Page 50 of Wreckage of My Life
“Puck, at your service, ma’am.”
My eyes jump to Emily who’s watching the entire exchange with a big grin on her face.
“I love your name,” she puts her hand out for him to shake. “I’m Emily.” She then turns to look at me. “You ready?”
“I guess,” I finally give in and shrug my worries away. Who am I to question this entire setup? It was Emily’s father who planned this whole trip for us, so I don’t have a choice but trust that we’re not about to be chopped into tiny little pieces. These guys are giving me weird vibes. That biker show I watched after my week with Dylan has gotten to me. I am suspicious of everything.
Once we’re situated in the back of the SUV, Puck and Blake Sully take their places in the front, and off we go.
Emily starts chatting nervously.
“So, Puck,” she giggles, and it takes everything in me not to pinch her to stop. “What kind of a name is that?”
“It’s just a…” he hesitates and my breath hitches in the back of my throat. “A nickname,” he clears his voice, almost like a nervous tic.
“Oh,” Emily is oblivious to it. “Does it mean anything?”
“Just something my brothers in the cl…” he abruptly stops talking. “My brothers call me that.”
Oh my god, was he going to sayclub? As inmotorcycle club?
“Because you love hockey?” Emily’s got a one track mind. And that track at the moment is on the flirting side, not caring how ridiculous it all sounds.
“Uh, yes,” he nods in agreement in an almost exaggerated move. “Ilovehockey.” It almost sounds like he’s struggling not to laugh, making my heart beat out of my chest.
Something feels off, and I don’t know what it is. The fact that I can’t get Dylan out of my head is not helping one bit.
“How far is the hotel?” I finally manage to insert myself into the conversation.
“Not far at all,” Puck here assures me. “We’ll hit some traffic, so another thirty minutes should do.”
I sit and watch the back of their heads, paying attention to the silent conversation Puck seems to have with Blake when they look at each other briefly.
“You guys from here?” I try to fish for information. Puck speaks with the same twang as Dylan, making me feel both upset and turned on at the same time. Sully sounds more like he could be from the west coast. Either way, I find that I don’t trust these guys for some reason.
“Born and raised,” Puck’s happy reply brings my eyes to what I can see of Blake. His jaw is clenched, and he is not talking.
“What about you, Blake?” I decide to poke the bear.
He turns his head slightly, just enough to eye me carefully. “What about me, Becca?”
“Are you from around here?”
“Why do you ask?” His tone of voice is not giving anything away.
“Just curious,” I shrug and give him what I can only hope is a friendly smile.
“Hmmm,” he grumbles, then turns back to staring out the windshield.
We spend the rest of the ride in complete silence. Emily’s finally able to read the room, the car, whatever, and stops talking. Blake is sulking in his corner. That leaves Puck the only oblivious one to the tension coating the air. He whistles happily all the way to the hotel where he parks and comes out to get our bags from the back of the SUV.
“After you, beautiful ladies.” He bends at the waist again and waves for us to walk ahead of him and Blake. They’re apparently coming with us…
“Is this part of your services?” I finally speak again. This whole thing is weird as hell, and I got a bad feeling about it.
“It is now,” Blake grumbles, and it’s obvious he’s not happy about it.
My stomach is churning by the time we approach the front desk, then proceed to break out into a sweat when Puck and Blake direct us gently, but firmly, toward the elevators.
