because I don’t feel anything for you anymore.”
Fuck.That hurt a lot more than I thought it would. And I deserve it after the way I treated her. The rest of the guys seem to be too engrossed in their own positions to notice the dispute taking place between us, and I doubt that Fulton will think anything of the war he almost got pulled into. It’s none of his business.
Faye does as I say, perking her ass up in the air as her breasts spill over her top, the arch of her spine plucking my resolve wire thin. Despite the conflicted emotions inside me, my erection is far from conflicted. It’s overtly obvious that I still feeleverythingfor her.
And suddenly, pretending to take her from behind seems like a terrible idea. I need to chill the fuck out. I need to jump into a cold lake. I need to be tranquilized. I need to jump into a cold lake while I’m tranquilized, and then slowly drown because that’ll be less painful.
I situate myself behind her, trying to adjust my crotch so she can’t feel the prod of my not-so-limp dick against her thigh. Then I wrap my fist discreetly around her hair ribbon, tugging ever so slightly. “Five minutes, Faye. That’s all I’m asking for,” I whisper.
She turns her head back slightly, still at the mercy of my hand. “Sorry. I’ll be booked for the foreseeable future. I don’t have time to talk to people whoclearlydon’t care about me.”
My voice is rusty when it comes out. “I…”
A sudden onrush of hoots and hollers lightens the heaviness of our conversation, and I withdraw my hand from Faye’s hair upon the stares of my teammates—and her brother.
“Oh, and Kit,” she purrs under her breath, keeping her jaw angled toward me but her eyes lowered in disdain. “Yourkeysare poking me.”
20
NEVER READ THE YELP REVIEWS
FAYE
When Aeris and Lila asked me to accompany them on a girls’ day out, it sounded like a great idea, especially since I’ve been imprisoned in a house full of hockey jocks and testosterone. But in hindsight, sitting in a poorly ventilated restaurant with sweat dripping down my back and Kit’s nagging words ringing in my mind, maybe a homemade peanut butter and jelly sandwich would’ve sufficed. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy that I get to spend time with them. I just wish the circumstances were a bit better.
I know they heard about my slip-up at the party. Everyone and their mother have heard about it by now. And yes, Hayes stuck by his promise to keep me locked in my room for the time being—aside from Gage’sbrilliantdrinking game. Luckily, Kit’s rarely set foot in his room after that night. It’s a good thing I didn’t catch him, or I would’ve thrown a lamp at him.
I can’t get over the things he said to me. He’s just a person. He’s just a guy who’s not entirely hideous and who has a knack for putting pucks into nets. He’s not special, so I don’t know why I let him have so much power over me. I was incensed at first, and even more so when he tried to talk to me during the game, but now I’m just drained.
