Page 38 of Lucky Shot
He’s still sputtering as he rolls to his knees so he’s hovering over me. “Have we met the discussion quota yet? Wanna go back to my room, pretty boy?”
My breath catches at ‘pretty boy’ and I shiver. I swear, something passes through Elixon’s eyes as well. For a second, we remain as we are, almost frozen in the moment.
“Come on, fuckers,” Max says. “You can fall in love later.”
Elixon chuckles and pulls himself to his feet, shaking his head to break the moment. I’m still slightly breathless when he pulls me up a second later.
“Sorry,” he mutters as we skate back. “I’m not even sure why that got weird.”
“Fake flirting isn’t a thing between us, apparently,” I say.
He laughs and shoves me. Gently this time. “Guess not.”
I find my way back to my position beside Larson. I’m on the opposite side as I usually am, but since Owen and I play the same position, we decided we’d trade off. As Gabe counts down, I meet Azure’s eyes across the ice.
“Okay?” he asks.
I grin and nod. He smiles in return and his focus moves to the puck, where it doesn’t sway from for the rest of the game.
I’m distracted during most of the game, wondering why Elixon calling me ‘pretty boy’ when it was clearly just a fucking joke shook me the way it did. I mean, Iknowwhy. That’s what Demi calls me and I fucking love it. Which is ironic because I’ve despised the name any other time in my life.
It’s different coming from Demi. He can’t see what I look like. He’s calling me pretty based on my screen name. Nothing else. Well, and maybe because he dressed me in pretty accessories and a dress. Something I haven’t changed my character out of.
Elixon was joking. I know that. Everything inside me knows that. There was absolutely nothing serious in that entire exchange. So why did it just… freeze me? I had the strangest fucking feeling in that moment. But no matter how long I concentrate on it throughout the rest of the day, I can’t put into words why.
I didn’t hate it.
THIRTEEN
ELIXON
Sometimes I’m notsure why something sits uneasily with me. But I swear, when the words fell out of my mouth, everything around me just went dim. The only thing I could see was Noah.
Except that it wasn’t Noah. It was PrettyInLace practically under me.
Pretty boy.
I hadn’t meant it in the same way. There was a comfortable understanding between me and Noah since our walk on the beach. I felt like we knew each other a little better. It felt good. There was a companionship and empathy for each other that hadn’t been there before.
The teasing flirt that wasn’t really flirting hadn’t been what made me fall away from the moment. It was the words. The words that were reserved for Pretty alone.
It almost felt like I was cheating!
How fucking ridiculous is that?!
We both kind of blew it off. I could see the way he tensed and stared with wide eyes. The words had hit a nerve with him, too. If I’d have been able to get myself under control, I’d have asked if he was all right. But for the rest of the game, I forced myself to watch the puck and think of nothing else.
Now that I’m in my room alone, I kind of feel like shit.
While I wait for the game to load, I pull my phone out and open the Messenger app. I don’t think I’ve ever messaged Noah for anything, so I search his name, and it opens a chat from two years ago. One in which I passed on dinner. I wince at the message. Wow. I was a fucking ass!
Me
Hey.
It’s more than a minute before he answers.
Noah Kain
