Page 5 of Forbidden Puck
Ilya grinned. “Yes. Same wayyousaw Beau Bradford's right hook coming right for your eye.”
The boys in the row ahead of us went “ooooh!”
“Can't stand that Bradford prick,” Lance said as he repositioned his ice bag. “Can you fuckin' believe he sucker-punched me?”
I chuckled. “What did you expect? You were cracking jokes about sleeping with his wife. You gotta expect a response like that from a guy like him. You joke about a guy's family, the code says he has a right to lash out.”
Lance patted my shoulder. “Well, thanks for standing up for me anyway, Radar. I can always count on you.”
After Bradford sucker punched Lance, I rushed in and grabbed a hold of him. The two of us squared off and threw bombs at each other. Beau's a big kid and a tough customer, but I'm no pushover, either. We fought to a draw until the refs broke the fight up.
That's myrole out on the ice—police the code of the game. When things get too heated on the ice, I step in to calm the tensions—and sometimes, I have to let my fists do the talking. But most importantly, I have to make sure that no one takes any liberties on Lance. Because you haveto protect your star if you want to go far in this league.
“Just doing my job, bud,” I replied.
Shea made small talk while he dealt another hand. “So, after that road trip, it'll be good to be back home, eh? Anyone got plans?”
He was met by a few grunts and grumbles.
“Nobody?” Shea asked with a shrug. The cards kept coming. “Hey Radar, Lance, how's that new condo of yours?”
“It's nice,” I said. “We're in Charlestown, right downtown, close to all the bars.”
“So when are you two gonna have the team over to your condo for a little house-warming?”
I shot Lance a look. “Actually, we should have the boys over soon. But the place is still so empty. We need to hire someone to furnish it or something.”
“Yeah,” Lance agreed with a frown. But then something dawned on him. “Wait a minute. My little sister! Ella. She's an interior decorator and shelovesfashion and design and furniture and all that bullshit. I'll ask her right now.” He whipped out his phone and started tapping away. “And hey, I put her through college, so I figure she owes me one.”
“As long as you gents are getting along at home,” Shea said as an aside. “That's all I care about. Because the last thing this team needs is to be torn apart by somedissues.”
“Dissues?” Ilya asked. “What is this word?”
“It's slang. It means 'dish issues,'” Shea told the Russian. “Like when someone doesn't clean up after themselves in the sink.” He lowered his voice. “And I'm betting that Lance is the slob.”
Lance rolled his eyes. “Yeah, I'm a slob, so what? Radar wakes me up in the middle of the night, so it all evens out in the end.”
Ilya joked, with his infamous shit-eating grin, “Ihateit when you wake up freezing, because your lover stole the bed sheets from you.”
He earned a few snickers from around the plane.
“Now don't go bringing your sick wank fantasies into this, Ilya,” Lance countered. “Anyway,no,Radar didn't steal the comforter from me … but maybe that's what his lady friends are always screaming about!”
Towards the front of the plane, my teammates' heads suddenly popped into the aisle, and every last set of eyeballs was focused right on me.
Oh, for God's sake.Ever since Lance and I moved in, he's been spoiling these guys with the details of my love life. I felt an embarrassed heat rising in my cheeks.
“Another notch in the belt, eh Radar?”someone called from the front of the plane.
“Notch in the belt? Don't you mean, pair of panties for the panty-box?”someone else replied.
And then everyone exploded into laughter with that last one.
“Shutup,” I roared back at them. And then I mumbled quietly to the poker table, “I never should've told them about that.”
“You didn't tell them about your panty collection,” Lance said with a glint in his eye. “Idid.”
“Right. Thanks for reminding me, dickhead. I'm trying to forget for your sake …”
