Total pages in book: 97
Estimated words: 95107 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 476(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95107 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 476(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
He glares at me. “Wow. What part of ‘we take this to the grave’ do you not understand?”
“You killed a bunch of unborn birds?” Hannah looks horrified.
“Not on purpose,” Logan says defensively. To me, he mutters, “Snitches get stitches, G. Don’t you forget that.”
I roll my eyes. “Whatcha gonna do? Beat me up at the tournament? In front of all the Make-A-Wish kids?”
Although I’m not sure we’re playing for Make-A-Wish this time. I think it might be an animal rescue event. Every year, the franchise sets up this charity golf tournament, where big donors pay to play a round of golf with members of the team. Or in the case of some of us, pay to watch us launch balls into trees and parking lots.
“Aw, damn. Who let these dirtbags in here?”
We glance over in time to see Jake Connelly squeeze through the crowd and saunter toward us. He’s wearing a navy-blue suit, dark hair slicked away from his clean-shaven face. Like me, he’d ditched the beard after getting knocked out of the playoffs.
Connelly just finished his rookie year with Edmonton, who were three seconds away from making it to the Stanley Cup finals. Literally three seconds. Their series against Ottawa was tied 3-3 and they were up by a goal in Game 7…when in the last three seconds of the game, a Senator scored a fluke goal that every sports network will be replaying for years to come. Damn puck bounced off a guy’s ass cheek and sailed past Edmonton’s unsuspecting goalie. Ottawa went to win the series in OT, and that’s all she wrote.
“Just in time.” Logan drains his beer and tries handing the empty to Jake. “Run along and get me a refill, will ya, Rook?”
“Yeah, I would.” Connelly holds up his Rookie of the Year award and his own beer bottle. “Hands are kinda full.”
“Look at this kid,” I say, shaking my head. “Already forgetting where he comes from.”
Beside me, Hannah gets those gooey starry eyes she dons every time she’s in Connelly’s vicinity. And I’m sure that when he walks away, she’ll do her usual shtick of poking me in the arm and whispering, “He’s so handsome.”
I personally don’t get it. I mean, he’s a good-looking dude, for sure. But has Wellsy seen who she’s dating?
“Hey, Jake.” Hannah steps forward to give him a hug. “Congratulations. Looks like Edmonton is working out for you.”
“Thanks.” He shrugs modestly. “Yeah, can’t complain.”
“Proud of you,” I say sincerely. I love seeing fellow players have success entering the league.
“I can’t believe you said that to a former Harvard man,” Logan tells me, blue eyes gleaming with accusation. He glances back at Jake and arches an eyebrow. “Where’s Coach’s daughter? She break your heart yet?”
“Oh, shit. That’s right.” This idiot went and hooked up with Coach Jensen’s daughter Brenna like he had a fucking death wish. “You two still together?”
“Yeah, we’re good.”
I look around. “She here?” I’ve only met Brenna a couple of times, but she seems cool.
Connelly shakes his head. “She actually flew in from Vienna early this morning just to come to this shindig. She was doing a whole European tour thing with her friend Summer—oh, you know her. Di Laurentis’s sister.” He shrugs. “Anyway, yeah. She was exhausted, so she went back to the room to get some sleep.”
“Let me give you some advice,” Hannah says, grinning at him. “When your girlfriend flies in from another continent to see you get an award and says she wants to go to bed early, you go with her.”
He looks to me and Logan. We nod solemnly at him. Not going to find me arguing with Wellsy on this one. I’m still hoping for some congratulations sex when we get home.
“All right then,” Jake says, draining his beer and passing it off to Logan. “Guess I’ll catch up with you guys later. And congrats,” he tells me. He points to my award. “Don’t get too comfortable, old man. I’m coming for that thing next year.”
“See you on the ice, kiddo.”
“He’s so handsome,” Hannah breathes as he walks away.
“Keep it in your pants,” I chide.
No sooner does Connelly leave than Logan taps me on the shoulder to point out the team’s GM strutting toward us with Phil. “Got it handled if you want to sneak off,” he offers like the ride-or-die he is.
“Call it a night?” I ask my girlfriend.
She gives a firm nod. “Let’s get the hell out of here.”
Before they can corner us, we slip out the side door and make our escape.
34
Garrett
At home later, I still can’t release the tension in my shoulders. My chest is tight, like I can’t take a deep breath, and there’s a kink in my neck I can’t shake. I try to forget about Phil as Hannah and I get ready for bed, but there’s something else in the room with us that I can’t quite discern. Hannah washes her face and brushes her teeth, but it’s like she’s watching me out of the corner of her eye. Her forehead is creased in that way it gets when she has something on her mind.