She smiles. “Yup. She’s honestly what keeps me going.”
“She’s pretty freaking awesome.”
Warmth fills her eyes. “I saw you helping her again. I appreciate it.”
“I love math, and she’s a good kid.”
“She is,” she says, finishing off her sub. “I was sixteen when she was born, so I’m more a mom than I am a sister.”
“That’s nice. I don’t have siblings.”
She nods. “How did you get into hockey?”
The truth is right there. Dr. Jenkins’s request is right there, but I ignore it all. “My grandpa played.”
Aviva cocks her head with a smile. “I hear you’re pretty damn good.”
“I am,” I say with a wide grin. “Ever been to a game?”
She shakes her head as she laughs. “I don’t want to say I don’t like it, but I really have no clue what is going on.”
I laugh. “I’ll have to take you to a game.”
She gives me a skeptical look. “How? You’d be playing!”
“A rec game, so I can teach you.”
She actually looks excited. “Oh, that would be cool, I guess.”
“Callie should come, too, since I’m sure you don’t want to leave her,” I say, and her eyes fill with such light.
“You’d want to include Callie?”
I nod. “Yeah, why wouldn’t I?”
“Most guys who want to hang with me don’t want Callie around.”
“What dicks. She’s a cool girl.”
She shrugs. “Well, I know that.”
“And so do I,” I say, and then the bell over the door rings. The sound is like my dick being ripped off. I don’t want this to end yet. I want to keep talking.
“Duty calls,” she says sadly, and it fuels my fire even more. She doesn’t want this to end either.
“Yeah,” I say as I hear the door open once more. “I guess I’ll see you tomorrow.”
She laughs. “Another sub?”
“Duh.”
Her lashes kiss her cheeks as she gets up and gathers our trash.
“And I’ll want to see you again.”
Her cheeks fill with color as she bites her lip. “This was nice.”
“Told ya.” She wrinkles her nose at me, and I can’t stop the grin from taking over my face. “We should do it again.”
“Maybe.”
With that, she saunters away with that fine ass. Everything inside me is red-hot, and there is no maybe about it. We’re doing this again. I’ll make damn sure of it.
I wave to her as I leave, and there is no contempt in her tone as she says, “See ya.”
I actually can hear kindness in her voice, and it fuels my fire. As soon as the door shuts behind me, from around the side of the building comes Callie. I pull my brows together. “I thought you went to practice.”
“I had to eat and get a few things together before I head over. I saw you two talking. Things look good!”
I laugh. “Yeah, it was.”
“So, don’t tell her I told you this, but I heard she’s going to Bill’s Tavern this Saturday with her friend. You know, if you’re around and happen to go, bring a friend to distract Jaylin. They’ll be there at nine.”
Man, I love my inside source.
Chapter Nine
Aviva
“See? I can’t even find the puck!”
Callie gets off the couch and walks to the TV, looking back at me as she points to the puck. In the goalie’s glove. Is it called a glove? I need to ask Nico the next time he comes in. I hope it’s tomorrow; I want to ask how everything went with lunch.
With a dry look, Callie says, “It’s right there.”
“Thank you,” I deadpan as I apply my lip gloss. The IceCats game never would have been on before, but it’s easy to say Callie and I have some inspiration to watch. Starts and ends with Number 0. I hate that the camera doesn’t stay on him. I guess it’s good that it doesn’t, ’cause when it is, he’s moving like a damn octopus, guarding the hell out of that net. I don’t know how he does the splits like that, but my vagina hurts just looking at him.
As I watch the game, I curl my hair so that it’s full along my shoulders. I haven’t gotten ready in a long time. I can’t even remember the last time I wore real clothes or makeup. Or even went out. Oh, wait. No. I had that date six months ago, which was really just a hookup with an old friend. I got dressed up for him. That was a good night. A night where he told me he couldn’t see me anymore because he was getting married.
Good times.
I ignore that, though; I need to have a nice night. I haven’t seen Jaylin in a while, and I want to enjoy myself. I have to enjoy myself, before I lose it. With my eyes on the TV, I pin back a piece of hair as Nico lifts his helmet. He shakes out his wet hair, running his fingers through the strands, and soon, I’m wet everywhere.