Page 12 of Pucking Bad Boys

God help me out.

I’ve always thought that people who wished for the ground to open up and swallow them whole were being overdramatic. But my family has no concept of privacy. And if that had been a problem when they lived in a spacious, six-bedroom house, it’s become painfully more evident in this three-bedroom apartment where I’ve had to crash on the couch.

“Enough, everyone.” Mom whisper-yells. “Kids, you go back to bed right now. I’m coming to check on you in fifteen minutes, and I better find the lights off. Leave your sister alone.”

If only.

“You’re quite welcome to come in … I don’t think I caught your name.”

“My name’s Becker, ma’am. And thank you for the invitation, but it’s getting late. I should get going. Night, Talia. I hope to see you around.”

My shoulders sag as I watch Becks’s form becoming smaller and smaller as he walks away.

I can’t help but notice that his butt is as perfect as I had imagined in his jeans.

As I close the front door behind me, the realization hits me that he didn’t even ask for my number.

It shouldn’t surprise me that Becks took the first chance to get away from the chaos my family was able to cause in a matter of minutes.

Star Cove is a big campus with lots of students. And to add insult to injury, I’m a senior and he’s a sophomore, so having classes in common isn’t impossible but not very likely.

We might never cross paths on campus, and even if we did, Tucker would probably finish the job my family started tonight and scare Becks off for good.

I’m not even one hundred percent sure he was going to kiss me before the front door opened and all hell broke loose.

If he wanted to see me again, he knows where my family lives, but I wouldn’t blame him if he stayed away from this madhouse.

He knows where I work, too. I guess I’ll know if I was the only one who felt this flirty vibe between us if he comes back to Joe’s looking for me.

Chapter 4

Family Matters

MACKLIN

Leave it to Coach Harrison to summon us for the first practice of the season on a Saturday morning. At seven a.m.

“Dude, watch it.” I snap as Heston walks right into me on our way to the locker room.

“Huh? Sorry, man. My bad.” The last two words are swallowed by a yawn. “I feel like a fucking zombie.”

I shake my head. “It’s been only two weeks since summer training ended. We’ve been showing up for morning skate even earlier all summer; you should be used to the early starts. Did you undo weeks of conditioning with a two week long party?”

It wouldn’t surprise me if Vaughn Heston was actually coming to practice straight from a party.

“Let’s just say,” he chuckles, confirming my suspicions. “That I tried to fit in all the wild parties I could in this two-week break.”

“You act as if we aren’t going to party during the year, anyway.” I roll my eyes.

He slaps my back. “Don’t worry, Captain. There’s nothing like the crisp air of the arena to wake me up.”

“Heston.” Tucker enters the locker room with Colsen and Nash in tow. “Are you already giving our captain a headache?”

Vaughn raises his hands in a defensive way. “Nope. I was just telling our captain that I made good use of our break to get some shit out of my system. Fuck knows that we’ll have to be disciplined now that the season’s about to start.”

Everyone in the locker room laughs at that statement.

“As if you knew the meaning of that word,” Colsen ribs him.