Chapter 2 #2
Right now, with him standing here? It’s absolutely true. I’m not allowed to see her ass, so no one else should see it either.
“Ew.” Mollie pulls a face, running a hand over her butt. “Don’t talk about my ass. It’s gross. And Thorne can say something to me if he has a problem with a girl in a short dress.”
“Nope.” I repress a smirk and shake my head. “Not going there.”
“That’s the smartest thing you’ve ever said.”
Gordie barks and runs up to Mollie, shoving his head under her hand and lolling his tongue. She kneels, straight up flashing me her hot pink panties, leaving me slightly dazed as she pets my dog.
“Who’s the best member of the Thorne household?” she asks Gordie. “Is it you? I heard it’s you.”
My dog whines and rolls over for a chance at belly rubs. Traitor.
I fix my gaze on her shoes, since that seems the safest place for me to look. She has a pair of Converse sneakers in every color of the rainbow.
When she leans down and kisses Gordie’s snout, I feel something dark and bitter wash over me.
She's laughing at something my dog just did, and it makes her whole face do the wonderful thing it does. Her cheeks flush, her nose wrinkles. Her lips curl up. She’s open and unguarded, and I track it like some kind of deranged archivist. Mollie has no idea that I've been cataloguing that particular expression of hers for a year.
“Gordie!” I call my dog before I realize I’m doing it. He snaps to attention, trotting over without a backward glance at Mollie.
She sticks her tongue out at me. “You are such a killjoy.”
I ruffle my dog’s fur. “Funny, usually people say I’m a delight. It must just be your charming personality that brings out my bad side.”
She checks that Rosie isn’t looking, then flips me the bird. I notice that her sparkly nail polish today is bright green. With the other colors she’s wearing, it’s slightly jarring.
“Very mature.”
“Speaking of mature, don’t you have to check out some old folks' homes? Get a stronger prescription for reading glasses? See your doctor about that pesky back pain?”
I suck my teeth. “Shut up.”
“No, you.”
“Really?” Beck looks between us with a sigh. “I can’t take you two anywhere. Rosie is so much more grown up than you.”
“She started it,” I reply coolly.
“As if.” Mollie stands up and brushes her knees. She looks over at Rosie, who is inspecting something in the grass. “Rosie, whatcha got?”
“A friend.” The little girl crouches, holding something trapped underneath her hands.
Beck’s head snaps to her, his dad senses activated. “Like a worm?”
“It’s a–” She freezes, jerks her hands away, and lets out the most terrifying wail. “Ow!! Daddy!!!” she cries, and immediately dissolves into hot, angry tears.
“Shit.” As Beck swoops in to grab Rosie, I hold my dog back and search for whatever bit her. A snake? A bat? I scan the ground, finally fixing on a black wasp. “Oh f– fudge. Beck, I think it was a wasp.”
Mollie grabs Gordie by the collar and hauls him away. The wasp suddenly takes flight and I jump back, leery. Poor Rosie continues howling as loudly as a four-and-a-half-year-old can. Big, wet tears roll down her face.
Beck bounces his daughter in his arms, soothing her. “We’re going. Moll, I know we were supposed to do dinner–”
Mollie shoos him away. “Don’t worry about it. Go take care of our girl.”
“Thanks. Thorne can make sure you get home okay.”
Her lips thin. I can feel her vibrate with the need to tell him that she doesn’t need me to do anything. But she bites back her protest and smiles, nodding stiffly. “Love you!”
“Love you too.”
And then it’s just Mollie, Gordie, and me, standing awkwardly in the park.
I shove my hands in my pockets. She skewers me with her hazel gaze, her mouth balling up. “Sooooo.” She fidgets, taking a step back. “I guess I’m going to head out.”
“You headed home? We’ll walk you.”
Mollie side-eyes me as Gordie bumps her knee with his big head. “I really don’t want you walking me anywhere. But you’re with this guy, who I very much adore.”
“That’s what all the ladies say.” It’s a dumb thing to say and I regret it when Mollie glares at me.
“You are such a dork. God, I don’t know how you’re always waist-deep in one-night stands. Thank god you’re good-looking, huh?”
Picking up Gordie’s leash, I grin. “All I hear is that you think I’m a babe.”
“You’re annoying is what you are.”
“Yeah?” I flex my biceps. “Hockey Insta thinks I’m the hottest player in the league.”
She scoffs. Scoffs! “That was one poll from three years ago.”
“So you admit it.” My smile widens. “You’ve been stalking me for years and you’re finally ready to come clean.”
“Ohmigod.” She throws up her hands and walks away, leaving Gordie and me to follow. I don’t know what it is about this girl that just makes me want to tease her. Normally, I’m pretty smooth with women. At the very least, I’m nice. But something about Mollie makes riling her up irresistible to me.
Maybe it’s because I’ve known her since I joined the Seattle Havoc and met her brother five years ago. It could be a big brother thing… except her real big brother doesn’t tease her mercilessly.
It only takes me a few quick strides to catch up with Mollie as she heads out of the park and down the street lined with saplings and high-rise buildings. She arches an eyebrow. “Still here?”
“Like I’d let you walk around the city alone.”
“Let me?” She makes a sound I’m fairly certain is a harrumph. “Thorne, I grew up in Texas, okay? Can’t nobody fuck with me.”
“You’re an extremely fair-skinned woman who weighs 125 pounds, all in. The sun and wind alone have a decent chance of taking you out.”
“Thorne!” She slides me a horrified look. “Hasn’t anybody told you that it’s rude to guess a woman’s weight?”
“I’m pretty confident in my guess.” I’ll admit that I got her medical records by paying a fan who works at her doctor’s office a fat wad of cash and a few autographs.
Mollie was playing her cards very close to her chest when she had her career-ending injury.
Beck complained to me that she was keeping him in the dark about her treatment and prognosis.
So yeah, I went to Dr. Burke’s office, turned on the charm, and signed a whole stack of posters for the office staff. The end result was that I had some very up-to-date information about what was going on with Mollie’s ankle. And… all her other info, to boot.
What’s that they say about the ends justifying the means?
I didn’t mean to creep on her. Really, I didn’t. But then I got a taste of her, of knowing things about her that I’m not supposed to. And now? Let’s just say it’s an addiction.
“Hello?” Mollie scowls at me, snapping her fingers in my face. “Where did you go? Pay attention when I yell at you.”
“I’m listening,” I lie. “You were telling me how muscly and handsome I am.”
The neighborhood gets sketchier the further we walk from the park. No more trees and shiny high-rises; here there are blocks of utilitarian concrete apartment buildings, sketchy stores selling vape juice, and hole-in-the-wall bodegas.
“Hilarious.” She crosses her arms. “Feel free to fuck off at any time.”
“Nah. I’m going to see you to the door of your hovel.”
“I know you have four or five puck bunnies praying that today’s the day you’ll call them. Tell me, when you’re a manwhore, is it hard to remember their names after a while? Monica, Monique, Mona, Katie, Kaylee, Keira?”
For a moment, I’m too stunned by her accusation to say anything. Because I was a manwhore. Was. Past tense. I’m reformed.
I stopped sleeping with other women the day Mollie joined the team. It wasn’t a decision I announced, or examined too closely. I just looked across the facility on her first day and something in me went very quiet and very certain. That was the end of it. I haven't touched anyone since.
But I haven't touched her, either.
And I'm not going to.
“You haven’t been a very observant stalker if you think that’s still the case,” I tell her once I’ve recovered my wits. “Don’t you have to know my schedule at least a little to qualify as my biggest fan?”
“I’m not even a regular fan, much less your biggest.” Mollie blushes so hard she looks like she’s having a coronary.
“Swimfan says what?”
Her face contorts. “What?”
“I knew it.” She probably wasn’t even alive when that movie came out. This is yet another reason why Mollie and I are ships passing in the night.
We’re almost at her apartment, so I stride ahead, eager to change the subject. “Oh, look. Here we are.”
Mollie looks up, blinking, at her building. “I didn’t realize we’d walked so far.”
“Time flies when you’re bickering.”
Mollie ignores that, looking down at Gordie instead. She pets him behind the ears, using both of her index fingers at once. Gordie lets out a whine of pleasure; I can’t blame him in the least. I wouldn’t mind being petted by her, either.
"Can I ask you something?" she asks softly.
Her tone makes my chest tighten. “You can ask. Not sure if you’ll like the answer.”
I’m halfway joking, but Mollie glances up at me, her cheeks bright pink. What does she need, a favor or something?
“You know what?” She clears her throat. “Never mind. I… I was going to ask you to film something, but we can do it tomorrow. There’s no reason to work on Sunday.”
Giving her a puzzled expression, I shrug. “If you say so.”
“I do.” Her gaze darts away. “See you around, Thorne.”
She heads to the front door of her apartment, scans her card and slips inside. I watch her go.
Then I walk Gordie down the block and find a comfortable spot on the stoop of an abandoned building. From here, I can watch her building. I tell myself I'm just making sure she got in safely. Beck would want me to check, I’m sure.
I tell myself a lot of things while sitting outside her building. None of them are the real reason I'm still here.
Mollie wanted to ask me something and then talked herself out of it. What was it?
I turn the possibilities over in my mind. Whatever she was going to ask me, she decided I couldn't handle it. She's probably right. But I can't stop wondering, anyway.