Cement Heart(10)

Michelle sat up straight and gasped as Big Mike cringed, shutting his eyes tight.

“That’s my cue!” I hopped up and slapped Mike on the shoulder on my way out of the room. “See ya tomorrow, buddy. Nice seeing you again, Michelle!”





“WHAT’S UP, LADIES?” I exclaimed as I crashed loudly through the wooden doors of the Minnesota Wild locker room.

Everyone turned in my direction briefly and then went back to whatever they were doing, except for Brody and Big Mike, who rolled their eyes in unison.

I hung my bag on my hook and turned toward them. Brody’s arms were crossed over his chest as he eyed me suspiciously. “Why are you so chipper?”

“Because I’m young and alive and drop-dead gorgeous,” I bragged.

“You’re not that young, and you’re definitely not drop-dead gorgeous, but you are alive, so one out of three ain’t so bad.” Brody laughed.

Big Mike glared at me. “Barely alive.”

“Oh, shit.” I stared back at him, suddenly remembering the tit incident from the night before. “How bad was it after I left?”

Brody scrunched his eyebrows and looked back and forth between the two of us. “What did I miss?”

“This moron”—Big Mike smacked my chest hard with the back of his hand—“doesn’t know how to watch his mouth around kids. Matthew asked Michelle what a tit was last night.”

The edges of Brody’s lips turned white from him pushing them together so hard as he tried not to laugh.

“It’s not funny!” Mike grumbled.

Brody nodded in agreement but didn’t keep his composure for long. His hand slapped over his mouth as he let out a big laugh. “I’m sorry, but it’s fucking hysterical.”

Brody laughing made me laugh, and eventually even Mike cracked a smile.

“Okay, seriously. How bad was it?” I asked, feeling almost guilty, but not really.

“It was”—Mike let out a heavy sigh—“not great. She explained to him what a tit was and why we don’t use that word. Then she marched around the kitchen mumbling something about you being grounded from the house until the kids go to college.”

“Grounded?” I busted out laughing again. “I haven’t been grounded since… ever.”

“Bullshit,” Brody disagreed. “There’s no way you were never grounded as a teenager.”

“It’s true. I was a fucking angel. Still am,” I teased as I pulled my shirt over my head and tossed it in my bag.

“Holy shit, everyone back up.” Brody held his arms straight out to his sides and took a giant step back. “Lightning is going to strike the locker room any second.”

“So wait,”—I ignored him and looked at Mike—“since we’re grounded, does this mean you’re not coming over tonight?”

Mike’s eyes darted to Brody’s and back to mine. “What’s tonight?”

“You have the memory of a fucking goldfish,” I said as I picked a towel up off the bench and whipped it at his head. “Poker night, remember?”

Brody ran his hands through his hair. “Oh, shit. I forgot.”

“Tough,” I barked at him. “You have to be there, both of you.”

Brody held his hands up in front of him defensively. “Relax, I’m going. I just forgot.”

Mike nodded. “I’ll be there too. Who else will be there?”

“I texted Andy, Viktor, and Louie, but I’ve only heard back from Louie so far.”

Mike glanced around the room to make sure everyone was out of earshot. “Oh I’m sure Louie responded the second he got your text.” He laughed as he sat down on the bench to lace up his skates. “He’s so far up your ass that when you open your mouth to talk, I see his eyes staring at me from the back of your throat.”

The sentence was barely out of Big Mike’s mouth when Louie popped his head around the corner. “Viper, are you going on the ice or working out first?”

Brody let out a loud roar as he dropped to the bench and high-fived Mike, who was laughing just as hard.

“Uh, not sure. Probably the weight room,” I answered.

“Okay.” He nodded and disappeared back around the corner.

I turned around to Brody and Mike, who were still laughing so hard they could hardly breathe. “Fuck you both. Be at my place at eight o’clock.” I grabbed my iPod and headed out toward the weight room.

“You sure we can’t come earlier?” Big Mike teased in between breaths. “I can think of at least one person who’d like to get there earlier.”

I flipped him off and kept walking.