Irresponsible Puckboy (Puckboys, #2)

by Eden Finley

The thing about falling in love with your best friend is that it doesn’t happen in an instant. And if someone asked me why I loved him, I’m not sure I could come up with any one answer. He’s fiercely loyal. He cares about people, even if he doesn’t know them. His outlook on life might be naive, but fuck, everyone could use some naivety—to see the world through the eyes of someone who only sees the good in people. From the moment I walked into the Vegas locker room, Dex was my best friend. He was the first to welcome me, the first to offer to hang out, and he’s been constantly by my side ever since. Somewhere along the way, my feelings just happened. One day we were on the ice for our warm-up skate before a game, and after I did my usual stretching and talking to my crossbar asking for cooperation, Dex skated up to me and held out his fist for me to bump. It was our own pregame ritual, just between us. Fist bump, chest bump, hug, then a fake-out high five. In that order. Juvenile maybe, but the crowd who’s there early enough for warm-ups love it. It wasn’t supposed to become a thing, but it did. And it was in that moment, doing something we had done together thousands of times, that I realized I was in love with him. We lost that game in a shutout where I let in seven goals before Coach pulled me off and replaced me with Reeves, our backup goalie, who was a rookie at the time and couldn’t stop a bullet to save his life. I lost my game because I knew, without a doubt, I was ...