“What? How?” I peered at her phone.
“A bunch of people have already commented, most of them nice, but @32Kingofsaves posted ‘looks like a downgrade.’ I don’t remember that being his handle, but it definitely sounds like him. If his number is thirty-two, that’s totally obvious.”
I snorted. “Yeah, it’s one of his other accounts. He uses it to hype up his main posts.” I shook my head. “What the hell did I ever see in that guy?”
“No idea. He’s hot? And I remember he was kind to you at the start. But his true colors are waving loud and awful now. All I can say is, keep a folder of everything and screenshot it on your phone. You know, just in case.”
I hated the small inkling of fear that had just sparked in my belly. I wanted to believe he wouldn’t escalate, but maybe I didn’t know him as well as I’d thought. I needed Roger gone from my life, and he needed to clearly understand that we were never getting back together. Hopefully, a month or so with Gabe would do the trick.
I was going to have to kiss that man again. The fear disappeared and heat filled my body.
Fucking hell.
What had I gotten myself into?
TUCKS
“So, you going to fess up about what is going on with you hard launching a new girlfriend on Insta yesterday? I saw the pic from Anna’s bakery with you two looking all cozy.” Dom paused. “Wait. Was that Jenzy’s ex?”
I’d just lined up my putter to finish out the sixth hole when Dom opened his mouth and verbally screwed up my shot. We were taking advantage of a warm day in early October before the season fully started in a few days.
“Her name’s Dani. Also, rude. I’m trying to finish out this hole. No talking.” I didn’t take my eyes off the ball and, after a few seconds of silence, took my shot. It rimmed the cup but didn’t go in. “Dammit, you distracted me. That’s a do-over, right?” It wouldn’t make a difference and we all knew it. I was terrible at golf, but a few of the guys needed a fourth, so I’d joined in.
Micah laughed. “No fuckin’ way. You’re a goalie, you should be able to tune everything out and focus.”
“Right. Dani. What’s up with you two? She’s Jenzy’s ex, right? And you really are shit at putting.”
Dom was like a dog with a bone, even worse than Pucks, who was currently scanning the rough along the edge of the course for who knows what. I reached down and ruffled his ears. He loved going golfing with us, and the guys loved it too, once I’d convinced Pucks to stop hitting the balls off the green like he was a damn cat.
“I’m excellent at mini golf. It doesn’t make sense for that not to transfer here.”
“Maybe we can ask them to set up a windmill on the next hole,” Timmy said. “And who’s Dani?”
Dom barked out a laugh. “That was a good one. Harper’s really rubbing off on you.”
Timmy’s cheeks pinked and Dom knocked his shoulder into Timmy’s. “Not what I was implying.”
“Of course you were. Aren’t you always?” Micah chimed in.
Dom smirked. “Maaayybe. Like your head didn’t go to rubbing off on Josie as soon as I said it?”
“You’re all just a bunch of horny bastards,” I said.
“So, back to Dani,” Micah started.
“If I tell you, it’s gotta stay in the vault. And not the team vault. Like, just us.” I waved my hand in a circle. “And Josie and Harper and Ally, of course. Fuck, this isn’t going to work.” I raked my hand through my hair. This was already becoming a mess.
“Alright, alright. Just explain and we’ll figure it out,” Micah said.
“Fine. I convinced Dani to fake date.”
“I noticed Jenzy was extra dickish the other night,” Timmy said.
“Such a prick,” Dom agreed. “So, you think this will work?”
I sighed. “It’ll be fine. I felt bad about letting him get to me and then implying that Dani and I are a thing, so I want to help her convince the dick that she’s unavailable. From what I can figure out, nothing else has worked so far. Hell, the night I met her, he tracked her down at the bar because he knew she liked going there.”
“Jackass. It really is a shame that we can’t touch the goalie on the ice. I’d like to sucker punch him for that type of shit,” Micah grumbled.
