“He was talking about your tits,” I say. “What the hell was I supposed to do?”
“Ignore him,” she shouts at me. “That’s what Gasper does. He’s an instigator. He was trying to get you riled up, he succeeded, and they ended up winning the game because you lost control of your temper.”
“Because of what he said about you. Don’t I get any credit for being valiant?”
“I don’t need a white knight, Eli. I need someone I can depend on.”
“And clearly, just like your brother, you don’t think I can be that person.”
“Not after what I saw tonight. Seriously, you let him get under your skin, and you have a loss and a fat lip to show for it.” She slow claps. “Wow, great job, Eli.”
“Well . . . maybe if you didn’t throw up in my shoe, none of this would have happened,” I counter back because I’m the biggest moron on the face of the earth.
She sits up now. “You’re really going to blame my morning sickness on this? Is that the road you want to take?”
I scrub my hand over my face. “No, that’s not what I want to do. But . . . hell, Penny, he acted like you two have fucked in the past, and I didn’t like the way he was talking about it.”
She stands and closes the space between us so she’s only a few inches from me. She’s wearing a silk shirt that clings to her hardened nipples, and the shorts she’s paired them with match exactly with a lace trim at the hem. And she smells fresh, good, like she just got out of the shower. Combine that all with the fiery spirit igniting through her eyes, and I feel that yearning for her all over again, that burning desire that’s never stopped since my birthday.
“First of all, Remi and I have never done anything like that, ever. Second, it shouldn’t matter if we have because we’re not on that level. You and I are just trying to co-exist with this child. And thirdly, you are not in charge of me, nor are you in charge of defending me. I can hold my own, I don’t need you stepping in.”
“So I should have just let him say shit about you? Is that what you want?”
“I want you to realize that what you did was reckless, and something could have happened to you. And then what do I do? How do I explain that to a child who might be watching you on TV? How do I tell them that kind of behavior is unacceptable, yet Daddy can do it? I can’t.” She pokes me in the chest. “So that means you need to get your shit together.”
“You act like I fight all the goddamn time.”
“Once is enough to know you can’t be doing that anymore.”
“It’s part of the game, Penny,” I bemoan.
“It was a personal attack, and you know it. The puck hadn’t even dropped. You were just waiting for him to say something to justify your reaction.”
“Are you really defending him?” I ask.
“You’re impossible,” she says while attempting to walk past me, but I snag her by the waist, keeping her close. Her hair brushes over my bare shoulder, like silky strands enticing me. I push her hair behind her ear slowly, and I lower my head so I’m speaking close to her ear.
“I wasn’t putting up with shit that came out of his mouth about you, and I’m going to tell you right now, I won’t be putting up with it in the future. No one speaks about you like that, even if you’re just my friend. Got it?”
Her breath catches as her eyes travel up to mine. Intense, locked. They stay on mine for a second, then two, then three. I watch as she swallows carefully, her breath vibrating against my hand just as she looks away. Without a word, she slips into the bathroom and shuts the door behind her.
Looks like I’ll be waiting to brush my teeth.
Chapter Fifteen
PENNY
“Pizza is here,” Winnie calls out as she barges through my door. “And some side salads of course because fiber is something we all need.”
“You can just bring it over here and set it on the coffee table,” I say. The game is on. They haven’t started yet, but the announcers are talking about Pacey and how he’s been holding down the team lately despite the lack of defense from Eli.
They’ve compared his play from earlier in the season to recently, and it’s obvious that he’s having trouble, and it’s probably because of me.
“They talking about Hornsby again?” Winnie asks while taking a seat next to me and flipping open the pizza box.
“Yeah, basically about how he’s sucking. They think he should go down to the second line.”