Page 27 of Careless Tucker

There’s Fowly, Cubby, Morty, Hedge, Vicky, Saw, Clark, and I’m pretty sure most of those are the same men. I’m not crazy about how all the confusion makes me forget the women’s and kids’ names too.

What I can’t forget, though, is the name of the giant with the most perfect face I’ve ever seen on a man.

Lex—which I’m seventy percent sure is a nickname.

And, more importantly, the only WAG who’s actually a B—at least that’s what Eli calls himself with an impish grin that makes me like him instantly.

I had no idea one of Barry’s teammates was queer, and that fact won’t leave my mind for long during the day. I knew there were some queer hockey players in the world of course.

Everyone knows Sterling’s husband is a hockey player, but I thought they were all in . . . Vegas. Maybe?

I don’t ask anyone at the party because I don’t want to stick my foot in it or make anyone uncomfortable, but I make a mental note to ask Hannah about it later.

But Lex’s face seems familiar somehow, and I have to constantly pull my mind back to the present when it starts to wander to try and pinpoint where I’ve seen him before. Which is insane, because I’ve never met a man that gorgeous in my life.

Paired with Eli’s bleached hair and angelic blue eyes, they make a very striking couple, and also seem to be pretty cool guys all around.

Eli jumps out of his seat and shouts about forgetting something then runs out only to run back a few minutes later and start handing out boxes—moisturizer?—to the WAGs. It’s only when I catch the name of the brand on the boxes that it finally clicks.

I look at Eli, then at Lex, and a gasp leaves me.

“Oh my god,” I whisper. The sudden fan-crazed haze that falls over my mind is something I didn’t know I was capable of, and half of me is horrified that I’m reacting like this, but come on . . .

“You’re Lyla Storm’s son,” I whisper with awe when I turn to Lex.

She’s a legend in all ways. Her face, more delicate than Lex’s but so strikingly similar, is what’s familiar about him.

Thankfully, though it would be understandable, Lex doesn’t seem annoyed with my reaction at all.

“I am.” He even smiles proudly.

“With this crowd, people normally pass out over his dad, though,” Alice says with mirth in her eyes. She’s the girlfriend of . . . I want to say Fowly?

“Uhh . . .” My brain falters for a second before it comes back online. “Right, she—sorry,” I mumble, feeling a blush creep up my neck. “Your mom married a hockey player, I knew that.”

“A hockey player,” one of the players around the table says and snorts.

“Yeah, Dad was a hockey player too,” Lex says before the other guy can start professing his love for whoever Lex’s dad is—which I can tell he wants to do.