Forever Pucked (19 page)

“I got the account.”

“Are these tears of happiness then?” She rummages around in her purse and pulls out a shredded tissue. Then she tries to blot my face with it.

“What’re you doing? Did you blow your nose with that?” I shield my face with my hands.

“No!” She inspects the tissue. “At least I don’t think so. But seriously, why are you crying?”

“I’ll explain when we’re eating.” The elevator doors open. There are people inside, so we smile politely and don’t say anything until we’re on the street.

“So you got the account, but what? Did something happen with Alex? Is he okay?”

“Alex is fine. At least I think he is.” I stop in the middle of the sidewalk and check my phone, to make sure.

I have six new messages from him. There are lots of kissy faces and emoticons with heart eyes. He’s also discovered how to make a jizzing penis out of the alternate symbols, as well as boobs.

“Alex is fine.” I show her my phone.

“Are those boobs?”

“Yeah.”

“What’s between them?”

“A dick, I think.”

“Right. Okay. He must be feeling better then.”

“Yeah.” I pocket my phone. I want to tell him in person that I got the account.

“So if Alex is okay and you got the account, why the tears? Are you PMSing? Wait. Oh my God, are you
pregnant
?”

“Seriously, Charlene?”

“Sorry. Jimmy’s been watching a lot of bad reality TV and then giving me a play-by-play of the episodes at lunch. I really miss you.” She side-hugs me. “So you’re definitely not pregnant?”

“No.”

“Okay, great, because I think we need drinks.”

We’re seated immediately. The host knows me, not just because we eat here at least once a week, but also because of Alex. We order drinks and then haul ass to the buffet.

Once we’re back at our table, Charlene returns to asking questions. “So you got the account, and you’re happy about that, right?”

I shove a dumpling in my mouth and nod while I chew. “Definitely happy. Nervous because it’s a big deal, but happy.” I give her the rundown, including the shitshow with the DTF mouth-fucking slides.

A forkful of noodles unravels on to the table. “Oh my God.”

“Yeah.”

“How did the Darcys react?”

“Well, Mitch has seen me mostly naked and heard me come, so, you know, it could’ve been worse.”

“What about Bunny?”

“She didn’t seem too concerned about my tongue in Alex’s mouth.”

“Well, that’s good, right?”

“Yeah. Definitely. She was really nice, offering to do lunch and Botox, or whatever.”

“I love that lunch and botulism are a thing.” Charlene pulls a face.

“Right? But she seems nice, despite that. I’m having a hard time getting past the swinger rumor, though. I keep examining her motives.”

“I honestly think Jimmy was being an asshole, but I can find out for you.” She picks up her phone and types away.

“What’re you doing?”

“Asking Darren.” Her phone rings, so she answers it. “I’m having lunch with Violet right now, so that’s not possible… I can’t excuse myself for a minute… Mmm-hmm. I understand that, and I’m okay with it.” She starts playing with the pearl necklace under her infinity scarf. “Yes, Darren. Which pink one? But I thought—of course. Right. I definitely want to be ready for that.” She touches the back of her hand to her cheek. “My question? Oh. I thought so. Thanks, sexy.”

She ends the call and sets her phone on the table, staring into space.

“Char?” I wave a hand in front of her face.

She snaps out of whatever trance she’s in. “Huh?”

“To swing or not to swing?”

“Oh, right. Darren says no; he doesn’t think it’s true.”

“But he doesn’t know for sure?”

“You can never be a hundred percent on anything, but he’s been playing with the guy for a long time, so he’s pretty confident.”

“Okay. That’s good. I’m still not sure I want to go to the spa with Bunny. I kind of like that my face moves.”

“Good point. Anyway, Alex is doing better?”

“Physically for sure. He’s still uncomfortable, but the bruises are healing, and he’s not walking like he belongs in an old folks’ home, so that’s a plus. He doesn’t really like needing to be taken care of, though. He gets frustrated.”

“He’s not really one to sit around and veg—none of those boys are. I know Darren’s missing his workout partner.”

“Yeah, so am I.”

“I didn’t know you worked out with Alex.”

“That’s not the kind of workout I’m talking about.”

Understanding dawns in her eyes. She looks around and lowers her voice when she asks, “Are things not good in beaverland? Is Daisy making that a challenge?”

“Daisy’s not really the problem.” I push the food around on my plate.

“Oh my God, did he pull a groin muscle or something? I know it was a hard hit. Why didn’t you say anything before now?”

“He didn’t pull a groin muscle. Super MC still works fine. It has more to do with Alex’s level of frustration than anything. He’s used to having a lot of stamina, and at the moment, well, he doesn’t, so I have to do all the work. Anyway, it’s good that I’ve been doing all that yoga with Sunny, ’cause my legs are getting a serious workout. Sex makes my abs hurt.”

“Right?” Charlene exclaims. “Some days it feels like I’ve done a P90X workout after a night with Darren.”

“Especially after away games. Sunny should come up with some kind of pre-sex yoga ritual so I don’t walk like a robot for three days afterward.” I’m joking about it, because otherwise I’m at risk of crying. I’m all over the place today with the emotions.

“Agreed.”

We’re silent for a minute—Charlene probably because she’s thinking about all the sex she’s been having and will be having tonight, and me because I’m thinking about all the sex I’m missing. Well, it’s not that the sex is missing, it’s that Alex isn’t in the right condition to bang on the beaver the way he usually does.

While I enjoy how sweet he can be, and how considerate he is during sex, I miss some of the intensity and aggression. But I know it will return.

“Honestly, Char, I can deal with the temporary lack of hot sexing. Mostly I’m glad he’s okay. It could’ve been so much worse.”

“But we know he’ll be fine.”

“That’s what the doctors are saying anyway.” The retrograde amnesia persists, with the hours surrounding the accident still missing, but otherwise he seems okay. I push my plate away. I’m so overwhelmed. Because fine is relative. Goddamnit. The tears start leaking out.

“Vi? Are you okay?”

I take a few deep breaths, trying to get myself under control. “I’m okay.”

“No, you’re not.”

“It’s been a rough couple of weeks. I just…I don’t know. I mean, now I have this account, and that’s awesome, but it’s going to be a lot of work, and right now all I can think about is being with Alex—and how much worse the accident could’ve been. He’s getting better, but he’s still a long ways from being totally fine. What if he’d had a serious brain injury? What if—” I can’t finish the sentence.

Charlene puts her hand over mine. “But he didn’t, and he’s okay. He’s going to be fine. You have to believe the doctors. It just takes time.”

“I know. But that’s this time. There’s no guarantee it won’t happen again.”

“Try not to think that way, Vi.”

I stare at my plate. “But it’s the reality of this profession. Bad things can happen.”

Char squeezes my hand tightly. “So what does that mean?”

“All I can really think about is how I don’t ever want to lose him.” I feel the wave building inside me. I’ve been holding it together decently since Alex came home from the hospital, but today it seems I’m due for a breakdown. A tear drops onto my sticky rice. “I love this job, but I’m starting to realize the nine-to-five isn’t something I’m going to be able to keep up over the long term. And I don’t think I’ll want to. So I need to figure out what’s realistic and adjust my plans.”

Charlene sits back, contemplating. “You’ve been thinking about this a lot.”

“I have.”

“I also think you should consider how stressed out you’ve been. Alex’s accident, the Darcy account, it’s a lot for anyone to handle.”

I set my fork down, my appetite gone—which is sad, because the food here is awesome. “I know, but it’s made me reevaluate what’s important.”

“Which is what?”

“I want to set a date for the wedding.”

“Seriously?”

“Yeah. If I’ve learned anything from this, it’s that life is too unpredictable to let my propensity for self-humiliation stop me from getting hitched. I want to spend the rest of my life with this man, and postponing the start of that because I’m going to embarrass myself is silly. That’s just the way I am. Waiting isn’t going to change it.”

-&-

After lunch I pack a box of files and head home, feeling lighter. I won over the Darcys, I’m going to work from home for a while, and as soon as the time is right, I’m going to tell Alex we should set a date.

I find him in the living room, lying on the couch with the remote control pointed at the TV. He rewinds and then presses play, turning up the volume. He doesn’t notice me watching him. I glance at the screen and realize too late it’s the footage from his injury. The crack when he hits the boards is amplified by the surround sound. Then the screaming fans drown out everything else.

The camera angle changes, giving me a different view of the events than I had at the game. While I was panicking, his teammates were checking for a response. The whole thing comes flooding back in a rush of fresh fear. I put my hand over my mouth to silence my sob, but I’m not quick enough.

Alex suddenly realizes I’m here. He stops the video and pats the cushion beside him. “C’mere.”

He’s wearing his current uniform of a hoodie and sweats, and I’m still in my dress pants and blouse. He moves over so I can get my ass on the sliver of cushion.

“Why are you watching that?” I ask with a sniffle.

“To see if it’ll jog my memory. It sure as hell explains why I look the way I do.” He cracks a smile.

I try to return it, but I can’t. “I’m glad Cockburn got a twenty-game suspension.”

“He deserved it.” He caresses my cheek. “You must have been so scared.”

I nod, working through the lump in my throat. We haven’t really talked about this, mostly because Alex doesn’t have any memory of the hit.

“When you didn’t get up, and then they wheeled you by me on that stretcher and you weren’t moving…I thought I was going to lose you. I couldn’t keep it together enough to be able to get in the ambulance with you. Sunny had to go, and all I could think was that I was never going to…” I don’t continue. The words are unnecessary.

“But I’m going to be okay now.”

I take a deep breath, trying to calm myself. I’ve purposely avoided the footage up to this point. “There was an hour or so when I didn’t know if I was ever going to be okay again. It was awful.”

“I’m sorry I scared you, baby.”

He doesn’t promise not to do it again, and I know it’s because he doesn’t want to lie to me. Which scares me even more. He reaches over, bringing my mouth to his. It’s a soft kiss, and there isn’t any tongue, but he finishes with a lip nibble. When he’s done, I back up a few inches so his eyes don’t merge into one.

“Let’s talk about something nice.” He glances at the clock. “You’re home earlier than I expected. Did the presentation go okay?”

“I got the account.”

“That’s awesome.” He means it; I can tell by the dimple that appears in his left cheek.

I kiss the divot. “I have a question about the Darcys.”

“Oh? What’s that?” He twirls a lock of my hair around his finger.

“There’s a rumor out there—”

“There’s always a rumor. What is it this time? The one about them being swingers?”

“How’d you know?”

Alex rolls his eyes. “People are assholes. They were invited to participate in an event at a hotel a couple of years ago. There were two parties going on the same night in the same venue. One was a fundraiser, and the other was for swingers. They accidently went to the wrong one for, like, a minute, but Darcy’s been fighting the rumor ever since.”

“Wow. People really are assholes.”

“Who told you that?”

“Dean.”

“I really don’t like that guy.”

“He was just being a jerk.” I trace the line of his eyebrow. “I have some more good news.”

“Oh? What’s that?”

“I talked to Stroker about working more from home.”

Alex blinks his surprise. “Really?”

“Really. And he said yes.”

“And you’re okay with that?” He skims my bottom lip with his thumb.

“I’m more than okay with it.”

This time when he smiles, I get both dimples.

I drop another kiss on his lips. I’m rewarded with a little tongue action. “Where’s your mom?”

“She went out to pick up more food. I might need to buy another fridge if she doesn’t stop soon.” We’re kiss-talking now, and Alex’s hand has started wandering lower, over my shoulder to my boob.

“The entire freezer is full of meals for the next three months. How long ago did she leave?”

“Maybe twenty minutes?”

“So she won’t be back for a while?” I finger one of the buttons on my blouse until it pops open, revealing cleavage.

“Probably not.”

“Wanna go upstairs so I can hug Super MC with my beaver?”

Alex pushes to a sitting position and nuzzles my boobs. “That sounds like the best fucking idea in the universe.”

Tricky Trickster

for the Win

VIOLET

My post-sex hair is damp, and I’m tucked into Alex’s side.

He brushes the hair away from my forehead. “I’ll be a lot happier when I can give you more than one orgasm at a time.”

“There are a lot of women in the world who have to fake every single orgasm they have, so I don’t think you should feel too bad about doling them out one at a time for a few weeks.”

Alex makes a disgusted sound. “What does that even say about the guys those women are with?”

“You can’t really fault them when the women are pretending to get off.”

“I don’t know. You’d think it’d be obvious when a woman is faking it.”