Page 90 of Daring the Hockey Player

"He's tucking his kid into bed," I say. "They do this video chat thing where he says goodnight to her." I lay down on my back to bench press weights, and Noah spots me.

"Video chat, huh?" Noah chimes in and wiggles his eyebrows. "Yeah, I'll bet the minute the kid is in bed, that video is showing off his family jewels."

"You guys need to get laid," I mutter. "Maybe even find yourselves a girlfriend or something. You have too much time on your hands.”

Noah grins proudly. “I’ve got plenty of girls on my roster. When was the last time you had a hook-up, Greyson?” Noah asks.

“None of your business.”

Noah is smirking. “You haven’t hit that with the roommate yet?”

“Leave Amber out of it!” I snap and slam the weights down, the noise echoing through the gym.

Noah and Aiden exchange a quick glance at each other. Chase is the only one who stays out of it. He’s running on the treadmill and apparently put in his earbuds. Lucky bastard.

“Well, what I said about bro code still stands,” Noah says, gesturing for Aiden to spot me while he does leg presses on the machine across from us. He’s also cautiously keeping away from me, which is probably smart because he's pissing me off.

"Duly noted," I seethe.

"But in all fairness, I wouldn't have suggested she move in with you, either."

"It wasn't my idea." Lifting the weights above my head, it takes all my concentration not to drop the damn thing while listening to Noah and Aiden ramble on about Amber.

"Sheiscute," Aiden says.

Noah agrees. "Hard not to think about tapping that—"

"Have you thought about shutting the fuck up?" I snap at Noah. I put the weights back and climb out from under the bar. My arms and body are feeling the burn, but my head and heart are still highly energized.

He holds his hands up in mock surrender. “I get it. You’re just roommates. Which is probably good because she’s likely hooking up with some college guy while you’re away this week. I mean fuck, if I were her, that’s what I’d be doing while my roommate is away. Don’t have to tame the screams.”

I stomp over toward the machine that Noah is on, and just as I’m about to yank him off it, Aiden grabs my shirt and tugs me backward several steps. “Chill out. He’s trying to fuck with your head.”

“Having fun?” I shout at Noah.

He grins and nods. “Yeah, I kind of am enjoying it. Greyson has a crush on Amber. It’s cute.”

I flip him the bird and exit the gym. There’s only so much of Noah that I can take tonight. I love the guy on most days, but right now, he’s getting to me, and I can’t let what he says fuck me up before a game tomorrow.

I head up to the hotel room. While it’s standard practice for rookies to share a hotel room, I never grasped how Kyler and I ended up sharing a room together. He should have his own room unless he said something to Coach when I joined.

I slide the electronic key, and the door opens.

Kyler is on his cell phone when I enter, holding it up and doing a video chat with Bristol.

“She’s still awake?” I glance at my watch.

“Someone isn’t listening to Em or Nanny Lia.”

“I am, too, listening. I’m not tired,” Bristol says with a loud sigh. I swear, from across the room, I can hear the pout on her face, and I’m not even looking at the camera. She’s probably got her arms folded across her chest and demanding to stay up late.

“Uncle Jasper says it’s bedtime,” I chime in, trying to help Emerson get the kid to bed.

“Thanks,” Kyler says, glancing at me.

I grab a bottle of water from the mini fridge and cool down for a minute after the workout I had downstairs. “I’m going to shower,” I say, glancing at my phone to see if Amber texted me back. Sure enough, there are a couple of messages waiting to be read.

I click on her message as I head to the bathroom, and Kyler pays me no attention, which is a relief, or else he might ask why the hell I need my phone in the bathroom. That’s one explanation that I’m not interested in giving him. Neither is the part where I’m texting Amber back.