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I narrowed my eyes at him. “Spit it out.”
Hank eyed all of us carefully. “Getting the feeling I’m better off keeping my mouth shut and seem the fool rather than open it and remove the doubt.”
I ran my hand through my long, wet hair showing my agitation. “Hank. You’ve been put through the same paces we have.”
Hank pulled on the back of his neck. “I just ain’t at y’all’s speed. I’m out there on a limb waiting for it to crack. Some days feels like I’m out there running all over hell’s half acre getting nowhere and so damn dumb I could throw myself on the floor and miss.”
A few little snickers started around the table. Then the snickers turned into titters, which led to some snorts, and then the whole table was doubled over in belly laughs.
“How the fuck did you learn how to talk like that?” I asked through my laughter.
Hank shook his head at me. “Well, bless your heart.”
Calder snorted. “What does that even mean?”
I shrugged. “You’re in good shape, you’ve been doing a good job with defending the goal, passing, and following the plays, so what’s the problem?”
Hank shrugged. “Not doing any scoring like the other defenders. Not much for assists neither. Defending is great and all, but I gotta step it up in the O-zone too.”
I nodded. “Anything else?”
Hank sighed. “Just trying to get a feel for things when we face a new team. Who’s carrying a grudge? Who’s known for starting fights? Who’s gonna leave their left side exposed to snatch the puck from them? Feels like I’m missing the insider info.”
Ilya nodded. “You are. So, let’s meet to talk insider stuff, talk to each other about stuff we’ve seen, concerns we have both on and off the ice, and make the time.”
I nodded. “If anyone else doubts they belong here, I’m taking them out back and beating the shit out of them.”
Hank chuckled and raised his bottle. “So noted.”
After that, my mind drifted to my raven-haired beauty, Phoebe, who was coming tomorrow. Maybe when she was here I could find a way to open her up to the possibility of being with me. She had to know how much I loved her already. I was desperate to see her, to wrap my arms around her and inhale her vanilla scent. My body hummed as I thought about all the things I missed about her and how soon I would see her.
3
PHOEBE
Fumbling with this flat iron and burning myself, a video call popped up on my phone scaring the hell out of me. I answered spewing a string of curses as I propped the phone on the vanity mirror.
Ransom chuckled. “Bad time?” It was after his practice this morning, so his hair was wet and made him look perfectly edible. “What’s with the flat iron?”
A growl came ripping out of me, but it had more to do with the stupid flat iron that was supposed to be cool enough to handle to get the perfect beach waves. “This fucker is burning off my fingerprints!”
He couldn’t hide the twitch of his lips.
I huffed. “Don’t you dare laugh, Mr. I Don’t Have To Dress Up To Go Out Because I Already Look So Damn Perfect!”
He tried to interrupt my rant. “Raven?”
“You don’t even really do your hair, do you? It’s just automatically perfect every damn day.” I scrunched my face and narrowed my eyes at him, continuing my task and burning my fingers every time I tried to curl this fucking hair.
He growled. Okay, so he was losing his temper.
Setting the flat iron on the countertop, I picked up the phone. “What?”
He tilted his head a little. “Your hair is beautiful the way it is.”
I sighed. “I have to run into Fresh Faces this afternoon to pick up a couple things and let them know I’ll be gone but reachable for a while.”
His eyes darkened. “You hate going there.”
