Page 1

Crew

I stood at the bar, TJ to my left and a hot blonde with blue streaks in her hair to my right.

The rest of the team was crowded around, taking up every inch of space at the bar, with the exception of a few younger players that were scattered throughout the room, laughing and flirting their drunken asses off with girls that they hoped they’d spend the night with.

Stallions was the most popular college bar in town, and although most people weren’t back yet from summer break, it was still fairly packed tonight, which meant there were plenty of options for me to take home.

But my eyes were currently set on blondie-with-blue-streaks.

Clutching my beer in one hand, I had my other wrapped around her waist. I leaned in, content when my voice seemed to send a small shiver through her body. “What did you say your name was again?”

She gulped as she turned her head towards me, making us only a few inches apart. “Lucy.”

“Lucy,” I nodded with a flirtatious smirk. “I like it.”

She gave a small smile, causing my eyes to land straight on her pink, glossy lips.

“I’m Cr—”

“I know who you are,” she said.

“Really?” I asked nonchalantly, playing it cool.

It wasn’t rare for girls to know who I was before I formally introduced myself, and like the egotistical son of a bitch I was, I liked it.

“Of course,” she answered, her eyes dropping to my lips for a moment. “I pay attention around here.”

“Ah,” I gave a nod, sipping my beer. “So, you watch hockey then?”

“A bit,” she shrugged lightly with her exposed shoulder.

Hmm, now she was the one playing it cool.

I was into it.

“Gonna come to our games this year?” I asked casually, leaning into the bar.

She tipped her head side to side, still grinning. “Probably.”

“Well, I hope you do.” I shot her my best, most inviting smirk, pulling out the big guns knowing damn well my dimples popped up with it.

Her eyes lit up, and by the way she took a deep breath while rubbing her hand tensely along her thigh, I could only infer that if we were alone right now, she’d be jumping straight onto me, begging me to rip her clothes off.

Not that there was much to rip off anyway.

Her gray top barely covered her boobs, and her jean shorts were so short that I could see the bottom of her ass falling out.

I wasn’t complaining though.

Considering it was past midnight and Lane made me promise we wouldn’t stay until closing, I knew my time was running out.

If I wanted blondie-with-blue-streaks in my bed at the end of the night, I needed to act fast.

My mind reeled for a moment, jumping back and forth between which line to pull out next. I had a few that I usually alternated between just to keep things interesting.

“You look gorgeous.”

“I want to see you again.”

“Do you have plans later?”

But before I had the chance to spit something out, there was a loud gasp coming from behind me, followed by what sounded like Lane’s voice.

I turned, noticing that some of the guys were laughing, while others had their mouths in the shape of an O. Regardless of their reactions, they were all looking towards Lane.

I pushed one of our younger players over to get a glimpse of what the hell was going on. Right when my eyes landed on a short red-haired girl who looked like she was about to commit first-degree murder, I recoiled a bit myself. Her entire front-side was soaking wet, outlining her boobs. And considering she was wearing a tank top, the outline was pretty defined.

I sucked in a sharp breath, seemingly unable to look away from her chest until she shrieked in frustration and stomped off.

Lane let out a stressed sigh, turning towards me.

“What the hell was that?” I asked, motioning in the direction the girl scurried off in.

He seemed visibly shaken, a hint of guilt swimming in his eyes. “I spilled my drink on that girl.”

“Damn,” I said, mindlessly letting out a chuckle. “You’re an ass.”

“It was an accident!”

I patted him on the shoulder. “Don’t worry, man. Everything’s fine.”

“I feel bad,” he murmured. “I didn’t even apologize.”

Welp.

“Panicked?”

“That might be an understatement,” he admitted, gazing off.

“It’s alright,” I assured him. “It’s not that deep.”

He leaned over the bar with a frown, trying to wave the bartender down to get a new drink.

I stayed beside him even though my dick was yelling for me to go back to Blondie. I ignored the temptation though. Afterall, it was bros before hoes . And even though I had a little brother of my own, I considered Lane as more blood than my actual family. If Lane needed me, even if it was for something as small as this, then I’d be there.

I’d had plenty of close friends throughout my life, most of which were met at the rink, but Lane was my chosen family. At eighteen, we played on the same team in the National Junior Hockey League before committing to Cedar University to play hockey here. In a short amount of time, we had gone from strangers to teammates to best friends to brothers. It felt like I’d known him my whole life even though we’d only been best friends for four years now.

I was already NHL bound after this season, signed by the Chicago Blackhawks, which I still couldn’t believe. The NHL had always been my dream ever since I was a kid, and now I was less than a year away from living out that dream. In the meantime, I was studying sports management, a common major for athletes.

But Lane, on the other hand, still didn’t know if he wanted to go pro or not, and I’d been trying for years to convince him to.

“Hey!” a shrill voice screamed, causing more than half of us to turn around. “Which one of you spilled all over my friend?”

The voice in question was coming from a small, dark-haired girl that was an Olivia Rodrigo look-alike. My brows shot up as she began interrogating the guys, sticking her tiny finger in their faces. Her friend, the poor red-haired girl that fell victim to Lane’s beer, stood there sheepishly, attempting numerous times to tone her friend down but failing every time.

Lane stepped forward, hand raised, confessing to the crime. “It was me.”

The outspoken one crossed her arms. “So, you poured your drink all over her and didn’t apologize? What the hell!”

Lane’s head tipped down as he blew out a breath. He turned to the redhead. “I’m sorry.”

Typically the golden boy of Cedar U, Lane was hardly ever in a situation where he was the bad guy. This was a rare occurrence, which made it extremely hard for our teammates to look away.

The girl’s shy eyes dropped as she nodded once, seemingly accepting his apology. Little Miss Fury, on the other hand, didn’t seem fully content with it.

Before thinking twice about it, I stepped in. “Alright,” I said, lightly raising my hands, “calm down. It was an accident.”

Her eyes shot over to me and she jutted her chin out. “Haven’t you ever heard that you should never tell a woman to calm down?”

My smirk grew, slightly amused. “There’s a lot of fury in that tiny body.”

She had daggers for eyes. I could feel her anger radiating off her body like campfire smoke as it hurdled your way. If she wasn’t slightly taller than the munchkins from The Wizard of Oz, perhaps she’d be offered a spot on the team for probably having more aggression than anyone else on the ice.

“You haven’t seen the half of it,” she said, scorn dripping from her tone.

I kind of liked how feisty she was. It was annoying but also slightly entertaining because it was not what I was used to at all.

Usually, it was always batted eyelashes and flirty smirks, boring small talk and overly sweet compliments. But this girl seemed like a wild card.

“Alright, let’s see it,” I dared.

“Do not encourage her,” Redhead blurted, gripping her friend’s wrist and yanking her away.

Once they were out of earshot, Lane muttered, “Yikes.”

“Yikes is right,” I agreed. “Do you at least feel a little better now that you got to apologize?”

“A little.”

“Good,” I said. “Now please forgive me for leaving your ass to go make sure I’m getting laid tonight.”

He rolled his eyes, but his frown slightly lifted. “Good luck.”

“Thanks, buddy,” I joked, nudging him before heading back over to where I last saw Blondie.

But when I got there, Blondie was gone.

Goddammit.

All my hard work was for nothing. The prize was gone. Poof. Vanished.

What a tragedy.

If I really wanted to get laid tonight, I still could. I had plenty of girl’s numbers and Snapchats that would practically run to me if I invited them over. But I wasn’t a big fan of hooking up with the same girl twice. It wasn’t because I was intentionally trying to be an ass, but nine times out of ten, they expected something more than just sex the more you brought them around, and that wasn’t something I could provide.

I sulked all the way back to Lane. “I’m ready to go when you are.”

“That was fast. Abandoned mission?”

“Nope. Failed mission.”

His eyes widened. “She denied you?”

“Yeah, right,” I laughed out loud. “She wasn’t there.”

“Gotcha.” He scanned the room. “There’s no one else you want?”

My eyes followed his lead, glancing around at the options. “There are plenty I want,” I confessed with a sly smile, “but I don’t got any patience left for it tonight.”

“Fair,” he said. “In that case, let’s go.”

“Wait,” I said, gripping his arm. “What about you?”

“Eh, not tonight.”

I sighed, even though I wasn’t surprised.

Lane was much less promiscuous than I was, which was sort of a shame considering he could probably pull twice the amount of girls as me if he wanted to.

We paid our tabs quickly then headed outside to wait for a few of the other guys.

Lane walked in front of me, and the second he opened the door, I noticed him stiffen in the slightest, but I didn’t know why until I saw the two girls from earlier standing there.

I couldn’t help but smirk. “Look. It’s Little Miss Fury.”

“Shut up, Crew,” Lane grumbled.

I wasn’t sure why this was all so amusing to me, but it was. Honestly, I was pretty sure it had to do more with Lane than with the girls. Any time Lane lost his cool, it was like some sort of sick pleasure for me. The guy was as cool as a cucumber twenty-four-seven.

When we were playing hockey together in juniors, we were down by three at the end of the second period in the championship game and Lane didn’t even bat an eye while the rest of our team was practically pissing in their gear.

When I crashed my car last year and nearly tore off the front bumper while Lane was in the passenger seat, he was undaunted and acted like it was just a small scratch.

When he got into a small disagreement with his mom and she threatened to stop helping him pay his rent, I was pretty sure I was freaking out more than he was. It somehow turned into him comforting me .

I swore he was rarely fazed.

So right now, seeing him upset and rattled from accidentally spilling on this pretty little stranger had me a bit happier than it should’ve. I loved seeing him all worked up.

There was the lightest breeze, creating the perfect summer night. It was a refreshing difference to the hot, sticky air inside. No one was around besides us and the girls, a small array of cars driving by every few moments. I leaned against the brick building, getting comfortable as I eyed the feisty one. “What are you guys doing out here?”

“Waiting for an Uber,” she answered, sounding bothered. “What are you doing out here?”

I threw a lazy thumb over my shoulder. “Waiting for our buddies.”

“Good for you,” she whirred, keeping her eyes on her phone.

“What’s your name?” I asked.

Not paying me a single ounce of attention as she tapped away on her phone, her voice had an edge of agitation. “Kota.”

“I’m Crew.”

“I don’t care,” Kota mumbled. She looked up at her friend. “It’s not working.”

I sort of thought the feistiness thing was an act she was putting on inside to back up her friend. Guess not.

I pushed my hands into my pockets, glancing over at Lane who quite literally was kicking rocks.

The redhead let out a small groan, tilting her head towards her shoulder. “It’s always hard getting an Uber on Saturdays. We might have to wait a bit.”

For some reason, I felt the need to play hero. “Do you want us to walk you guys home?”

Little Miss Fury crossed her arms, her eyes burning into me. “Is that code for something?”

Goddamn, she was starting to push my buttons. I was just trying to be nice, but she was continuously rubbing me the wrong way. I was already in a shit mood knowing that I wasn’t getting laid tonight, and even though she was standing in sky-high stilettos and a skin-tight dress, causing my dick to twitch, I was still growing more agitated by the second.

If she wanted to be a bitch, then I’d be a bitch back.

I leaned in. “Yeah, it’s code for ‘ Do you want us to walk you home?’”

Kota didn’t even flinch, her voice remaining bothered. “No thanks. It’s fine. We’ll wait for an Uber.”

“Fine. Didn’t want to anyway.”

She scoffed. “Yeah, okay.”

My eyes narrowed, my foot tapping along the pavement. “What’re you saying?”

“I’m saying,” she spoke, motioning to me and then Lane, “you and Mr. Abercrombie over there are obviously just trying to get us to go home with you.”

I choked back laughter. “You’re not my type.”

She lifted a brow, her eyes full of doubt. “Really?”

“Really.”

“Then what’s your type?”

“Anything besides bitch,” I said confidently.

Mouth dropping open, her loud scoff gave the same deafening effect as nails on a chalkboard. “You’re not so pleasant to be around either.”

I snickered. “That’s not what most other girls tell me.”

“There’s a difference between your dick and your personality, dude.”

I could feel my wicked grin threatening to break my face in half. “Ah, so you wanna talk about my dick, huh?”

Kota gave a light sway. Her body language said innocent, but her devilish smirk and bold eyes said otherwise. “Sure,” she paused, smirk growing as she looked me dead in the eyes. “I heard it’s small.”

What the fuck?

Either she was just making shit up to piss me off or there were some bitter girls spreading rumors about me because I stopped talking to them after hooking up.

My jaw immediately clenched, but I held my facial expression, refusing to show that she was getting to me.

I didn’t even have a good comeback for that. I didn’t want to deny it because then she’d know she was getting under my skin. But no way in hell was I going to confirm it because it wasn’t true.

Thankfully, right then, I could overhear Redhead shitting on hockey, and I used it as my way out.

“Hey,” I stepped forward, jokingly placing a hand over my chest, “my ego is hurt.”

As if I were nothing but a target, Kota’s eyes narrowed in on me. “It would be.”

I rolled my eyes, lolling my head to the side to look at her. “Do you always have something to say about everything?”

“Pretty much.”

I huffed, running a hand through my hair. “How adorably obnoxious.”

She smiled with spite, tilting her head. “You think I’m adorable?”

This girl was kind of the worst. She was like a baby cobra— tiny but still able to spit enough venom to kill you. I was pretty certain I’d never been spoken to like this by a girl ever. Most girls tried to be overly nice to me to get my attention or simply get in my bed. Meanwhile, this one seemed disgusted by the thought.

Kota gave a small jump when her phone buzzed, and when she checked it, her face lit up. She grabbed the redhead’s hand. “Uber’s here. Let’s go.”

I sighed a breath of relief as they ran off. “Jesus,” I muttered, stepping closer to Lane. But he stayed fairly quiet, his eyes following the girls until they got into their Uber. “Hello?” I said, waving a hand in front of his face. “Earth to Lane.”

“Yeah, what?” he finally replied, snapping out of it.

My brows furrowed. “You good?”

“I’m fine.” He glanced through the front window of the bar. “Where the hell is everybody?”

“Don’t know, but it would’ve been nice if they showed up five fucking minutes ago. That was brutal.”

“Don’t be dramatic.”

I scoffed, practically jumping backwards. “ Dramatic? Did you hear that girl? She was like the devil in heels.”

His eyes found the ground as he scratched the back of his neck. “Her friend wasn’t bad.”

Shaking my head, I attempted to throw off the frustration that was sticking to my skin.

The door swung open and just as I was about to turn around and give the guys shit for taking so long, my anger subsided a bit, and I was pleasantly surprised to see blondie-with-blue-streaks.

She didn’t seem to notice me as she began walking off with her friends.

Fuck, what was her name? Lacey? Lainey? Lily?

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

Finally, my eyes widened in both realization and relief. “Lucy!” I called out, causing her to turn. “Hey,” I smiled, jogging lightly over to her.

“Hey, Crew,” she smiled back.

“What are you doing for the rest of the night?”

She gave a subtle shrug. “Not much, I don’t think.”

“Do you wanna come over?”

Her two friends were eyeing her excitedly, egging her on.

“Yeah, alright,” she agreed.

“Cool. You guys can come too,” I said, extending the invite. “We’ll all just be hanging out at the house.”

Her friends nodded rapidly, following me back over to Lane as the rest of the guys finally stepped outside.

TJ had a girl with him. Jett and Matt were alone. Cody left an hour ago with a girl already. And since Lane didn’t want a hookup tonight, it looked like there were three guys and three girls. Perfect.

I shot Jett and Matt a mischievous grin, furtively gesturing to the girls. They shot a grin back.

They’d be thanking me in the morning.