“Shut up, shut up!” she growled, flopping back on her seat and glaring straight ahead. “Fine. How many days, two?”
“You gave me ten dollars,” I reminded her. “For the insult, I think ten days.”
“You must have been hit in the head with the puck one too many times,” she muttered. “Three.”
“A week.”
“God, I’m stuck in a nightmare. Fine!”
Shutting off a smile, I changed the conversation. “So, you’re not joining in the celebration at Mulligan’s?”
“As long as it’s away from you, yes!”
I sighed heavily. “Why all this rancor, Blue?”
“Don’t call me that!” Those brown eyes snapped to me.
“But you decided to flash me your underwear.” I slanted her a fake-perplexed look. “G-strings, loved them, by the way.”
I recalled all too well that evening as we walked out of Grace Cathedral after the wedding rehearsal. The wind had whipped up her short skirt, revealing her bluebikinipanties.
Her mouth dropped open then snapped shut as if lost for words, then another growl erupted. “The wind lifted my freakin’ skirt, and I don’t wear G-strings, ever, you-you butthead!”
“Names, now?” I rubbed my whiskered jaw and stifled my laugh, then let her be. She lapsed into a sulky silence and proceeded to ignore me for the rest of the drive to Pacific Heights.
As twilight rolled in, I finally brought the truck to a halt outside the gates of the imposing, neo-classical, two-story mansion she called home. I knew where she lived since I’d dropped her off after the rehearsals. “Here we are. All safe and sound.”
She opened the door and jumped out of the truck before I could go and help her down. “I hate you!”
“Ah, Blue, you wound me.” But her fast exit worried me. She could have tripped, fallen off the running board, and hurt herself. And because I couldn’t resist, “Too bad you’re stuck with me for the next week.”
Mouth tight, she grabbed her bag from the floorboard, stuck out her tongue, making me laugh, then slammed the door shut. I waited as she stomped off to the small side gate, near the massive one, then I slid down the passenger window and called out, “I’ll be here bright and early! Pack a bag.”
She spun around, eyes shooting daggers. “I’m traveling to you and leaving at the end of each day! There’s no packing of bags!”
“But you don’t know where I live, Blue.” I winked at her. She opened and slammed the gate shut, and stalked off. Smiling, I eased back into the traffic and headed toward my apartment.
Knowing where Charli came from, the crème de la crème of society, no wonder she looked at me as if rats had dragged me out of the sewers. She wouldn’t be wrong.
Trailer trash and a good girl never did mix.
But then, I never let anything stand in the way of what I wanted, be it in the game or in life. And if this was the only way to get to her, and shatter that damn pole she used as a weapon between us, then so be it.
For the first time in forever, outside of playing hockey, I couldn’t wait for tomorrow.
