Page 41 of Puck with Karma
“We just need to know if your personality matches your looks,” she continues. “That’s very important. Right, Riley?” She pauses and waits for our friend to respond.
“It is,” she goes along with Hannah. “It really is.”
Xander’s one eyebrow goes up in amusement.
“What’s the plan? You’re going to give me a personality test? See how I fare?”
Both my friends are frozen, staring at the screen, unsure of how to respond given Xander’s cockiness when he asks the question.
“I like him.” Riley grins into the camera, looking almost giddy with it.
Hannah is still quiet, which is so unlike her. She leans back and crosses her arms, assessing the man who’s messed with my head in a very short period of time.
“I’m still thinking about it,” she finally says, but then she rolls her eyes toward the ceiling. “I guess I like him, too.” She wants to smile, but she’s fighting it hard.
Xander turns his head and looks up to where I’m standing next to his chair.
“I like them, too.”
I let out a long breath of air, wondering why I was stressed out about any of this to begin with. I don’t know Xander that well or for long enough. In fact, I don’t know him at all. What I do know about him is that he can give me one hell of an orgasm.
“Okay, well, we should let you guys go.”
Hannah starts messing on her computer, the screen still showing all the most recent searches when she moves the mouse around. I forgot she was sharing her screen.
Xander’s body suddenly tenses. I can feel its energy filling the entire room.
“Everything okay?” I whisper to him. When he looks at me again, I shiver in distress at the coldness in his eyes.
“Why are you looking at Brandon Karlsberg’s page?”
Chapter 14
Xander
The question comes out a lot harsher than intended. But seeing the picture of Karlsberg on the screen of Abby’s computer is bringing out the worst in me. Why would she look up other hockey players when she’s got one in her bed? And why would she look up this one out of all the players in the league?
All three girls are quiet now, staring at me, probably wondering what my problem is.
“Oh, why do you care who we read about?” I think that’s Hannah speaking. She seems to be feistier than the other one.
My eyes never leave Abby’s face. I’m not sure what it is, but she looks guilty, or maybe it’s just because I am suspicious all of a sudden.
The call I got earlier was from my father, demanding that I would see him right away. Since I didn’t want to get into it with him in front of Abby, I decided to go and meet with him. The meeting went worse than I’d expected. He was angry for trying to stand him up, and I was angrier, because he didn’t seem tocare at all about anything other than me playing and making money.
All these thoughts make me realize that Janie never called me back. She probably thinks that I forgot it was her birthday today.
“I don’t care who you look up. But at least have the decency not to have my archenemy up on the screen in my presence.”
I try to fake amusement as I say the words but I’m not sure that they are buying it.
“Well, this is getting interesting,” Hannah says. “And here I thought that you were just a hunk of meat. What do you think, Riley?” She asks her friend who now looks nervous and unsure of herself.
My eyes bounce from the screen to Abby’s face and back. I don’t want to think the worst of any of them, but they’re not making it easy on me when my father’s words from earlier are still ringing in my ears.
“Nobody will ever watch out for you the way I am. You think you know everything, but you know nothing. And when they start stabbing you in the back, don’t come to me crying. Because all I’m going to say to you isItold you so.”
“Hey, since you’re acting all weird now,“ Hannah starts again, “did you bring Abby a new phone? You know, since you broke her other one?”
