Page 44 of Body Check
Okay, I’m really not, but I can learn how to be. I can do anything with the right motivation.
I finish my homefries while I listen to the chatter around me, and that's growth right there. I stop with my fork halfway to my mouth when I hear Mickey say the words, “They’re married. And it’s legit, too. You should see the video Ollie posted right after he and Fallon tied the knot.”
“Ollie and Fallon got married?” I ask because apparently I give a shit about people’s social lives now. It's not even that so much as the fact that I don’t believe for a second that what Mickey’s saying is true. Fallon‘s constantly annoyed by our over-exuberant captain, and besides, I watched him walk into the bar to find her around midnight. How in the hell could they have gotten married in the last ten hours?
Oh, right. Vegas.
“You’ve got to be shitting us. Fallon doesn’t even like to be in the same room with him, so there’s no way she married him.” Jesus. I’ve only lived with these guys for a little over a month, but now I’m gossiping just like they do.
“This has nothing to do with you—” Mickey starts, glancing at me. “You never shut up about how you don’t need this team, well, we don’t need you either, so get the fuck out of Ollie’s business.”
I get why he’s pissed, but I am genuinely curious to know if the rumor is true. That alone should have me worrying. MaybeI’m coming down with something. Either way, when Hainesy cues up the video and passes his phone around, I reach for it.
And Mickey reaches out to stop me.
So, I duck my arm low to bypass his.
And when he tries to slap my arm away, we clash, knocking Blue’s full plate of food right into Mickey’s lap.
I watch it happen in slow motion. All the syrup and butter and powdered sugar and greasy onions and peppers slop right onto the front of his sweats. The food’s probably cold by now, and that only seems to make it worse. I genuinely feel bad for the guy until he turns his fury on me.
“You fucking asshole,” he grinds out, keeping his volume low. “You’ve always got to start shit. You can’t fucking help yourself. If I’m anywhere near you, you go out of your damn way to piss me off.”
“I didn’t—” I start, but he cuts me off.
“Just leave me the fuck alone,” Mickey grits out. “I’m serious. We wear the same uniform, but that’s it. I don’t want to talk to you, to see you, to even know you fucking exist unless we’re on the ice.”
“It was an accident. I was reaching?—”
I watch as his shoulders tense and his hands ball into fists. Is he really going to take a swing at me right now? Just when I think he might, JT puts a calming hand on his shoulder as he ushers Mickey out to get cleaned up.
When I turn my attention back to the table, a couple guys are glaring at me, and my bestie is too busy puking his guts up to be of any help.
Fuck.
At least half the people at this table think I spilled Blue’s plate onto Mickey’s lap intentionally.
One thing is abundantly clear: I don’t have their trust, so there’s no way in hell these guys are going to be happy when they find out that I’m with Bridgette.
Maybe I should sayifinstead ofwhen, because even though it really was a mistake, I doubt today’s little breakfast debacle will earn me any points with Bridgette.
18
Dutton
“What are you doing here?” I ask when I see Bridgette leaving my place just as I’m getting home. My words come out unnecessarily grumpy, even for me, but we’ve been together for two months now, and she’s only been at the hockey house one time, and that was for a pool party a couple weeks ago.
“I came to drop off Bran’s meds. He always forgets to pick them up at the pharmacy,” she says, tucking her hair behind her ear as her eyes dart around the empty porch and driveway.
“Nobody’s out here,” I tell her. It’s a damn good thing my hands are full of hockey gear right now, because I’m so damn tempted to reach for her. It kills me that she was here tonight, but not to see me. It sucks that when I see her on campus, I have to pretend I don’t know her. And it fucking blows that when Ollie’s mooning over his wife or JT’s getting all sappy about his fiancée, I have to stay quiet and pretend I’m a hapless single putz like the rest of the guys. Or worse, like I’m joining them in their never-ending quest for meaningless hookups.
“Want to come inside?” I ask, knowing full well I’m being kind of a prick. She was literally just inside, so there’s no reason for her to reappear. And we both know she’s not going to walkinto the living room holding my hand like she might if we were a regular couple.
She’s already shaking her head before she even opens her mouth. “Oh, I can’t. And just to warn you, the guys invited a few friends from the lacrosse team over, so it’s a little noisy in there. Actually, since it’s kind of loud and crowded in there, and my brother’s totally occupied, maybe you and I could do something? There’s a movie playing in the student union tonight. And there’s trivia at Wolfie’s. But a lot of people know Bran there, so maybe?—”
“Maybe you should come inside with me,” I say, dropping my stick and putting my hand around her waist. “Come on, it’s the perfect plan. You said it’s loud and crawling with people. No one will notice us, especially if we go in through the back. Besides, Mickey thinks you left already, right? That means he won’t come looking for you, and nobody comes up to the third floor anyway.”
I can see the indecision on her beautiful face. She wants to be with me as much as I want to be with her. “Think about it, Bridgette,” I coax. “Do you want to spend the next few hours in my bed or at the student union watching a movie? What’s playing? We can stream it if you’re dying to see it that bad.”
