Free BrickWall_Kobo by Steph Page B

Before you’re totally fucked.”
    * * * * *
    Shane adjusted his tie, grabbed his coat, and headed out the door.
    For some stupid reason, he was having trouble breathing. It wasn’t like he hadn’t been on a first date before but it’d been a while. At least six months, maybe more.
    Damn, he couldn’t even remember. Had to have been after last season, when he’d been home. Couldn’t even remember the girl’s name. Did that make him a dick? Probably.
    Pitiful. Fucking pitiful.
    Sliding into his truck, he double-checked the address Bliss had texted him, took a look at the map to make sure he knew where he was going, then headed out of the parking lot.
    His phone rang seconds later and he answered through the truck’s Bluetooth system when he recognized the number.
    “Hey, what’s up?”
    “Yo, Brick. We are checking up on you before your date tonight. Jakub and I are planning to get shitfaced and watch…that show. What is that show?”
    The last of that sentence had faded, probably because Lad had turned away from the phone to talk to Jake.
    “I have no idea what the hell you’re talking about.” That was Jake, hard to make out because he must have been farther. “Shane, please come save this asshole’s ass before I fucking kill him out of boredom.”
    Lad responded in Russian, some of which Shane understood, but only the swear words, and then Czech, which Shane didn’t understand at all. And then he heard what sounded like a scuffle.
    Shane started to laugh but the other two guys didn’t hear him until at least a minute had passed.
    “Bastard laughs at us.” Jake’s voice, closer to the phone now. “But we are not the ones going to a wedding tonight.”
    Still laughing, Shane shook his head. “At least I’ll be drinking for free.”
    “It is not the drinking you go for.” Lad’s voice got sly.
    Very true. “Fuck you, Drac. It’s a date. You remember those, don’t you? Or are you and Jake still playing with each other on and off the ice?”
    Despite the language barrier they’d faced when they’d first arrived in the states three years ago, Lad and Jake had picked up English quick. But they still fell back on their native languages when they wanted to insult you.
    So when Jake spouted off something in Czech and Lad started to laugh, Shane figured he didn’t want to know what Jake had said.
    “Well, then, fuck you,” Jake finally said in English, disgust in his tone. “Ignore your buddies for a slice of ass cake.”
    “If I had the chance to get some of that,” Lad added, “I’d leave you at home, too.”
    Shane laughed so hard, his chest started to hurt.
    “You two are fucking assholes, you know that, right? You deserve each other.”
    “Dude, you definitely need to get laid more often.” Lad sounded serious now, such an abrupt switch that Shane had to shake his head. “This will help you get your head out of your own ass. You need some…what’s the word?”
    “Ass!” Jake yelled from the background again.
    “No, not— He is an asshole. Do not listen to him. No. Distraction! You need distraction. So go be distracted. We call you tomorrow. Or maybe you call us if you’re not busy, yes?”
    Shaking his head and trying not to laugh, Shane agreed then hung up to the sounds of Jake singing Marvin Gaye’s “Let’s Get It On.” Bastard had a decent voice.
    He still had a smile on his face when he pulled up to Bliss’s apartment building, which turned out to be a renovated school building on a side street not far from his place.
    Since she’d also texted her apartment number, he parked on the street and buzzed her from the lobby to let her know he was there.
    “Bliss, hey—”
    “Oh wow. You’re here. Come on up. I just need a minute.”
    She sounded distracted and maybe a little out of breath and he didn’t even get a chance to respond when the intercom cut off and the door buzzed.
    He found her apartment on the second floor and knocked, hearing the faintest trace of heels