Page 5 of Puck Shots (Love The Game #6)

Cosmo

T he pledges run around the house looking for the lacrosse stick, and some of the guys yell out warnings, like, “You’ll be sleeping on the front lawn if you don’t find it soon.

” Not that we could actually have them do that.

One thing that has changed over the last few years is the types of hazing we can and can’t do.

I mean, I am all for a good joke, but I wasn’t sad to see some of the old stuff banned, either.

Now, anything that can get a pledge hurt is off limits.

Lucky for KOK, waking them up at five o’clock in the morning with a foghorn and having them run laps up Greek row in their underwear is acceptable.

There are a few frats that push the limits.

One duct taped a kid to a metal light post and left him there for the night.

It became pretty dangerous when a freak lightning storm hit.

Good thing campus security found him before it really kicked off and cut him free.

“Can we go into the bedrooms?” someone yells down, and I lean over the stair rail to call back.

“No. It’s not in a bedroom, keep looking, pledges,” I reply, and Riley shoots me a look. “I’m guessing. Because it was totally not me that took it. I swear.”

Leo Salamander, President of the frat house, likes to keep his lacrosse stick on display on the mantle in the main living room.

That is, when he isn’t running around trying to catch butterflies with it.

At least that’s what they look like running around out there on the lacrosse field.

I personally think the hockey stick looks way better on the mantle. Riley doesn’t agree.

“Where did you put it?” Luka whispers in my ear.

“Up a tree out back. No one will find it before Pres gets back.”

His gaze moves past the crowd to the window overlooking the yard.

“You sure about that?” he asks, and I follow his stare as Eli crosses the border of trees and disappears into the woods.

“Well, fuck me. Okay, maybe I was wrong.”

“Looks like a couple of others have spotted him headed in there, too,” he says, and I watch as Toby and another new pledge I don’t recognize huddle together grinning mischievously before following Eli.

“They look like they’re up to something. I might go check it out.”

“Really? You’re going to check on a pledge?” Luka asks.

“If they do something stupid, we’ll be the ones copping it from the Pres and the dean.”

“Fair enough. Want me to come?”

“No, I got this.”

I head out the back door, the cool air filling my lungs and the scent of pine needles and rain fill my nose.

It’s a short walk across the back lawn, past a small gazebo to the woods. Wooded areas are creepy as fuck at the best of times, but with dry leaves and twigs cracking under my feet as I follow the worn path deeper in, it’s even worse.

A flash of red catches my eye, and I spot the guys who followed Eli. Maybe this wasn’t such a great hiding space after all. I’m about to ask what they’re up to when Toby leans close to the other guy and speaks.

“You go that way, keep quiet so he doesn’t see us.”

“I bet he screams,” the other guy replies with a chuckle, and they take off in opposite directions through the thicker brush of the wood.

What are they up to?

I try to keep my footsteps gentle as I sneak behind them, curious as to what the hell they are plotting.

They’re heading for where I hit the stick up one of the easier to climb trees deeper in.

Then I spot Eli, standing under a ray of light streaming through the branches above.

His head is tilted back, eyes closed as he basks in the warmth of the sun.

The way the light hits his swept-back ash blond hair makes it shine almost like silk, and his skin has a honey sort of glow to it.

Something hits the tree trunk to his left with a small thud, and he jolts.

“Is someone there?” he asks, looking to the woods on his left and right. “Hello?”

What are those fuckers doing? He hasn’t spotted me yet either.

Should I just say something? I’m about to step into view when Toby and his friend jump out from behind trees and rush toward him.

Eli startles, backing up against the nearest tree, and while these guys are double his size, he actually doesn’t look particularly worried.

“That was funny,” Eli says as they slowly step closer, boxing him in.

My hands clench into fists as I watch these two lord over him.

I should step out, say something. Stop them.

But stop them from what? They aren’t exactly doing anything to hurt him, just getting in his face, and shit, he’s probably had to deal with that before now, so who am I to step in? He’s not some damsel who needs saving.

“You should leave now,” Toby says with a chuckle. “You don’t belong here.”

“Does anyone really belong anywhere?” Eli replies, and somehow that makes me madder than the fact these two douchebags have him practically pinned against a tree.

“Leave or every day will be like this. We’ll make sure of it,” the other guy says, and I step out.

“That’s assuming you’ll still be here,” I say, and they jump back a step.

“We didn’t. We… we weren’t,” Toby’s friend begins, and I raise my brows, scoffing at his attempts to explain what these dicks were up to. Eli’s still standing, back against the tree, face flushed and glasses slipped down his nose.

“We were just having fun,” Toby says, and he wraps his arm over Eli’s shoulder, pulling him close

“Yeah, we’re all good here. Just having a bit of fun, right?” he goes on to say, looking down at Eli.

“Sure,” Elli replies dryly. “Fun.”

“I like to have fun, too. You know what’s really fun?” I ask, stepping closer and keeping my gaze on Toby.

“Umm, what?” he asks, and I stop right in front of him. His friend shifts to the side a little, trying to separate himself from the situation, but he’s in it now.

“I think you would have loads of fun taking your hands off Eli and crawling back to the frat house. In fact,” I say as Toby removes his arm from over Eli’s shoulder, sweat prickling his brow a little now as my smirk grows wider. “I think you’d have a really good time spending the day like that.”

“You can’t be serious?” his friend asks, and I turn my head slowly to look at him, knowing how freaking creepy I must look doing it.

“Oh, but I am, and if you want to stay around through rush, you’ll do it and when someone asks why you’re on your hands and knees crawling around the frat house, you can tell them, you broke rule seventeen of the KOK code.”

“What’s that?” Toby asks, and Eli whispers.

“No pledge or first year brother can harass, haze, or “mess with” another pledge or brother in any way, and any such action will be seen as a violation of fraternity values and will result in disciplinary action or expulsion from the house.”

Seriously, was that like the full rule word for word?

“Nice to see someone knows the rules,” I say, and Toby rolls his eyes and lowers himself to all fours. “That’s a good pledge. Now, on you go, both of you back to the house. If you find the stick, I might consider letting you stand up again.”

“You didn’t have to do that,” Eli says, stepping around me.

“You just recited rule seventeen, so I’m guessing you know the rest of the rules, right?”

He nods.

“Then you know I had to. Besides, those guys are dicks. So any luck out here?”

He rubs the back of his neck with one hand, his face getting a little flushed.

“Yeah, but it’s up a tree over there.”

Fuck, okay, so he found it. Up a tree maybe wasn’t the best hiding place after all.

“So are you going to get it?”

“I’m really no good at all that stuff.”

“What stuff?”

“You know, coordinated movements, sports and that.”

“You never climbed a tree as a kid?”

“No.”

“So you’re giving up then?”

“I didn’t say that,” he replies with a small smile creeping onto his lips, and he starts searching the ground for something.

“What are you looking for?” I ask as I lean against a tree.

“You’ll see.”

He grabs a few sticks and seems to be checking their weight when he settles on one.

“Perfect, okay, now…” he mutters as he moves into position, lining himself up.

Is he going to try to knock the lacrosse stick out?

I climbed up pretty high and wedged it across two branches with the netted part resting in a bunch of leaves to help camouflage it.

Not that it apparently helped all that much.

But still, I can’t see how he could knock it out of there, especially with the branch he’s chosen.

It’s only about as thick as my thumb and has twigs sticking out at all angles, the leaves it once held long gone.

Maybe I should offer to climb up and get it.

He still found it. But that would be technically cheating.

Why am I even considering this? Sure, I told Calvin I would look out for Eli, and I did that by stopping those dicks who were hassling him.

I did what I said. But for some reason, I want to do more.

I want him to win this, to show those other pledges that he is the kind of guy who does belong here.

He’s tilting his head to the side a little like he’s confused by something, and then he pushes his glasses up his nose, smiling, and creating an adorable dimple in his right cheek.

Fuck, this kid is actually kind of cute.

I’m about to offer my help when he swings back the branch and tosses it up high above him.

It sails past the height of the stick. He was right, he’s not the athletic type.

But he doesn’t look disappointed, he watches with a soft smile as the stick makes its way back down, only as it does, the twigs sticking out of it catch on the netted section of the lacrosse stick and the added weight of on that end has the handle lifting until the whole thing comes tumbling down to the ground.

“Well, I guess you don’t need my help after all.”

“I guess not,” he replies, grabbing the lacrosse stick and untangling the twigs from the net.