Page 8

Luka

I had entirely too much fun ruffling Lily’s feathers at the library yesterday. Her cheeks turned the sexiest shade of pink when she thought I was talking about my dick instead of my hockey stick. It made my actual dick stand up and pay attention.

Teasing her was the lightest and happiest I’ve felt in a while. Her smile was contagious, and I felt oddly comfortable with her. I didn’t have to pretend that everything was okay when it wasn’t. She was kind and understanding and didn’t look at me like I was dumb as hell, which has happened more times than I want to think about.

I’ve always struggled with my studies, but it was never this bad in elementary or high school. Back then, I could skate by, or I had Stella to help me out. Since we’re fraternal twins, she always had my back since we had the same classes and homework for the most part. I always had her back, too. Still do. Just…not where academics were concerned.

My services were primarily delivered in the form of punching any fucker in the mouth who hurt her. Sometimes, she was happy about it—sometimes, she wasn’t. One thing I can say for sure is that she never had to worry about repeated offenses on their part. They either straightened their asses up, or they ducked the hell out.

After we graduated high school together, we wanted to go to the same college. Hart U offered me a hockey scholarship, and Stella got accepted, so it was a no-brainer for us. I can’t imagine going to a different school from her.

I’m putting a lot of hope and trust in Lily because Stella says I should. My sister has never led me wrong, and I trust this is another one of those things where she knows best.

By the time we left the library, we had a plan to meet back in two days. I’d expected her to put my ass to work right away, but day one was a short one. It turned out she needed time to look over my studies and figure out what we need to tackle first.

That being said, I’m happy it worked out like it did. With so much on my mind—fear for my eligibility to play and my nervousness about having a tutor who I not only don’t know but one who seems to blush a lot when she’s around me—I don’t think it would have gone well if she’d decided to go all in today.

Having to admit that I need help with most of my classes is humiliating, to say the least. It was made even worse because she had the grace to think my stupid ass was only failing one class, maybe two.

After she shoved down her initial shock over just how much help I need—as well as the joke about my twig—Lily Mckenna was all business. She made copies of all my syllabuses, and when she came back and sat down, she had a serious look on her face.

I gulped ready to hear those four little words I had heard from countless other people , I can’t help you . It wouldn’t have surprised me. Tutoring me would be a giant ass undertaking, and if she wanted out, I would understand.

But that isn’t what happened.

She started talking about her color-coding system, which I need to understand because we would use it for my study sessions. I swallowed down the biggest internal sigh of relief when McKenna started talking about all of her highlighters, their colors, and what each one meant.

If she’s taking the time to teach me her coveted highlighting system, that means she isn’t giving up on me yet. Though I admit that it was difficult to follow. It’s a brand-new system to me, but it was a system she’d spent her entire life perfecting.

“You have something to say about my highlighters?” she’d asked when I just stared in stunned silence after she showed me everything.

When my eyes finally met hers, I wiped the shock off my face and smiled so freaking big it hurt my cheeks. I couldn’t tell her just how adorable she looked when obsessing over such tiny details, but even with how cute she looked, I was freaking out inside. It was a lot. No one had ever taken that kind of care with me before—even Stella.

“Did you know you get a wild, scary look in your eye when you talk about highlighters ?” I’d asked, teasing to mask the conflicting emotions coursing through me.

I wasn’t willing to admit that she scared me a little, and not even for the reasons anyone might think. Her passion for studying and education overwhelmed me, and even now, I’m worried that I won’t be able to keep up with her. If that happens, I fear she’ll get frustrated and quit.

She didn’t even miss a beat when I poked fun at her a bit. She just shrugged and said, “ Trust me, you’ll get it soon enough. You’ll end up loving them, too.”

I just laughed and shook my head because I couldn’t think of anything in the world that could inspire me to love a color-coding system for studying, but I didn’t tell her that.

However, one thing I do understand is that Lily lives and breathes this stuff like I do with hockey. That level of dedication is something I can respect, even if all this is for me is a means to an end.

The plan for now is to meet again tomorrow night at the same time and place to finalize the official plan to raise my grades.

“Russo! Get your ass on the ice!” Coach hollers from the other side of the bench.

Fucking finally.

I stand and pull the blade protectors off my skates before rushing out onto the ice. I’ve waited for most of the practice to get out here. Coach doesn’t usually keep me on the bench this long, but he’s been full of surprises lately.

“Yo, Russo! I thought you were too stupid to play anymore!” our right defenseman, Axel, calls from my left.

I grunt, “Your momma didn’t think I was too stupid to play with her last night. ”

I skate right past him and head toward our forward, who has the puck. Axel hasn’t said anything I haven’t heard before, and I’m sure I’ll hear plenty more of it before this situation is over. They all think they’re so fucking original.

I work to tune him out as he yells about not talking about his mother. Axel has a bone to pick with just about anyone on the team to hide the fact he can’t play worth a damn. His attitude and lack of actual skills on the ice is growing old.

Before I even realize what’s happening, someone pushes me to the right, threatening my balance. What the hell? I look over and find Axel using all his body weight to shove me to the side.

Oh, fuck this.

He glides away enough to drop his gloves on the ice before charging at me. He shoulder-checks me into the plexiglass, disorienting me for a second before grabbing my jersey. As he tries to yank the back over my head to restrict my movement, I shove him off and drop my twig and gloves in one quick movement.

Fuck him.

I welcome the fight as his fist sails at my face. I dodge it and go for a gut punch, which lands perfectly. He grunts as he takes the hit, doubling over, but I don’t stop there. I throw another punch, and that one lands squarely on his nose.

Axel has always been a prick, and it’s about time somebody did something about it. Blood spurts all over his face, jersey, and the ice as he grunts in pain and leans forward, cupping it.

Pussy.

“Break that shit up!” Coach yells just as he reaches us. I throw my hands in the air and back away.

Coach gets right up in my face, his voice stern and unrelenting. “You fucking know better.”

That’s all he says before he turns to Axel. “I’d think long and hard before talking about his grades when yours aren’t much better. They barely pass enough to keep you on the ice. Do it again, and I won’t. I’ll bench you for however long I see fit.”

Axel stands there outraged, his jaw falling slack. “What about him? He broke my fucking nose! ”

Coach shook his head. “Learn to keep your mouth shut, and maybe shit like that won’t happen.” He turns to me, looking like a pissed-off dad. “Russo, throw another punch like that on my time, and you’ll be benched, too.” Coach skates toward the box, blowing the whistle for the next play to start.

Rowan, who must have come up beside me in the commotion, hands my gloves to me. I pull them on and mumble a thank you as I bend down to pick up my twig.

We both watch Axel skate off the ice toward the medic room to get his nose set. A broken nose to a hockey player is no worse than a splinter to a woodworker. Shit happens all the time, and it’s nothing to cry over.

Axel is playing it up in order to get sympathy from the rest of the team, but I doubt anyone buys it. Axel gets on just about everyone’s nerves.

It’s back to business in no time as I line up in the center of the ice for the face-off. I hear the puck hit the ice, and my twig is already in motion. It connects with the puck, and I turn sharply to my right, effectively cutting my other teammate off. The move leaves him scrambling to catch his balance as I race off toward our forward, who is working his way toward the goalie.

I shoot the puck over to Rowan, who is clear, but that soon changes as the defensemen move in around him. He skates around two of them, but he still has one hot on his tail.

“Rowan! I’m open!” I call out just as I skate into a pocket that lines me up for the perfect shot. Rowan looks back and sees I’m clear, shooting the puck straight toward my stick. I take a fraction of a second to line up the shot, then pull my favorite stick back and shoot.

The puck sails straight into the net, with our backup goalie, Beau, missing it by mere inches. He usually plays right-wing forward and only plays goalie when we’re in a pinch.

“Fuck yeah!” Rowan cheers as he skates past me. He reaches out and slaps my shoulder, the ample padding taking the brunt of the force. “Nice shot, bro!”

“Thanks, man.”

We play for another thirty minutes, and the coach keeps me out on the ice the entire time. I score two more shots, and Rowan makes a few of his own. All in all, I think everyone has played well, but there’s definitely room for improvement for us to make it to the semifinals.

I’m sweating, and my muscles are screaming at me. However, it feels so damn good to play and get my mind off all the other stressors that I don’t even fully notice how sore I am. Coach dismisses us with a few instructions on what we need to work on before next practice.

He’s a man of few words, but I don’t mind that. It’s better than having a coach who consistently wants to chew your ass out. I’ve had my share of those. Coach is tough, but he’s fair.

After today's morning practice, we take off for the showers. After this, I’m off to meet Stella for lunch like we do every Wednesday, and then I have two afternoon classes. My schedule is full, but it’s manageable.

I look over to find Rowan walking beside me. “You looked good out there, man. I don’t know what crawled up his ass this morning, but that punch was enough to shut him up. That man-child clearly has an axe to grind with just about everybody.”

I laugh at his use of the term man-child. Yeah, that’s exactly what Axel looks like . “I figure there’ll be some shit talk. It’s nothing I haven’t heard before.”

Rowan just shrugs. “Fuck him, man. The team is behind you. Whatever you need, we have your back.”

I know most of the guys on the team are aware I struggle with my studies, and almost all of them have offered to help in any way they can.

I sigh to myself. “Thanks. You guys need me too much for me to be benched. I’ll get it worked out.”

“What’s the plan?” Rowan asks in a serious tone as we walk into the locker room to change.

I sit on the bench to untie my skates. I cut my eyes over to him. He looks like a carefree dude with long brown hair that’s pulled back into a man bun. He wears an easy smile, but I know how serious he is right now.

“Stella set me up with a tutor.”

“Another one?” he asks skeptically. “You don’t usually get along with those, right? By which I mean that they don’t seem to help. ”

I nod. “Yeah, but I think this one might be different.”

He nods, then turns to put his jersey in his locker. “I hope you’re right, man. You can’t seem to catch a break.”

I snort. “Don’t I fucking know it.”

“What’s this tutor’s name?” There’s curiosity and understanding in his tone, which makes me feel more comfortable sharing.

“Lily. She’s a premed major. She’s a little dorky but smart as hell.”

“Lily, huh? That’s a sexy name. Is she as hot as she sounds?”

An image of Lily pops into my head. She’s definitely intriguing, alluring in a subtle way, and thinking about her makes my cock twitch.

Well, shit. Maybe I do think she’s hot.

Rowan laughs. “You don’t even have to answer. I can see the answer all over your face.”

I shake my head. “It doesn’t matter. She’s Stella’s best friend, and I just need her to help me—and not by wetting my dick.”

Rowan laughs. “We’ll see about that, Brother. We shall see.”

I make my way to the showers, hell-bent on convincing myself that Lily McKenna is, in fact, not hot and that my dick doesn’t like her one bit.

One wrong move could derail me from my goal of winning a championship and getting drafted.

That’s all that matters. My dick be damned.

“Hey, little sis,” I say as I wrap my arm around Stella’s shoulders and pull her into my side. I’ll never admit how much I enjoy our lunches every Wednesday because that would make me look like a pussy.

“Little sis by only a minute and a half,” she says, exasperated. She hates it when I bring up that I’m the older twin, and I love doing it for that very reason.

I shrug nonchalantly. “It’s not my fault you were slow as hell. ”

She laughs and playfully shoves my shoulder. “Like I had any control over that, jerk!”

I laugh. “Ya snooze, ya lose, sucker!”

She giggles, then sighs as she leans her head on my shoulder. “You’re an ass.”

I lean my head over on hers for a moment just to annoy her. “Oh, but you love me anyway, so what does that say about you?”

“I guess it says that I love ass, which, if you ask any of my exes, that isn’t news. However, in this case, ew.”

I puke a little in my mouth. “Oh, for the love of everything good and pure in this world , never say anything like that to me again. Fuck. I don’t think I’ll ever be normal again after knowing that. I need brain bleach—or a lobotomy.”

Lifting her head, she turns it to look at me. Her eyes look like large doe eyes as she tries to seem innocent. “What? You’ve never gone down on a girl and ventured a little further?”

Apparently, Stella Russo is far from innocent . Puke.

I scrunch my face and shake my head. “Pass. Another thing I will never talk to my sister about.”

She rolls her eyes and groans. “Oh, quit acting all offended, ya big baby. I’m just messing with you.”

“Har-har-har. I’d rather not toss my breakfast right before lunch, Stella.”

She laughs as she changes the subject. “How did practice go?”

“I got into a fight with Axel,” I answer simply.

She suddenly stops and turns towards me, her eyes wide as a smile pulls at her lips. “Tell me you finally decked that guy!”

I smile because even Stella knows how much of a shit Axel is. “Sure as fuck did. Broke his nose, too.”

She squeals and holds her hands up for a double high-five. “Fuck yeah!”

I laugh as I slap her palms with mine. “Coach was pissed though.”

Stella loops her arm into mine as we make our way into the food hall. “Totally worth a bit of trouble. Axel is a fuckface and has had it coming for a long time. Coach will forgive you. Even with everything going on, he loves you. Speaking of Coach and hockey, how did it go with Lily last night? ”

It surprises me that it took her this long to ask. I figured she would’ve blown up my phone last night. Maybe she’s just trying to be casual about it since she knows how damn anxious I get over the whole thing.

“She has color-coded notes, Stella.” I look over at her and raise an eyebrow dramatically. “A system , she calls it.”

Her head falls back as she laughs. “Oh, no! She already hit you with the color-coded highlighting system, huh? Damn, bro, she means business!”

“She means business? Is that really what you call it? Because I don’t think giving each color its own name is business. She said I have to learn each one.”

“Oh, she did not!” Stella gawks at me for a second before laughing her head off, and I crack a mischievous smile. She scoffs and bumps her shoulder into mine. “You shit. You’re just messing with me. She doesn’t have names for them.”

Now it’s my turn to laugh. “No, but I started to wonder if she might with how feral she was over them.”

As we walk through the food line, I pick up a burger and fries, and Stella gets a grilled chicken salad with a side of fries.

“Why do you even try to pretend you eat healthy? Just get the burger with me,” I say as I step up to pay for both of us.

She shrugs. “I figure I should at least try every once in a while to put something green in my mouth.”

I quirk a brow. “And the fries?”

“Baby steps, Brother, baby steps.”

I laugh at her antics. Stella has detested anything to do with vegetables of any color since she was a child, and it hasn’t gotten much better. I can’t say I’m any better than she is as far as preference goes, but since I have to stay in shape with such a vigorous workout schedule, eating healthy helps with that. I force it down most of the time. I’ll burn the burger and fries off later today when I go to the gym.

“Seriously though, how did it go?” Stella asks as she sits across the table from me.

“Lily showed me where I can listen to the textbooks, which is cool. I really think it’ll help. How the hell did I not know about that? ”

Her face scrunches with a look of confusion. “They do?”

Ah! So I’m not the only one who didn’t know!

“Yeah, most of them have audio options. I started listening to my English textbook this morning before practice, and I already feel a little better about it.”

“That’s great! See, I told you Lily could help.”

I nod. So far, Lily has been great. There are some lingering looks where she seems deep in thought as she looks at me, but outside of that, I feel a lot more comfortable around her since our study session. “She’s kind of intimidating, Stels.”

Stella hums in agreement. “That’s exactly what I thought when I first met her, but she’s so sweet and down to earth. I know I’ve said it before, but she really is the smartest person I know.”

I laugh because I don’t think anyone has ever said a more accurate statement. She just might be the most intelligent person I’ve ever met, too.

“What’s the plan for tutoring?” Stella asks.

I shrug because Lily hasn’t set a concrete plan yet. However, I think it’s best that she’s in control of all that since she knows far better than I do. “No idea. She copied my syllabi so she can figure out the best way to handle this mess I’m in, but I won’t know what that is until tomorrow when we’re supposed to meet again. For all I know, she’ll just bail. It’s a big job, and I wouldn’t blame her.”

“Hey, don’t talk about yourself like that! You aren’t dumb, and you’re a hell of a hockey player. Hart U is lucky to have you. I don’t know why they’ve decided to go after you like this, but you can do this, and she can help.”

I play center, and I have one of the highest-scoring records in the college league right now. I’m a damn good hockey player, and Hart U knows it, which is why Coach is pissed they still aren’t happy with my grades.

We were so damn close to making it to the semifinals last year, but this year we’ll make it all the way. I’ll make sure of it. I have the chance to be drafted this year, too, but that’s less of a concern for me right now. My eye is on the Division I championship.

I’m in my element when I play. I could close my eyes and make most of the shots I take. It’s hard to describe what it’s like for me other than when I step onto the ice, my brain shuts off while my body and instincts take over .

I can almost see a play happen before it does, and I anticipate the other players’ moves. My body moves before my brain tells it to. It’s easy and natural when I’m on the ice.

Since I was little, I’ve always been exceptional at spatial awareness, and I have damn good vision. I can spot things long before anyone else. When I was little, I spotted a deer maybe thirty feet ahead on the side of the road. It was dark, but I could clearly make it out from that far away.

My dad was driving and didn’t seem to notice it there. When the deer ran toward the road, I hollered to watch out, and my dad hit the brakes just before the deer could collide with the car. Nobody else in the car spotted it but me.

Stels says I have superhuman vision. I don’t know what it is, but it comes in handy on the ice. I can spot a puck from across the rink at hyper-speed, while school is the exact fucking opposite. Nothing feels natural or easy. I’m fumbling my way through, hoping and praying something works.

“Have you heard from Mom and Dad?” I ask.

I’ve avoided talking to them about what Coach said because I’m just sick of disappointing them. Coach has been my biggest supporter, so knowing that I let him down is like a sucker punch straight to the gut.

“Mom called this morning, but it didn’t sound like she knew anything about what your coach said,” Stella answers.

I sigh heavily. “That’s because I haven’t told them yet.”

Her brows furrow. “Why?”

My sister’s one-word question irritates me. She knows why, but she wants to force me to admit it. “You already know the answer to that.”

“They won’t be disappointed, Luka. Talk to them. Tell them what’s going on so they can support you.”

I shake my head. “I’m not ready. I want to be able to go to them and tell them what happened but also tell them what I’m doing to fix it.”

Her expression turns incredulous. “You already have a plan. You are fixing it.”

“Yeah, but I don’t know if the plan will work.” What if Lily can’t help me? What if I’m doomed to fail?

She sighs and looks back over at me. “You know it’s pretty inconvenient sometimes to be a twin. She wants us to come home for the long weekend in a couple of weeks.”

I smirk at her jab at being a twin. We’ve always known when something was wrong with each other, and sometimes, we can actually feel that pain physically. It’s a connection like no other.

My stomach pitches a little. I know I should assure them that I have a handle on everything, but I can’t bring myself to do it right now. I don’t want to hear that all too familiar disappointment in my dad’s voice.

“Do you want to go?” I ask. If she does, I need to figure out a way to be okay and go home.

She shrugs. “Not if you don’t want to. We can go back for fall break if you need more time.”

“Can I think about it?” I don’t want to straight up tell her no because that’s not fair. However, I also don’t know how I feel about going home right now. I need to focus all my energy on fixing this problem. If I can go home and tell them I’ve got everything handled, I’ll feel a hell of a lot better about it.

She smiles. “Yeah, of course. Either way, I’m with you.”

I can tell she means that, too. I can always count on her to understand. This isn’t the first time we’ve kept things from our parents, and it probably won’t be the last.

An image of Lily leaning over and studying in the library pops into my head. She has her lower lip pulled into her mouth in concentration, and her eyes are bright with excitement.

Eh, maybe I can count on her, too. I have a lot riding on Lily being able to help me. I’ll do whatever I have to to make this work.