Page 103 of Bad Wolf
Wren’s answer gives me a second to weigh if I want to take it back. She’s giving me an out, but it’s a second I end up not needing.
I bend to make eye contact, my mouth only an inch away from her plush lips.
“Be my girlfriend again, Wren. You’re my dream girl.”
“Okay,” she breathes, and I take her mouth in another kiss.
When I pull back for air, I make sure we’re on the same page.
“So, we’re a boyfriend and a girlfriend who fuck and date?”
She laughs, “I think that’s literally the definition of boyfriends and girlfriends, but yeah,” The smile she has plastered across her face right now and her big soulful eyes blinking up at me has my heart growing another size within my chest.
Boyfriends also fall madly in love with their girlfriends, and I think I’ve wasted enough time being cautious.
I’m ready to take a leap of faith.
CHAPTERTWENTY-FOUR
WREN
“Can I help you?”I want to say,I don’t know, can you?but refrain, and turn to see a girl about my age. She’s kitted out in her Wolves uniform, made up of a long-sleeved teal polo shirt and black pants. I’ve perched my butt against the cold cinderblock wall outside the team’s home locker room.
Earlier, Knox gave me a jersey and the directions to get here from my seat, with strict instructions to wait for him after the game.
My heart soared as I clutched the material in my hand and dashed to change as he left for the arena, and the first home game since returning home from the West Coast a few days ago.
“I’m okay, thanks,” I tell her, “I’m just going to wait here for Knox.”
He was pulled off to the side of the ice after scoring the overtime goal, giving me a chance to make my way here.
There was already a crowd starting to form, but the security guard knew who I was without me needing to tell him, don’t ask me how, and informed me I needed to stand right here.
“Oh, fans and bunnies have to stay on that side of the barrier,” she says, wrinkling her nose up in disdain and pointing to where a swarm of scantily clad, freezing cold women stand waiting for—actually I don’t know what they’re waiting for.
Do the players just walk out after showering and dressing, scan the crowd and say,“you’ll do”? Hmm, I’ll have to ask Knox later.
But back to this mean girl wannabe standing in front of me.
“Just do yourself a favor and stay on that side. Only family and club personnel are allowed here. Is it Knox Madden you’re waiting for?” she asks, her chin rising, “Because if it is, I wouldn’t bother.”
My eyes bug out of my head and I take a breath. Watching her as she scans me from my chunky booted feet, up my ripped jeans, oversized jersey, covered by my leather jacket and my hair that I’ve let do whatever.
This girl is in serious need of a slap, but I’m curious as to what she meant by her little comment.
“What do you mean?”
“He doesn’t really vibe withtrashy.”
I drop my foot that was pushing against the wall and take a step forward, about to tell her to go fuck herself when Knox appears out of nowhere, stepping in front of her, “Brenna, meet my girlfriend, Wren.” The words bite and I watch over his shoulder as her face twists and fists clench.
“Your…but you said…”
“Fuck off back to where you scurried from before I tell Coach all about how you collect rookie dicks like that’s your actual job.”
She gasps and steps back, but I’m still frozen in place, that one word bouncing around my head like a pin ball in a machine.
I may wear nicer clothes to work and have a job I’m proud of. I might love my employer like family and have an actual savings account, but really, I’m still that girl, aren’t I? The girl who threw her scholarship away.