Pucked Over (Pucked #3) (7 page)

“Anyway, you still haven’t told me what happened with you and Randy in that bathroom last night.”

“Nothing happened. He barged in on me like the jerk he is and prevented me from being able to pee.”

“That’s not what Miller said.”

“What?” The squeak in my voice is far too telling.

“Come on, Lily. I know something happened in there. It’s nothing to feel bad about. I mean, bathrooms are kind of gross, but that one is cleaner than most. As long as you used protection and washed your hands afterward, I’m sure it’ll be fine.”

“We didn’t have sex! Did Randy say we had sex?”

“No. I guess I assumed. I mean with the way you were freaking out—”

“I wasn’t freaking out.”

Sunny gives me a look.

“Okay, I was freaking out.”

She pulls into her parents’ driveway. There are five cars in it already. Sunny isn’t the best driver. Or parker. She always seems to end up running over her mother’s flowers, which is exactly what happens.

“Let’s talk about this later.” I step over a crushed bloom and head for the front door. Sunny has no option but to follow.

The house smells fabulous; the pungent aroma of cinnamon makes my mouth water. I kick off my shoes, and Alex immediately scoops me up in a hug.

“Little Lily! I didn’t get to see much of you last night. I’m glad you’re here.”

“You’re crushing me!” I laugh and hug him back anyway. I miss him sometimes, like I would a real brother. We used to bug the crap out of him when he was a teenager. Me more than Sunny probably. He figure skated with all the boys in the level above me, and some of them were so cute. Slutty, but cute. I was constantly looking for reasons to hang out by the Waters’ pool.

Once I made out with one of them. I was only in ninth grade. It was before I started dating Benji. Alex flipped his lid when he found out, and I got a serious big-brother lecture.

My Momma Two comes out of the kitchen in her frilly apron from the eighties. I’m almost positive her blouse has shoulder pads. Her hair is pulled up in a banana clip, and her bangs have been teased so they resemble a bath pouf. I didn’t even know they still made banana clips.

I’m pulled into more warm embraces. I’m not actually big on hugging, but the Waters family is. And with Sunny it’s more a habit than anything else. She’s one of the few people I don’t mind having in my personal space.

Miller’s in the kitchen, sitting at the breakfast bar with Sunny’s dad, Robbie, and Darren Westinghouse—he’s Alex’s best friend and another Chicago teammate. Robbie has essentially filled the missing father role in my life. He’s a serious pothead, but he’s brilliant, and I adore him.

The boys are shoving fruit into their mouths and talking about training. Miller spins on the bar stool and opens his arms wide, a huge grin on his face. “Lily!”

I give him a quick back pat and do the same with Robbie. I offer to help with brunch, but everything’s already done, so we bring the food out and sit down to eat.

Brunch at the Waters’ is always an event. Sunny’s a vegan, so there’s a selection of food specially prepared for her. The rest of the Waters family loves their meat, so heaps of bacon and sausage and eggs compliment the cinnamon buns, homemade waffles, and chocolate chip pancakes.

Violet and Charlene sit across from me and Sunny, with Momma Two to the right of Violet. She’s still talking about the engagement party.

After we stuff ourselves silly, the girls change into bathing suits and head outside. It honestly isn’t warm enough, but we’re all bundled in hotel-style bathrobes, so that helps. The guys have a tee time at one, so they’re packing up the car and getting ready to go. Daisy has plans to join us in a bit, once she’s done with dinner prep. That woman could spend her entire life in the kitchen. She’s like an eighties edition of June Cleaver.

“Is that steam?” I ask when I reach the pool.

Violet dips a toe in. “This is like a hot tub. I can’t even imagine what the heating bill is going to be for this.”

“Alex says he’s paying for it,” Sunny unties her robe and tosses it on a lounge chair. She shivers and then jumps in. “Oh! Wow! This is great. Come on in, girls!”

Violet undoes her robe and rubs her bare belly. “Look at this! I shouldn’t have put whipped cream on my waffles. Now we know what I’ll look like three months after Alex knocks me up.”

Sunny pops out of the water, catching only the end of the comment. “You’re pregnant?”

“What? God, no! I’m not having Alex’s pretty little babies. Not yet, anyway. First we have to do the wedding thing. Then I need to be a wife for a while. Then babies. In that order. With years between all those things.” She pushes her stomach out further. “I’m just pointing out how much stress this damn engagement party is causing. Now I’m sporting this gross dairy belly.”

Charlene pats Violet’s tummy, and Violet pushes her in the water, but not before she seizes Violet’s hand and yanks her in too. Before I get in, I hit the pool house and grab a bunch of noodles so we can float. I drop my robe on a chair with one of those heating lamps beside it, then sit down on the edge of the pool.

“Seriously. How is this fair?” Violet motions to me.

“How is what fair?” I look down at myself.

“You ate just as much as me. Where’s your food baby?”

I run a hand self-consciously over my tummy. “Food baby?”

“Yeah. Food baby. You don’t have one.”

“Um
…
”

“Don’t listen to her. She’s bitchy because of the engagement party.”

“And Alex wouldn’t put out last night. Don’t forget that part.” Violet swims over to take a pool noodle. Except she stops right in front of me and grabs my knees. “Holy shit!” She wrenches them apart. “Is that a hickey?”

High up on the inside of my thigh is a large reddish-purple mark. I totally would have brought my bathing suit with the skirt if I’d been thinking. “It’s a bruise.” Made by Randy’s mouth.

“Liar!” Violet sticks her head between my legs and pokes at it. “That’s totally a hickey! Did Balls lick your beaver? Did you let Balls ball you?”

“Oh my God! You’re the worst!” I’m laughing even though I’m embarrassed, because Violet is the most ridiculous human in the world. I put a hand on her forehead, intending to push her away.

“Uh, Violet?” Alex’s deep voice makes us both turn.

Darren’s hands are tucked into his pockets, and he’s wearing a secret smile. He looks over at Charlene and raises an eyebrow. She does the same in return. What is that about?

Miller’s expression is priceless. His mouth is hanging open. “What the shit do you girls do when we’re not around?”

“Stop being a pervert, Buck! She has a h—”

I clamp a hand over Violet’s mouth.

“I can’t watch this. I feel dirty right now. I’m waiting in the car.” Miller turns around and walks back into the house.

“Baby, c’mere.” Alex crooks a finger and beckons her over.

Violet doggy-paddles to him, and Alex crouches to meet her. His eyes immediately dropping to her floating boobs. His gaze shifts back up. “Is there anything you feel you need to tell me?”

“About what?”

“I don’t know; maybe you did some experimenting in college?”

“Oh my God, you’re as bad as Buck! Lily has a hickey! Near her beaver!”

“It’s a bruise!”

Violet looks over her shoulder at me. “Fine. It’s a bruise. Made by Balls’ balls slapping on your thighs!”

Alex glances in my direction, his brow furrowed. I take the opportunity to slip into the water and avoid looking at him. I don’t need him to know anything about what did or didn’t happen with Randy’s balls.

Charlene comes to my rescue. “Don’t listen to her, Alex. She’s giving Lily the gears. And she likes to say balls, although I’m sure you’re familiar with her mouth. On yours.”

“Nice, Char.” Violet turns back to Alex. “Gimme kisses and then go hit some balls with sticks with fat heads.”

Alex puts his hands under her arms and lifts her out of the water to her waist. It’s impressive. He whispers something to her.

“You can slide your monster cock between them later if you pet my beaver.”

Alex grins and drops her back in the water. She goes under and comes up spluttering. “No boob sex for you later! My beaver’s hiding in her den for the rest of the weekend!”

“Uh-huh. We’ll see about that.”

Darren’s still wearing that half-grin. He winks at Charlene. “See ya later, sexy.”

She blows him a kiss and bites her lip as he saunters away with Alex. Darren’s always so quiet. It makes me wonder what the deal is with him.

Violet slides a noodle under her knees and another under her arms. Then she closes her eyes and tilts her head back. “This engagement party is ruining my sex life.”

I float on my stomach with a noodle under my arms because my boobs are molehills compared to Violet’s mountains. “Shouldn’t you be excited about it?”

“Alex is more than excited enough for both of us, and so are our mothers. It’s insanity. Whoever heard of an engagement party with a guest list of more than two hundred people?” Violet scratches her arm. “I’m going to do something to embarrass myself and Alex.”

“You’ll be fine, Vi,” Charlene reassures her.

Violet gives her a look. “Seriously? Do you even remember my mom’s wedding?”

“What happened at your mom’s wedding?” Sunny asks.

“Oh, you know, the usual. I humiliated myself in front of all of my parents’ friends.”

“I’m sure it wasn’t that bad,” I offer.

“I told my mom I didn’t want to give a speech, because I’m not comfortable getting up in front of that many people. But she was convinced I’d be fine because it was all people we knew.” Violet shakes her head. “When it was my turn I got up, tripped over the bottom of my dress, and face-planted into Buck’s junk. It set off a chain reaction. He stumbled into the podium and knocked it over, and it landed on the cake! I ruined my mom’s wedding.”

“You didn’t ruin it, Vi. It was just a hiccup,” Charlene says.

Vi turns to me and Sunny. “That’s not even the worse part! My boob popped out of my dress, and everyone saw it! There were, like, three hundred people at the wedding!”

“There were only seventy-five. It was small,” Charlene corrects.

“Well, it seemed like three hundred!” Violet huffs. “The whole team is coming to the engagement party! All of them. And they’ve all seen me naked. Or parts of me naked. It’s embarrassing. What if I have another wardrobe malfunction? What if I say something stupid or talk about Alex’s dick, which we all know is highly likely.”

Last year rumors circulated that Alex had gotten caught having sex in the locker room with an unknown girl. The claims were never substantiated. We all know the truth, though; Alex got kicked out of a game, and Violet went to see if he was okay. It was close to the end of the third period. The team walked into the locker room right after they finished, or at least that’s what Sunny told me.

Apparently Miller and Alex almost had it out right there. I’m not much for violence, but I would have paid to see that fight. I did get to see Miller punch Alex out on national TV, and then I saw Alex return the favor in real life, so that’s something.

“Yeah, but you’ve been around them all a ton since then. I’m sure they don’t even remember at this point,” Sunny says.

“Oh, they remember all right. That Kirk guy mentions it every time I see him.”

“Ick. He’s such a pig,” Charlene replies.

“Right?” Sunny shakes her head. “Miller says I’m never supposed to be in a room alone with him.”

“Why would he say that?” I ask. I have no idea who they’re talking about.

“Kirk’s one of the guys on the team. He’s a dirtbag. He’s getting a divorce because he can’t keep his winkie in his pants,” Charlene explains.

“He’s not coming to the engagement party, is he?” Sunny asks.

“Oh, he sure is. Alex didn’t want to invite him, but we couldn’t very well leave him out since the rest of the team is coming.” Violet rubs at a spot on her stomach. “Goddammit! I have hives again. We need to talk about something else.” She points at me. “What’s going on with you and Horny Nut Sac?”

“Who?”

“Randy Balls. Come on. Spill it. He’s clearly had his face in your beaver. Alex is all worried and shit. I’d be jealous if he didn’t constantly refer to you as his ‘other baby sister’ and my rack wasn’t way bigger than yours.”

I protectively cup my pint-sized boobs. Benji always said they were barely there and I’d better get a good job so I could afford to pay for an upgrade. He loved pointing out girls with more cleavage than me. Violet fills out her bikini top in a way I couldn’t even if I wore one of those super-extreme push-up bras. I bought one of those once, and Benji laughed at me. God, he was such a jerk.

“I’m not being mean,” she adds after a moment, probably because I haven’t come up with anything to say. “Just honest. Alex loves boobs so, so much. He tries to use mine as pillows every night. Maybe he got weaned from breastfeeding too early or something. I don’t know. Anyway, what was I talking about? Oh, right. Balls.”

She looks at me expectantly.

“There’s nothing going on.”

“Come on, Lily,” Sunny kicks me in the water.

I sigh. “We messed around. That’s it. It’s not a big deal.”

“Liar face!” Violet shouts. “You are the color of a tomato. How was the sex? I hear you were doing it in the bathroom last night.”

“We didn’t have sex in a bathroom!” I wish I could sink to the bottom of the pool right now. I’m not big on talking about this kind of stuff with anyone but Sunny, let alone people I don’t know all that well. I’m a private person. Except when I’m locked in a bathroom with Randy, apparently.

“I’m not judging. I had sex in a locker room, and all of Alex’s teammates heard my come moans. Everyone needs a little love now and again. Sometimes it’s nice to get laid for the sake of getting laid. Besides, that Benji guy you were with before seems like a real dick. Randy’s a perfect rebound bone: he’s hot, well built, and can probably screw like a stallion.”

Just then, Daisy comes outside in her hot pink bathing suit with huge flowers on it, putting an end to the conversation.

But maybe Violet’s right. I’ve been looking at this all wrong. As long as I’m smart about it, using Randy as a rebound is exactly what me and my boobs need to forget about Benji for good.