Oh, who the hell was I kidding? It hadn’t just been his career I’d stalked online. I’d kept up with whatever gossip I could find on the hockey blogs, and there was plenty of it. Realizing he had marriedherright after college had been a punch to the gut, and when they’d had a baby just a few months later, I tried to put him out of my mind for good.
Fat chance.
“I’m not going to hook up with one of my brother’s players,” I told them instead.
“Why not?” Peyton asked. “The paper had pictures of some of these guys.” She made an exaggerated fanning movement by her face. “Come to mama.”
“It would be inappropriate.”
Peyton threw up her hands. “You need some inappropriate in your life, girl!”
I looked to Rosa for support and was shocked to see a dreamy expression on her face. “I saw those pictures,” she murmured. “A few of them havebeards.”
“Beards aren’t bad,” Peyton agreed. “The whole lumberjack thing can be hot. I bet one of those beards would feel particularly nice scratching between my thighs.”
We all burst into laughter. “I cannot believe you’re responsible for raising a child,” I muttered, wiping at my eyes. “You’re a menace.”
Peyton sighed. “I’m pretty sure my menacing libido is the reason why Ihavea child.”
“Poor Elliot,” Rosa said. “You’re going to be giving him hook-up tips as soon as he gets to high school.”
Peyton gave an exaggerated shudder. “Please don’t talk about him going to high school. I refuse to believe that I will ever be old enough to have a kid in high school.”
“Don’t worry,” I assured her. “You have many years of being the hot cool mom ahead of you.”
She pointed at me. “You’d think the hot cool mom would get laid more often, wouldn’t you? Another reason for you to go out and get some—I need to live vicariously through you.”
Rosa laughed. “Give me a break. You get more action than the two of us combined.”
“That’s really not saying much,” Peyton shot back.
Rosa looked at me. “She has a point. If this dry spell gets any worse, I think my hymen might grow back.”
That had us giggling into our martini glasses again. Still chuckling, Peyton raised her hand, catching the eye of a nearby waitress. “We’re going to need a few more of these.”
“Yeah,” Rosa agreed, handing the waitress her empty glass. “You should probably just keep ’em coming.”
An hour later and I was well past tipsy and quickly on my way towards being flat-out drunk. My copious alcohol consumption was my only excuse for not running the hell away when Peyton pulled a single dice from her purse.
“I’m not playing Truth or Dare or Drink with you,” Rosa muttered, her voice already a little slurred.
“We have to play!” Peyton argued. “This is the first night I’ve had a sitter in weeks.Andit’s Grace’s last weekend of freedom before she becomes a slave to all those little demons.”
“My students aren’t demons,” I protested, but Peyton was busy taking the shot glasses and bottle of whiskey she’d apparently requested from the waitress while Rosa and I were too tipsy to notice.
“Why does the start of the school year mean we have to play this dumb game?” Rosa pressed.
Peyton glared at her. “I thought we agreed that our girl needs to let her hair down. What better way to do that than to get her hammered and dare her to do a bunch of slutty stuff?”
“Good point,” Rosa agreed and I sat up straighter, an alarm bell going off in my head.
“Hang on a second?—”
Peyton ignored me. “Okay, we remember the rules?”
“Wait,” I tried again. “I don’t think I like this plan.”
Rosa patted my hand. “Just trust us.”
