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“Of course.”

She starts to extricate herself from me, but I’m not quite ready to hand her over to the she-wolf pacing a few feet away. I drop my mouth to hers, kissing her again, wanting everyone to know this is real. When I’m satisfied my point has been made, I pull back, and run my thumb over the shell of her ear, over her piercing. “I’ll grab you something to drink.”

“Thanks.”

Twyler steps forward and grabs my girlfriend’s hand and drags her across the bar to an open booth. When I drag my eyes away from how amazing her ass looks in that skirt, I see that every guy on the team is staring at me, shocked.

Especially Murphy, who I give a hard look. He and the rest of the guys make the wise decision to go play pool, leaving just me, Reese, Reid, and Jefferson at the bar.

“What?” I say, using their dumbfoundedness as an opportunity to hit the bar. “Hey, Mike, two cans of Reaper?”

“Sure thing.”

“Dude, I told you to stay the fuck away from her,” Reese says, rubbing the back of his neck. “She’s vulnerable, you know what she’s been through.”

“I do. Way more than you do.” I take one of the cans Mike sets on the bar and pop the top. “This isn’t something we rushed into. We’re friends. We know each other.” I take a swallow of water and then admit. “I like her.”

“God dammit, man. Seriously?”

I grin. “So fucking much.”

Reid, lifts his beer and points across the room, where the girls seem to be in a deep, animated, discussion. “What do you think they’re saying?”

“Probably that Nadia is going to be just another in a long stream of broken-hearted girls leaving the Manor,” Jeff says. “That you only think with your cock and are in no way boyfriend material.”

“Sounds about right,” Reid says. “She thinks you’re a ho.”

“Oh, Twy is definitely telling her that I’m a useless fuckboy,” I say, under no delusions.

“I mean…” Reid says, “she’s not wrong. You have a reputation for being a slut.”

“So does Nadia,” Jefferson says. “You can’t deny it. Chick’s been chasing jerseys since she got on campus.”

“That’s over. For both of us.” I’m not letting these dumbasses get under my skin. “We’re well aware of our mutual reputations and don’t give a fuck.”

“Well, good. Congratulations.” Reid lifts his glass. “Here’s to not giving a fuck.”

I knock my can against his glass, and Jefferson does the same, before heading over to watch the game on the big screen, leaving me and Reese alone to finish the conversation they’d interrupted.

“Give it to me.”

“Give you what?”

“The lecture. An ass kicking. Whatever you need to do to make this right between me and you and me and Twyler.”

“All in all, I don’t hate it,” he says, surprising me. “She needs someone that understands what she’s been through and I think you do. But what happens at the end of the year?”

I know Reese and that question is about more than me and Nadia.

“We’ve been honest with each other. She knows about my family and the obligations I have to them–where I’m headed after graduation.” I swallow back the lump building in my throat. “And I know about her goals–the kind of life she wants to live.”

A life I can’t give her.

“So this isn’t a long term thing?”

“It is what it is, for as long as we want it.” I shrug. “Anything more than that is between us.”

“Fair,” he admits. “If you make each other happy, and you keep killing it on the ice, it’s really none of my fucking business.”