Page 227 of Playing the Pucking Game
The other rookie snorts a laugh.
“Dude, you can’t pull a chick for shit. When the hell do you ever get a chance to be a freak?”
“I get by,” Hayden states.
I can’t help myself, the thought of him sitting there pouting has me fully turning around to look at him, but the second I twist around in my seat, Monroe’s puppy-dog eyes aren’t the first ones I find.
Linc is sitting in his seat beside Kodie with a tight expression and his arms folded over his chest.
He should be celebrating, but instead, he's shooting daggers at me for having a laugh with his rookie.
Well, fuck him.
If he can go swanning around town picking up Matilda’s number, then I can enjoy myself with his friends.
Ripping my eyes away from his hard ones, I find exactly what I was expecting: Hayden sitting with his bottom lip pushed out.
“Aw, next time we all go out, you can practice your lines on me,” I offer. “Don’t get your hopes up, though. I won’t be going anywhere near your hotel room.”
“Damn, Donnelly. Way to get a guy excited,” he teases.
“You wouldn’t want me. I come hand in hand with my brother’s wrath.”
“Yeah…I quite like my face as it is.”
“Then you probably chose the wrong sport,” Brooke points out. “Give it a couple of years, and you’ll be just as ugly as the rest of them.”
“Hey,” Killer shouts. “We heard that.”
“You were meant to,” Brooke calls before dropping back into her seat.
“Man, I love my job and these guys. I might give them shit, but I wouldn’t change them for the world.”
As much as I hate to admit it, I feel the same. But mostly about one of them.
It’slate by the time we get to our hotel, and even later by the time all the key cards have been handed out.
With another game tomorrow, everyone heads for the elevators, ready to get some rest.
“So, Donnelly,” Hayden says, throwing his arm around my shoulders and plucking my key card from my hand. “What room do I need to visit for my hookup lessons?”
“Whoa,” I say, snatching it back, hoping he hasn’t already clocked the number scrawled across the front of the little card wallet. “I never said anything about lessons.”
“Come on, I’m on the tenth floor too. We can discuss details on the way up.”
“You know, if you weren’t so cute, you’d be annoying,” I say as I wave to Brooke and head for the elevator.
“I knew you liked me.” He laughs.
We chat away, thankfully not about any kind of hookup lessons, or about Linc, as we climb through the building.
“Looks like I’m heading this way,” he says after studying the sign when we exit the car. “Sleep well, Donnelly. See you in the morning.”
I turn in the opposite direction, tugging my small suitcase behind me until I find my room number.
The second I’m inside, I kick off my sneakers and unzip my suitcase to find my toiletries and pajamas. But I pause the second my fingers brush over the soft fabric of Linc’s T-shirt.
I can’t wear that tonight.
