Page 16 of Risking the Pucking Defense

“Jesus Christ. Not you too,” Calvin groans.

“What? There’s nothing wrong with a little romance, Calvin. Pick one up, you might learn a thing or two.”

“Pfft, there isn’t anything a book can teach me about women.”

Silence.

“Did he…did he really just say that?” Linc asks before every single one of us erupts in laughter.

“Yeah, I think he did,” Rett agrees.

“What? It’s true. I know exactly what to do to get them screaming.”

“Bet you could make it happen faster after a few chapters,” Handsy mutters.

“Wait. You really mean it?”

“Does he listen to nothing?” Kodie mutters. “Some people can’t be helped. Excuse me,” he says, draining his glass and pushing his chair back. “I promised my girl a dance.”

We all turn and watch as he stalks toward Casey. The second she sees him coming, she stops dancing, her eyes dropping to his feet and then climbing all the way up his body until she finds his eyes.

“Sutton shouldn’t be watching that,” Rett muses.

“I’m sure she’s more than used to them,” Handsy points out. “And he’s got a point. You guys are fun and all, but…” He takes off, making a beeline for Freya. Linc and Rett are right behind him.

“And then there were two. Oh, Darcy,” Killer calls as our newest trainer walks past. “You’re single, right? Come and join us.”

“Hey, uh…yeah. Sadly,” he mutters before taking one of the recently vacated seats.

“We should do shots and then choose our prey,” Killer suggests.

“This is a wedding, not a frat party,” Darcy points out.

“Exactly my point. Gotta make our own fun where we can.”

Darcy looks as unconvinced as I am.

“Take her, for example,” Killer says, pointing at a woman in a red dress on the other side of the room. “She came with that guy next to her. But,” he adds, “he’s spent the entire day staring at the woman in the silver dress.”

“Jesus Christ,” Darcy mutters, dragging his hand down his face.

“So you think I should go for the woman in red, too?”

“That’s what you took from that?” Darcy asks.

“Yeah, you’re right. I’m gonna give it a shot. The guy clearly wants Silver. I’m doing my thing for mankind by letting him off the hook.”

“What if Red doesn’t go for you?” Darcy asks.

“What if she doesn’t…dude, have you seen this?” Killer says, gesturing to his body. “Of course she’s gonna go for me. I’m a hockey player. That dude is like…an accountant or some shit.”

Darcy and I both watch him go, and much to our irritation, Red spots him coming and obviously checks him out.

“Well then,” Darcy mutters.

“Yeah.”

We watch for a few more minutes, but when it becomes even more obvious that Killer is going to get his way, we both turn our backs on them.