Dear Roomie (Rookie Rebels #5) - Kate Meader Page 0,34
collected his wits and put his shields in place. “Whatever works.”
“Call your brother. He’s pretty down about being on IR.”
Like Reid could make him better. “Will do.”
“And Reid? No more dumb dives in the lake, okay?”
“No plans to.” He looked down at Bucky who had somehow managed to remain deathly quiet during that call, as if he sensed there’d be trouble if he made himself known. He had a survivor’s instinct, just like Kennedy.
Henri hung up and Reid stepped out of Kennedy’s room. “Come on, boy. Time to take a nap.”
“Dylan, don’t lick that!” Kennedy pulled the Boston terrier away from what looked like soup—hopefully—and turned the corner onto State Street in Riverbrook. The smoothie shop was on the corner so she planned to stop there and juice up.
One of her other charges, Sylvester, strained at the leash as he spotted an oncoming dog. Meanwhile, Bucky hid behind her legs, as he had done for the last five days when confronted with new animals out on their daily walks. Still a scaredy cat.
Kennedy recognized the dog in their path, accompanied by a couple holding hands.
“Hey, Mia.”
Mia beamed as she approached, clearly a woman in love. Kennedy had never met her guy, but she’d seen pictures of Cal Foreman, one of the Rebels players. Even better in the flesh. God, they made these hockey players big.
“Kennedy!” Mia hugged her, which took Kennedy by surprise. “So great to see you. How are things with Reid?”
Straight to the point, then. “Fine, fine! This is Bucky, Reid’s dog.”
Cal squatted and petted Bucky. “Hey, buddy, you’re looking a lot better since the last time I saw you.” He didn’t leave Sylvester or Dylan out of the good-boy pat downs either, which said a lot. He stood, a big smile on his face. “Amazing what a week of TLC will do. Hey, I’m Cal, seeing as Mia has lost her manners.”
She nudged him. “I have not! I was waiting for an opening in the man-beast love fest.”
Cal wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her into his side. “That’s okay. I know your mind turned to mush when you saw me getting friendly with this little guy.” He kissed her and she kissed him and Kennedy had to cough significantly to remind them she was here.
“You guys are pret-ty cute, I have to say.”
“We were going for sexy,” Cal said with a—yep, sexy—grin. “So you’re the poor woman who had to stay over at Durand’s?”
“I don’t know about poor.” So she was literally poor but Cal’s comment sounded like a dig at Reid. “As living arrangements go, it’s a pretty sweet setup. Neither of us is there all that much so we hardly see each other.” She looked down at Bucky who was smelling Gordie Howe’s butt. Why did dogs do that?
Mia narrowed her eyes. “Hold up. You’ve moved in with Reid? Permanently?”
“He needed someone on site and it made more sense to just move in for a few weeks while we get Bucky settled. It’s really just to make things easier.” Now she was wondering if this setup with Reid was supposed to be a secret. He hadn’t told her to keep it to herself.
“Sure,” Mia said, clearly not convinced. She slid a glance at Cal who returned a speaking glance of his own. All this couple conversation without a word. Kenendy had never enjoyed that kind of simpatico with anyone, probably because she was usually out the door faster than you can say “thanks for the orgasm, buddy!”
“Reid’s roomie,” Mia said. “That must be fun.”
So Reid wasn’t exactly a barrel of laughs, but she would never say so. It felt disloyal to even think it. Besides it was different than fun: she hadn’t come up with a label yet.
“I do have him to thank for helping me see what a dumbass I was being.” Cal smiled at Mia. “About us.”
Mia’s mouth dropped open. “Really? Was that before or after you beat him up during practice?”
Kennedy cut in. “You’re the one who hit him? Whatever for?”
“He was being a jerk. Nothing new, but he poked a spot, knowing exactly what he was doing, and I lost it.” He turned to Mia. “It was the morning after the charity auction, after we had that fight, gorgeous girl. Don’t worry, it’s all good, I apologized. And it’s not as if he can’t handle it. Injuries are par for the course.”
“But not ones that are deliberately inflicted by their teammates!” Mia threw an exasperated glance at Kennedy,