Total pages in book: 26
Estimated words: 25255 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 126(@200wpm)___ 101(@250wpm)___ 84(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 25255 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 126(@200wpm)___ 101(@250wpm)___ 84(@300wpm)
“This looks like it really hurts,” I say, feeling horrible for him.
“I don’t feel pain like most people do,” he answers.
“How come? Because you’re so tough?”
He shrugs. “When you feel enough pain in your life, it all starts to feel numb.”
I want him to elaborate, but he doesn’t.
“How did this happen?” I ask as I wipe his cheek. I got Alina’s side of the story, but I’m more interested in his.
“I got in a fight?”
“With what? A gorilla?”
The corner of his lip curls up slightly. Was that a smile? Almost?
“Pretty much.”
“What does he look like?”
He exhales as he closes his eyes. “Worse. Much worse.”
I shake my head as I dab the cloth into the water and start to softly wipe away the dried blood on his temple. His head is massive. Everything about him is massive.
“Didn’t your mother ever tell you to use your words?” I ask as I take some ointment out of the first aid kit. “Fighting is not nice.”
“I guess I’m not nice,” he says as he stares at me with his one good eye.
I stare back at him. “I guess not.”
He finally drops his eyes and sighs. I wet a cotton ball with some ointment and dab it on the cut along his hairline.
“But I don’t really believe that,” I say as I dab another cut behind his ear. “You didn’t have to make us sandwiches and you did. That was nice.”
He doesn’t answer.
“You can talk things out with people,” I say, sounding naive even to my own ears. “You don’t have to fight.”
“Yeah, I do,” he grunts. “It’s in my contract.”
I sigh as I lean back and look at him. “I’ll never understand hockey.”
This time he smiles for real. It makes my heart do a little flip.
“Jane!” Alina shouts from the bottom of the stairs. “Are you okay up there? Make any kind of noise if you want me to call the cops!”
“I’ll be down in a second!” I shout to her, feeling frustrated at the interruption. I turn back to Tucker and smile at him. “I should get going. Are you going to be okay?”
“Yes.”
“Do you need anything from the pharmacy? More bandages or something? Ice maybe?”
“Why are you being so nice to me?” he asks, looking at me like he’s genuinely trying to understand.
I shrug my shoulders and smile. “Because it’s nice to be nice. I don’t need more of a reason than that, do I?”
He just watches me as I stand up and put the first aid kit on the sink.
“Okay, well… I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.”
He nods as he watches me back away toward the door.
“Bye!” I give an awkward wave and head out of his room and back down the stairs.
“Tell me everything,” Alina says once I’m in the car with my heart pounding. “What happened up there?”
Something happened up there, I say to myself as I think about the intense way he was looking at me.
But I have no idea what.
Chapter Four
Tucker
It’s three in the morning and I’m still staring at the damn ceiling.
Sleep won’t come no matter how hard I try.
Every time I close my eyes, I see her.
I’ve never met anyone like Jane.
She has an angelic innocence that is gripping me. It won’t let me go. I’ve never experienced anything like it before.
But along with that sweet innocence is a fiery passion that made me come alive. She wasn’t intimidated by me at all. She didn’t care about my fame or my size or my bad temper. She stood her ground and held her head high as she took me on.
It was at that moment I fell in love.
“Stop,” I growl as I open my eyes and stare at the ceiling. You don’t want this. You don’t want any of this.
She’s not the girl for you. No one is.
I yank the blankets off me and get up with a grunt.
Sleep is not going to happen. Not with this angel on my mind.
I head into the basement with my heart pounding. I need to burn off some energy. A game would have been nice tonight, but unfortunately, we were off.
I’m playing the Oakland Lumberjacks tomorrow and then we have another home game with the Seattle Centaurs. I wonder if that beast Clint Maddock will be back on the ice by then.
I’m sure he’s going to want another shot at me if he is.
I turn on the light in the basement and head for the heaviest punching bag I got.
Maybe this will get it out of my system. If this doesn’t do it for me, I don’t know what will. I have a feeling this beauty is going to be haunting me for a long time.
I yank off my sweaty shirt, square up in front of the bag, and start punching until my knuckles go numb.
The buzzer to my gate rings and I practically run through the house to answer it.