Page 70 of Oh, Puck!
"Quick! Cole's gonna pass out—" Beck yells, holding his stomach from the barrel of laughter. "Brooke, you can't justdothat to him, he's a child—"
"I'm twenty!" Corbin yelps.
"You're so screwed, kid," Beck cackles, slapping him on the back hard enough to make him stumble. "You boughthowmany keychains this week?"
"That's — I needed those keychains—"
"For what? You don't have keys! You live in a dorm!"
"It's acollection!"
"It's acrush," Mason corrects, and now he's even doubled over with laughter.
I'm laughing before I realize it, and I have to look away and drag a hand over my mouth.
Because this is the exact thing I didn't see coming.
Coach is right.
I came to Beachside to disappear. To play hockey and drive home with my brothers and not think about anything that mattered.
I never once went out after a game. Nevercelebrated. Partly because it's hard to celebrate when you've spent an entire seasonsucking, and partly because… well. You don't go raising a glass to good times when you grew up watching a man toast his own family with one hand, and lie to all of us with the other.
My father loved a celebration.
He wasgreatat them. Right up until I watched him betray each and every one of us from the head of the dinner table, pretending to give a shit about our lives.
I learned early that the warmest rooms hide the coldest things. And I stopped trusting any of it.
But this room?
Tonight, this room is loud and stupid andgood.
And I'm sitting in the middle of it, smiling because nobody had to lie to make it happen.
I take another sip, chuckling to myself, and look out toward the open garage doors and the dark stretch of beach beyond.
And that's when Ifinallysee her.
Josie's standing just out past the garage doors, away from all of the noise.
The light from the bar barely reaches her, but I can see she's still wearing the jersey withMORRISONacross her back. And fuck me, if that isn't the hottest thing I've seen tonight.
The jersey hangs loose, but I know exactly what's underneath. Every curve I've touched, every inch I've tasted. The dim light traces the shape of her ass as she shifts, and my whole fucking body tightens.
She's standing at the edge where the boardwalk gives way to the beach, staring out at the black water like it holds all the answers for how the hell she pulled off a night like tonight.
But the thing that makes my stomach clench and my brain refocus is…
She'salone.
Everyone in this place is here because of her. The crowd. The noise. The tab Mack's getting rich off. The win that, let's be honest, probably doesn't happen if there's nobody in those seats to playfor.
She ignited this town like no one else has. She started all of this.
And now she's standing at the edge of it like she's not allowed inside.
I snag two cold beers off the bar, ignore Beck shouting something about where I think I'm going, and walk out onto the sand.
