Spiral (Off the Ice, #2) (108)
Amara Evans and I have been roommates since freshman year. Luckily for me, being best friends with a tech genius means getting perks from the university for her contributions. The most important one was securing Iona House. The only student living complex with two-bedroom and two-bathroom units. It’s still cramped, but anything is better than the communal bathrooms where athlete’s foot lurks in every corner. “She’s making me do my application on hockey,” I tell her.
Amara drops the pillow. “You’re kidding. I thought she knew about everything.”
“She does! This is what I get for sharing my secrets with her.”
“Can’t you find another advisor? She can’t be the only one who gets students accepted to the program.”
“No one has her success rate. It’s like she’s rigging acceptances, or something. But maybe she’s right. I should put aside my appre?hension.”
Amara gasps. “She did not say that!”
“Oh, but she did.” I sigh, rolling to a sitting position. “How come you’re back so early?”
“Sitting in that lecture hall with a bunch of sweaty dudes isn’t how I want to spend my first day back.”
Majoring in computer science means ninety percent of Amara’s class is dudes. Which isn’t something Amara’s used to, coming from a family of five sisters. She’s smack in the middle and says she’s never known a moment of peace. Stuck between the impossible position of being the older and younger sister, and simultaneously having to deal with teenage hormones and adolescent tantrums. As someone with twin sisters who were born when I was already a handful of years older, I can’t relate.
“Are you going to the party tonight?” she asks.
Being surrounded by hundreds of drunk frat dudes sounds like a nightmare. “I have way too much to do.”
Her exasperated look tells me I’m in for a lecture. “Last semester you said you’d loosen up and enjoy your senior year. You said you would go out more, Summer. If I have to drag you along, I will.” I did say that. To be fair, it was after I cried over a particularly difficult assignment and Donny’s perfect score sent me over the edge. That’s when I vowed that I’d let loose, because only focusing on school wasn’t making my grades better.
I shoot her a sheepish look. “But I have to start that proposal, and I have readings to do.”
She huffs out a breath. “Fine. I’ll go with Cassie, but you have to promise to take a few breaks.”
“Promise. I’ll even go for a run later.”
Amara’s head hangs in disapproval. “Not the type of break I was talking about, but I’ll take anything if it gets you out of here.”
TWO
AIDEN
SHE’S WATCHING ME sleep.
Drawing away from the last remnants of my dream means I’m hyper-aware of my current surroundings. Either she’s enjoying the view, which I wouldn’t blame her for, or she’s planning on ripping off my skin and wearing it later.
The latter seems more likely, because I fell asleep on her last night.
The welcome party at our house had gotten a little out of control. By a little, I mean extremely out of control. When Dalton University’s left-winger and one of my best friends, Dylan Donovan, is in charge of a party, it’s meant to turn into a rager. Mostly because I decided not to be the one policing it. We had just come back from break, so it was the only time I’d let myself drink before the season starts up again, and I’m not sure how much I’ll regret that decision until I’ve seen the aftermath.
Opening my eyes means having to deal with the aftermath.
When Aleena, a smoking hot redhead, picked me out of the crowd to do body shots last night, it was only right that we found ourselves in my room, naked and all over each other. Though that didn’t last long, because sleep debt is real, and I am its latest victim.
I train every day and take a full course load, and when I’m not doing that, I’m keeping the guys out of trouble. So, as I laid her on my bed and kissed my way down her stomach, I fully knocked out. It would have been embarrassing if I was conscious, but the sleep was so great I had no complaints.
“Morning.” I stretch my arms out and under my head, opening my eyes to see exactly what I expected.
Red hair pools on my chest and full pouty lips are trapped between white teeth. “Good sleep?” she asks. “I hope you’re not feeling too lazy this morning.”
Anyone else would have been emasculated by the comment, but I couldn’t be. Not when practically every girl on campus knows that lazy and Aiden Crawford have never been used in a sentence together. This was a one-off, and judging from her darkening blue eyes, she knew I’d make it up to her.
I chuckle. “Great sleep, actually.”
“Well, if you’re awake now”—she runs a red fingernail down my chest—“we can start the day off right.”
What kind of host would I be to turn down that offer? When her hand trails lower, I flip her over and make up for last night.
By the time Aleena finishes up in the shower, I’m already downstairs making breakfast. Turns out women are big fans of steam showers, and I am the proud owner of the only one in the house. Rightfully so, because my grandparents had bought the house when I got accepted to Dalton. But that didn’t stop Kian Ishida, the team’s right-winger and our roommate, from fighting me tooth and nail for it. The captain card never failed to win a disagreement, but now he’s across the hall with his loud music and constant pounding on my bedroom door.