Page 4 of Puck Shots (Love The Game #6)

I keep my other personal items in the suitcase I brought them in and sit it on top before closing the trunk and sitting on the end of the air bed, but in the quiet, my brain starts analyzing the room, and before I know it, I’m moving beds a few inches this way and that until each is positioned with equal portions of the room only stopping when I hear Riley talking to someone, giving them the same basic lay of the land he gave me.

I quickly return to my area and open the trunk, waiting for him to enter and then closing it like I only just finished unpacking.

“This is Eli,” Riley says when he walks through the door. His brow picks up a little over one eye as his gaze sweeps over the room. “Is there something different in here?”

“No,” I reply immediately, avoiding eye contact. I know I suck at lying. Not once have I been able to deceive anyone.

“Huh, okay. Umm, this is Toby, he’s another legacy.”

“Hi,” I say, holding out my hand for him to shake.

“I thought this was a sport frat, you can’t be a player,” he says without shaking my hand, leaving me standing there with it just out there.

“No, ummm, I’m a physics major.”

His eyebrows rise and fall slowly, and I try to swallow the lump that has risen in my throat.

My heart is pounding; this is exactly what I was worried about.

All these guys are going to be sports guys.

Guys like John. I don’t belong here, and sooner or later, they are going to see that, too. My bet is on sooner.

“I’ll take that one,” Toby says, tossing his bag towards one of the far beds, but he’s thrown it with way too much force, and the air mattress is essentially a trampoline and… yep, there his bag goes bouncing off it right into the wall with a thud.

“So, Riley man, intro me to the frat brothers,” he says, and I realize I’m still holding out my fucking hand.

I pull it back and cross my arms over my chest tight, like I can somehow squeeze the awkwardness out of me.

I normally go for walks when I get like this.

All anxious and nervous energy bubbling through me like an overboiling pot.

Would it look bad if I left the house? There’s a section of wood behind it that looks like it has a path.

“You want to come meet the guys?” Riley asks me, and I shake my head.

“I, umm…” Shit, this is not a good start.

“Come on, they’re all pretty chill, I swear.”

“I guess so, okay,” I concede.

I can’t help but notice Toby rolling his eyes my way as he positions himself beside Riley. I shouldn’t let him get to me. I’ve been dealing with dicks like him my whole life. Why would college be any different?

I walk behind them, taking in the house some more.

The dark wood floors are original to the house, and the white walls and ceilings make the space seem bigger than it actually is.

There are photos of former frat presidents and VPs on the walls along with group shots of graduating years going back to the beginning.

This is why I am here. To find a place I belong, people to connect with, to make friends.

The house has way more people in it now, and it suddenly doesn’t feel big at all. It’s like the walls are closing in, the space getting smaller and smaller.

No. Not now. Don’t freak out. The room is big. The room is big.

I try to calculate the dimensions in my head, another trick to pull myself free of my anxiety, but I stop when he walks in.

Tall, broad, tanned, and fucking gorgeous, this guy cuts through the chaos with ease, moving from person to person, laughing, smiling, as every one of them folds under his gaze, but I’m in no way prepared for when he looks right at me.

His bright blue-grey eyes send off a flurry of nerves in my gut as he smirks and heads our way.

“Hey, Flash, these are two of our legacies,” Riley says, and the smirk is replaced by a wide smile.

“Oh, hey, welcome to KOK, brothers, pledges. You know what I mean.” He laughs.

“This is Eli and Tony,” Riley says, and I can’t help but smile at his mistake.

“Toby,” Toby reminds him.

“Right, Toby, sorry,” he replies with a smirk. Did he get his name wrong on purpose? “This is Cosmo, AKA Flash. He’s one of the many hockey wanna-be-gods in the house.”

Cosmo scoffs. “Riley’s just mad because the Pres’s precious butterfly net is missing.”

Riley’s gaze jolts to the back of the room.

“Not again, guys,” he yells out, and the room goes quiet. “Get that hockey stick off the mantle, you know the rules,” he says, storming through the crowd.

I follow everyone’s stare to the mantle where a wooden shield sits leaning on the wall, holding a bright red hockey stick.

When he gets through the crowd, he yanks the stick down, tossing it to the floor.

“You’ve got until the Pres is home to have his lacrosse stick back on the mantle, or the whole house will be in for it,” Riley says, and a few guys rush from the room.

“What are you waiting for, pledges?” Cosmo says, turning to us.

“Sorry, what?” I ask, and he shakes his head.

“Go on, you heard the VP. Better get looking for that butterfly net before the Pres gets here.”

Toby is off like a shot, rushing up the stairs, but I get to thinking.

Lacrosse sticks aren’t exactly small. I’m guessing they wouldn’t want us pledges rummaging through the bedrooms, so that narrows it down, and there are only so many cupboards you could hide it in, and the rest of the guys seem to have those covered.

I watch a guy pull everything out of the hall coat closet, stumbling on shoes and various sporting helmets before trying to shove them all back in to close the door again. Maybe it isn’t even still in the house.

The easiest place to hide it would actually be in the woods behind the house. Maybe I should take that walk after all.