“Then why don’t you stop sleeping with bunnies?”
I let out a sigh. “See, that is my conundrum.”
“You like sleeping with bunnies?”
“They can be fun.” She scrunches up her nose at that. “Are you slut shaming those women?”
“No. Never,” she quickly adds. “They can do what they like. I just don’t like the idea of the website.”
“Not much you can do about it.”
“No one reads Reddit anyway,” she adds.
I nod. “Well, now that I’ve said too much, enjoy the rest of your day, and I’ll see you tomorrow, St. Pierre.”
The next day,Collette finds me in the hallway. Practice has ended, and some of the boys are meeting up at Murphy’s for lunch but I’m running late.
“I need to talk to you,” she says.
That sounds serious. “Good morning to you, too.”
She rolls her eyes at me. “I’m sorry.”
Huh. I stop and stare at her. Why is she apologizing to me? “What are you sorry for?”
“I know you told me not to look, but I did, I had to.”
Oh.
“The Reddit thing you told me about yesterday.”
“Yeah, I remember.”
“Well, now I feel bad teasing you over the puck bunny,” she confesses.
Aw. That is incredibly sweet that she feels bad for teasing me. Not sure if anyone has ever felt bad about that before.
“I’m fine.”
“Are you though?” Her brows pull together.
“Collette,” I say, placing my hands on her shoulders, those hazel eyes looking up at me as I tower over her. Damn it, she is beautiful. I could lose myself staring down into those pools of amber. “I’m fine. It’s been there for years. I’m used to it.” I inhale her citrus scent, letting it swirl around my nose. This is the closest I’ll ever get to her. I’ll take what I can.
She’s watching me like she’s trying to find the crack again, like the one I accidentally showed her yesterday, but I make sure to keep it tightly under wraps and don’t let it slip today.
Her hands come out and grab my wrists, and her skin touching mine sends goosebumps over me. “I couldn’t stop reading. It’s …” She exhales, and I notice the worry in her eyes for me. “It’s a lot.”
“I warned you,” I tell her as I try to let my hands fall from her shoulders, but she is still holding onto me. Now we are standing in the corridor holding hands. If her brothers see this, they are going to kill me, if anyone sees this, they are going to kill me. I quickly pull free of her touch, which surprises her.
“You did.” She pauses as she bites her bottom lip nervously. “I told Pierre and Felix.” I knew she would. “I know. I know. But I couldn’t just sit on it. They’re my brothers, they have a right to know what people were writing about them.”
“And?”
Her face changes to something softer and sadder than I’ve seen from her before. “Pierre wasn’t so bad. He was with Kitty for most of it, so there wasn’t much. But Felix … Felix had a phase after his breakup, before he met Harper. He was in a bad place and he …”
“I get it.”
“Women wrote things about him. Detailed things. And I watched him read it. I was sitting right there, and I saw his face and …” She swallows. “He tried to laugh it off, but I know it hurt him, especially as things with him and Harper are precarious.” I don’t say anything, I just listen.