Page 15

I regret mentioning it to him now. It had been a moment of stupidity. I’d brought it up thinking I’d ask his opinion about dropping the module, and he’d been so proud that I hadn’t gone for an easy module I could coast through.

I couldn’t tell him I was already behind, so I’d lied then, and I’ve continued to lie about it to everyone since then.

“Regretting my life choices,” I tell him. “But I’ll get it done.”

“I’m working tonight, so I need to get some shuteye. Speak soon, little brother.”

We say our goodbyes and hang up.

I grab a couple of roast beef sandwiches from the dining room, along with a banana and a bottle of water, refusing an offer to play foosball with my teammates. I head to my room, determined to put a serious dent in this paper.

It’s two in the afternoon now. I have maybe two or three hours of reading time before this party. And that’s only if no one comes knocking on my door wanting to hang out. It’s the weekend, so I’m not holding out any hopes about being left alone.

Back in my room, I demolish my food at my desk and open my first book.

I’m reaching for my highlighter when my phone vibrates across the desk.

As I tell myself to ignore it, that this damn paper isn’t going to write itself, my eyes are already scanning the text message that pops up on the screen.

Caleb

Need you at the rink.

I blow out a sigh and consider ignoring it.

And I do.

For five seconds.

I let my book close on its own as I pick up my phone.

If Caleb is at the rink, he’ll be poring over the playbook. I have no clue how many hours he’s spent over the last few years fine-tuning plays from a decades-old notebook. Some are older than we are. Some are plays that set us on this path to championship glory.

Every power play starts as an idea when we’re playing around on the ice.

Sometimes, things happen organically. We’re fucking around. Someone turns. Someone skates here. There’s a tiny window, and we look at each other and think… that could work.

Then it’s a messy scrawl on a piece of paper, illegible to almost everyone but Caleb.

Those plays and that playbook have turned this team from one of the worst in the league to one of the best. That playbook is Caleb’s baby, and he never tires of fine-tuning it every chance he can get.

As team captain, his responsibilities are more than I would ever want, and the thought of leaving him to deal with it on his own…

My fingers hover over the keyboard.

Just tell him you’re busy and to ask someone else on the team for help.

I type out my response.

Me

On my way.

“You truly are an idiot, Reid,” I mutter, getting to my feet.

I can study later.

It’s nine at night, and I’m clutching a cold one instead of a textbook.

The walls vibrate, pulsing with rock music from the powerful sound system. Red plastic cups litter every surface, and the scents of beer, cigarette smoke, and something definitely illegal drift from the double patio doors that lead to the pool in the backyard.

Forty or fifty people in various stages of buzzed to shit-faced fill a living room meant for ten or twenty.

The frat party isn’t the wildest one we’ve been to. Thank fuck. Good thing, too, because Tobie hasn’t lost the deer-caught-in-headlights look in her eyes since we arrived an hour ago.

A beautiful deer, but a terrified one.

Her dress has thin straps showing off soft, rounded arms. It cups her breasts and falls to her calves.

Her slightly wavy, dark brown hair is pretty, too, as is her dusty pink lipstick.

She’s changed her glasses for contacts, the light’s casting her hazel eyes a soft caramel brown that mutes the green.

The fact that she’s tucked herself into the corner of the room is making people even more curious about her.

Caleb is holding a beer but not drinking from it. Other than the brief stare he aimed at Tobie when she arrived with Javier, he’s been keeping people at a distance with his leave-me-the-fuck-alone glare.

He’ll take on three defensemen on his own, but a rowdy frat party is his kryptonite.

I take a sip from my beer, turn to ask Tobie if she wants to dance, and she’s no longer hiding. She’s gone. I straighten, frowning as I scan the room for her. “Has anyone seen Tobie?”

Heads shake.

“The bathroom.” Javier turns from his conversation with Paxton. “I asked if she wanted me to show her, but she wanted to go alone.”

To hide, most likely.

“I’ll make sure she doesn’t get lost.” I pass my beer off to Paxton, who eagerly accepts, and I go looking for Tobie, weaving around the buzzed students and gently nudging the shit-faced ones when they stare at me instead of moving out of my way.

Most of the downstairs hallway is thick with partygoers. I can’t see Tobie heading upstairs on her own, but after a few minutes spent looking for her and not finding her, I jog up them.

I wander the upstairs hallway, sticking my head in the bedrooms and yanking my head back out again, wishing I could unsee some of the shit going on.

I’m reaching for a partially open door, ready to push it open, when a male voice makes me pause.

“Do you honestly expect me to believe you’re with those three?”

“I don’t expect you to believe anything, Marc.”

Tobie. And unless there’s another Marc here, I’d say that has to be the ex.

“They fuck around, Tobie. That is all they would ever want from you.”

Yeah, I like this guy less and less with each passing day.

Through a gap in the partially open door, Tobie is peering up at him. “And what did you want from me?”

“I wasn’t using you like they are. How’d you even meet them?”

“I, uh…”

“And when did you start wearing pink? To impress them? Mark my words, they’ll fuck you and throw you away like you’re nothing, Tobie. You’ll be lucky if they even remember your name the next morning.”

Someone calls out behind me, and both turn to me.

I back up a few steps, wait about five seconds, and then stride forward, calling out, “Tobie? Are you—” I push the door open and grin at her. “Ah. I was looking for you.”

Marc smiles at me. Tobie looks like she’s trying not to cry.

My urge to smack this guy in the face grows ten-fold.

“Hey, man. That play you did Friday was awesome,” he says to me.

I give him a cold smile. “Sure.”

He stares at me.

“You’re in the way,” I tell him.

He frowns. “I don’t…”

“You’re in the way of Tobie, my girlfriend.”

He laughs. “But she…”

I step up to him, my fake smile falling away. It takes everything in me not to put this guy on the floor with an uppercut to the jaw after what I just overheard. “She what ?”

He backs up and to the side. “Nothing.”

And I step around him, slide my arm around Tobie, and dip my head to kiss her.

I’m not sure what possessed me to do it. None of us said anything about this fake dating relationship coming with kisses—real or pretend.

Who the fuck am I kidding? I’d been wanting to kiss her since we arrived at this party.

Her lips are softer than I was expecting. And the squeak of surprise that morphs into a moan tunnels deep inside me.

More than that.

She kisses me back, so what was meant to be a quick peck on the lips to convince the prick at my back he fucked up big time, throwing Tobie away, turns into something more.

When we break apart, her plush lips are rosy, eyes wide, and pupils dilated.

I’d forgotten all about the fool who was making Tobie feel like shit until he clears his throat.

I look to my left.

Marc is still standing there. Staring.

“Did you want something?” I ask.

His eyes bounce from me to Tobie as if he can’t believe what he’s seeing. “No. I just…”

“Cool.” I flash him another insincere smile and turn my back on him to focus on Tobie. “You want to grab a drink, or are you ready to go home? Caleb is sick of the party, and Javier is bored.”

I don’t hear Marc leave, but when Tobie’s shoulders relax, I assume he must have. But I don’t take a step away from her even though I have no reason to be standing so close.

“Thanks,” she whispers.

“For?”

Her eyes fill with tears, and I wonder why I didn’t smack that prick when I had the chance.

I pull her into my arms, a place where she feels like she’s always been, and I breathe in the sweet rose scent of her hair.

Several minutes later, she sniffs. “I’m sorry I cried. I didn’t think it would still hurt.” Her voice is muffled by my shirt.

I stroke her back. “Feelings are raw. No need to apologize for feeling.”

Her voice is quiet. “And I’m sorry you had to kiss me.”

I peer down at her as I thumb a tear away. “You think kissing you was a hardship?”

“I thought…” her voice trails off, and we look at each other.

I’m dipping my head to kiss her again when Caleb calls out, “Are we all hiding?”

There’s so much relief in his voice that I’d smile if I weren’t this close to kissing Tobie.

I twist around as he enters the room. His eyes bounce from Tobie to me, and his expression hardens when he gets a look at her tear-stained cheeks. “What happened?”

“Tobie’s ready to go home,” I say.

He steps into the room. “That’s all well and good, but you haven’t told me what actually happened.”

Javier follows him in, and his expression also hardens when he sees Tobie’s damp cheeks.

“The fucking ex is what happened. He was being cruel to her,” I explain.

Tobie shakes her head. “He was?—”

“Nope. He was definitely being cruel,” I say. “He was saying the only thing she was good for was fucking.”

Caleb looks like he’s getting ready to punch a wall. “Are you okay?” he asks Tobie.

Her smile is wobbly. “Fine. I’m fine.”

Javier frowns. “That guy is making me regret stopping you from punching him.”

Tobie blinks at him as if surprised we’re treating this like it’s a big deal.

It is a big deal. Tobie is ours, at least for the next little while, and while she’s ours, no one speaks to her like that.

“Come on.” I lace my fingers with hers, surprised by how natural the action is.

“Where are we going?” she asks.

“Out of here. I’m taking you home.”

“But we’ve only been here an hour.”

“We did what we came here to do. Now it’s time to leave and let people whisper and spread that gossip far and wide, like those flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz .”

I draw a small smile from her. “The what?”

Javier and Caleb walk ahead, talking quietly as I lead Tobie down the stairs.

A few people glance at us as we leave. Tobie shivers as we step outside, and I slip out of my jacket and slip it onto her instead.

“You’re going to get cold,” she warns me.

“Then I’m cold.” I turn to Javier and Caleb, saying, “I’m walking Tobie back to her room. I’ll see you guys in a bit, okay?”

I walk Tobie to her dorm and up to her floor. She slips out of my jacket and hands it back. “Thanks.”

“No worries.”

It’s Monday tomorrow. There’s no practice until the afternoon and minimal people at the rink in the morning. I also have a free period, which makes it the ideal time to get some studying done.

I make a spontaneous decision. Probably a stupid one. Yep. Definitely a stupid one, but…

“Sometimes I do my best thinking on the ice,” I say.

“You do?”

I nod. “It’s rare anyone is at the rink early on Monday. The coaches like to have their meeting then, so no one will be on the ice. How about hanging out?”

“Why?”

Suddenly, I realize it wasn’t a stupid decision at all.

“Because it’s fun . Jay will probably want to do something fun with you as well. Caleb, too, when he stops pretending he doesn’t like you.” Her blink of surprise makes me smile. “But I want to show you the arena when it’s quiet.”

She gives me a long look, then nods. “Okay. I’d like that.”

After hesitating for a beat, I kiss her on the cheek. “Goodnight, Tobie Myers.”

“Goodnight, Reid Graves.”