Page 64 of Puck with Karma
He takes a moment to think about it.
“It’s your head,” he shrugs. “And if you want to spend your money on that, go for it. It looked great before it came off. But I can’t imagine you not looking as good without all of that in.”
I stare at him in wonder. I want to pull him into me and kiss him senseless. I’ve never been told in so many words that I was beautiful. Not that I thought I was ugly, my mother would’ve never accepted a child who was not up to her standards looks wise. I’m assuming Wesley liked my looks, but he never actually said. The schools I went to were always packed with beautiful people, so not like I stood out or anything.
“Thank you,” I finally tell Xander. “I…”
I’m not sure what I want to say next, but I let out a small sigh of relief when my cell phone dings with a message. I reach for it on the nightstand, almost dropping it on my face when I bring it up to look at the screen.
A message from Hannah shows in the preview.
Check this out, she says,an article on Brandon.
That is followed by a link that shows a picture of my brother.
“What’s going on?” Xander asks from next to me, but his voice sounds different now.
“Uh, not much. Just a message from my friend Hannah.”
I put the phone down, unsure of what to do about the cold front coming from his way right now. I decide to change the subject.
“I heard you arguing with someone on the phone yesterday.” I wasn’t even eavesdropping, but he was loud out in the hallway outside the door to my apartment. “Everything okay?”
Xander squints his eyes at me. “Why are you asking?”
He sounds so suspicious when he asks that, I feel frazzled.
“N-no reason, just wondering.”
I scooch myself up into a sitting position, pulling the sheet with me to cover myself.
“I didn’t mean anything by it, Xander,” I tell him when I see the ferocious look on his face.
His eyes drop to my phone that’s now on the mattress between us. He reaches one long finger and outlines the screen, making it light up. The message from Hannah is still on there. He turns the phone to see it better, and I resist the urge to snatch it away. It’s like I am hiding something.
“What is this fascination with Karlsberg that you girls have?”
My heart is now beating out of my chest. I guess Iamhiding something.
“W-what fascination?” I feel stupid for even asking, and I have no idea why I don’t want to tell anyone about my brother being a famous hockey player.
“This is not the first time I see you talking about him. Are you all fans of his?”
The way he is asking it is making me smile.
“Who wouldn’t be?” I shrug.
Xander’s face gets impassive in an instant.
“He plays for the Sliders,” he points out. “Which happens to be the Cats’ biggest rival in the league. And you,” he points at me, “work for the Cats.”
My lips feel dry, and I don’t know what he wants me to say here.
“Isn’t that some sort of conflict of interest?”
I widen my eyes in shock at hearing the question. The thought never crossed my mind. Why would it be a conflict of interest?
“If you came to work for the Cats only to phish for information that you’d pass on to the Sliders, that would be a problem.”
