Page 93 of Playing the Pucking Game
“Of course. I promise not to be late.”
“This is fun and all, but you’re holding us up,” Monroe pipes up.
“Fine. Make it hurt, Doc,” I say before giving her a salute and walking out the door.
I should walk straight to the exit and head home, but something has me lingering just a few feet away.
“Is he giving you shit?” Monroe asks.
“Of course he is. But he wouldn’t be Linc if he weren’t,” she responds, her voice light and happy.
“If it gets too much, all you’ve got to do is say.”
“That’s sweet. But you don’t need to worry about me. I’ve known Linc long enough to know how to put him in his place.”
My brows shoot up.
Is that right?
The need to accept that unspoken challenge earlier gets even stronger. So does the need to somehow intercept her date tonight.
It was bad enough that I was left wondering if she went back with that douchebag in the club the other night. I can’t sit back and watch her go out with assholes from Tinder night after night.
With my fists curled at my sides, I finally march toward the exit with ideas spinning around my head.
25
LINCOLN
Seven Years Ago…
Rett’s house is silent when I let myself in. Exactly how I hoped it would be.
There’s only one person here right now, and she’s upstairs, getting ready.
My heart thunders in my chest, and my hands tremble on my lap as I sink into the couch.
I don’t know why I’m here.
I shouldn’t be here.
But I couldn’t not be.
From the moment Seth came marching up to Rett in the dressing room the other day, it’s been all I can think about.
Rett was pissed, rightly so, but for some reason, he agreed that tonight could happen.
I guess he could only hold off the inevitable for so long.
Parker is going to be seventeen soon. She deserves to be living the life all her classmates are. She deserves to experience the same things.
But with Seth?
I shake my head. He’s not good enough for her.
Rett has to know it, but he’s letting it roll regardless.
He’s on our team, and…he’s one of us. For that reason alone, he should be kept far, far away from Parker.
