Page 10 of Lucky Mother Pucker

His smile drops. “Wait, they do?”

I roll my eyes. “God, you’re stupid.”

Nick just grins. “Hey, not many people can have beauty and brains. If you’re going to be insanely hot like me, you can’t be smart too. It wouldn’t be fair.”

I throw my napkin at him, but he catches it and laughs. “You’re so fucking cocky, dude,” I say.

“Oh, hey, I heard about that charity gala the weekend before. The one with all the retired pro athletes,” Blake says to me. He clears his throat. “You going?”

I exhale sharply. “Yeah.”

The whole table goes quiet. The guys know about my strained relationship with my dad. As my teammates for the past four years, they’ve seen it play out. While their families cheer them on in the stands during games, my dad sits quietly and watches me, silently scrutinizing everything I do on the ice. And after games, when their parents are praising them for how well they played, my dad is lecturing me on everything I did wrong.

“You don’t have to go, man. You don’t owe him anything,” Blake says.

“That’s not what he thinks,” I mutter.

“You don’t owe him,” Nick repeats. “You’re the one who puts in the work every time you’re out there on the ice, just like the rest of us. You’re the one who trains hard and plays your ass off.”

“He doesn’t see it that way,” I say. “He’s the one who put a hockey stick in my hand when I could barely walk. He’s the one who paid for all those camps and trainers and coaching.”

“That’s what a parent is supposed to do,” Blake says. “They’re supposed to pay for that stuff when you’re a kid.”

“Especially if they’re the one who wants you to play hockey in the first place,” Travis says.

My teammates are right. I know they are. But my dad doesn’t care. He’ll always think he knows better than me.

“It goes deeper than that. Even if I told him all that, he’d say he’s still the reason I’m as good as I am.” I repeat what he’s said to me a million times. “‘You got your skills and your talent from me, Leo. It’s in your genes that I passed on to you.’”

“I still don’t think you should have to go to that gala and pretend that your dad is perfect when he treats you like crap,” Blake says.

“If you need us to call you with an emergency to bail you out, just say the word,” Nick says.

I crack a small smile. “Thanks, guys.”

We pay our tab and stand up from the table.

We head toward the entrance, but I stop in my tracks when I see who is standing there, talking to one of the servers.

The pretty redhead from the coffee shop this morning. The one who was getting yelled at because of me.

She looks off to the side and sees me. When she glowers at me, my stomach drops.

Shit.

Chapter 5

Leo

“What’s wrong?” Blake asks. When I don’t say anything, he looks over to where I’m staring. “Do you know her?”

I clear my throat. “No. Uh, kind of.”

He just chuckles. “Okay.” He looks over at her. “Why is she death-glaring at you?”

I tug at the collar of my jacket, suddenly feeling hot. “She’s a barista at the coffee shop where I met my dad this morning. She messed up my order, and when I complained about it, the manager started yelling at her.”

Blake’s smile drops. Both Nick and Travis turn to look at me.