Page 54 of So This Is War
Fucking rude.
“So you’re close with Halsey, right? And from what I can tell, Eli Hornsby. And perhaps Silas Taters?”
“Yeah. And Pacey Lawes. Oden O’Connor is in the mix now too, as well as Ian Rivers, but with his injury that still has him out, I’m not sure he’s going to return. He seems to keep having complications.”
“And Oden is new to the team from last season?”
I nod and press the elevator button. “Yes. Surprised you even have to ask, given who your father is.”
“Shockingly, we don’t talk hockey, like ever. Anything I know is from what I’ve seen. He’s sort of closed off when it comes to the job. When he’s home, he asks me how school is going and talks to me about the future. That’s about it.”
Sounds pretty sad.
“But he’s never really been a talker,” she adds, probably to make him seem like less of an ass.
She doesn’t need to pretend. I know the type of man he is. One sneer will make any private part shrivel up.
“Not much of a talker? You don’t say,” I joke, which makes her smile.
“Yeah, he’s always kept to himself.” The elevator doors open, and we head down the hallway, but I stop right before the locker room to keep talking to her.
“Was he like that when you were growing up too?”
“Yes,” she answers. “He never talks about my mom, ever. He acts like she doesn’t even exist. He doesn’t talk about his feelings. Doesn’t talk about the wins or the losses. After you guys won everything last year and I congratulated him, he just nodded and kissed the top of my head. That night, we had dinner in front of the TV and watchedMiracle. It’s the one movie we’ve both loved over time. I tried to get him intoThe Mighty Ducksfranchise, but he wasn’t having any of it.”
“What?” I ask, shocked. “Not a fan of Gordon Bombay?”
“Not even a little. Nor was he a fan of the flying V.”
“Oh bullshit,” I say. “We have a very similar play to the flying V. Maybe he’s a secret fan, and you don’t know it. He doesn’t want to tell you out of fear of people thinking he’s copying Gordon.” I take a sip of my protein smoothie, enjoying the chocolate peanut butter flavor that floats over my tongue. So fucking good.
“Ooo, you know, I never thought about that,” she says. “What if he’s a secret fan? Perhaps he has an homage to him in his closet, behind some coats. After blessing his underwear, he says a prayer to the great Bombay before taking off.”
I let out a loud laugh. “Fuck, that would be amazing.” I take another sip of my smoothie. “Thanks for this, by the way. I know you were out late last night and the last thing you wanted to do was grab me something else for breakfast. I really appreciate it.”
“Of course.” She smiles that beautiful smile up at me. “That’s why I’m here.”
And then she leans against the wall, staring up at me, those stunning eyes sucking me in, making me want to reach out and touch her face, stroke her cheek, pull her in close.
If things were different and she met me in my kitchen, I would have scooped her up and carried her to the couch.
I would have held her and played with her hair while I talked to her about the day ahead.
She would have laughed at some joke I said.
I would have kissed the tip of her nose.
And then, when I slid my hand under her shirt, she would have?—
“Posey!” Coach Wood yells from down the hallway, puckering my balls into a sunflower seed.
Jesus Christ.
I turn just in time to catch the fury in his eyes. “Yes, hey, hello. Howdy, uh . . . what’s up, Coach?” I try to act as casual as possible despite just daydreaming about his daughter.
“What the hell are you doing? Get in the locker room.”
“Right, yup, just finishing up some tasks over here.” I turn back to Wylie. “So get that stain out. Thanks.”
