Page 45 of Puck Me Twice

“You gonna make a play?” Lewis asks.

Andrews shakes his head. “Nah, it’s not that way with us. She’s good people, though. Way too good for any of you fuckers.”

The guys talk around me. The conversation moves on to what they’re doing when we land in Boston.

We’ve got practice at ten tomorrow morning, so we don’t have too much time on the ground to fool around. Some of the younger guys are talking about going out to a bar.

Not me. That wasn’t my scene, not even when I was their age, and especially not now.

As I drop my towel in the bin, a big body comes up beside mine.

“Same goes for you, man,” Andrews says quietly. “You hurt her, I’ll break your face.”

“She’s not yours,” I counter. “She’s her own person.”

He shrugs. “She’s important to me.”

“And me, too. Why would I hurt her?”

“Shit happens. I never meant to either, and…” He blows out a breath. “Just… look out for her, okay? What happened with us was ages ago, but that doesn’t change the way I feel about her.”

I grind my teeth. “Are we going to have problems?”

Andrews blinks. “No, no, not—I don’t have feelings for her,” he stresses. “I respect that you’re together. Fuck, you’re probably better together than she and I ever were. We weren’t suited.” He shrugs. “I just still care about her. She was a big part of my life.”

Mine, too.

It would be so easy to turn the tables around. It could have been me. If I hadn’t walked away after that one-night stand eight and a half years ago, would we have made it work? I was already in the league, she was still in school… When she joined the team, I was in a relationship, and yeah, I ended that quick, but⁠—

Have we just been two sides of the same coin, both wanting her and still wanting her to be happy above all else?

“We’re cool, man?” Andrews holds out his hand.

“Yeah, we’re cool.” I shake his hand.

He claps me on the shoulder. “Go get the girl, Larsson.”

sixteen

. . .

Vanessa

On the flight home, there’s no question: I sit beside Sven.

Immediately after I join row 13, he has his arm around me, pulling me into his side. He presses a light kiss to my temple and I melt into him.

Everyone knows. We don’t have to hide.

Although…

We weren’t exactly hiding. We were⁠—

I turn my face to his. He’s smiling fondly down at me, his expression clear and open.

Leaning up, I press my lips to his, tasting his smile.

The guys around us hoot and holler, and even though my cheeks flame, when Sven holds me close, I can’t care about them anymore.