A sense of dread boiled in my stomach. Breathe, Sidney. You’ve got this.
This was my last shot at getting a recommendation. All the more reason to keep my shit together.
“The weekly quizzes do not count toward your final grade. They’re there to help you determine if you should drop out before the cutoff. If you aren’t passing them, you won’t pass the midterm, where you’ll present all your work in front of the class.”
I swallowed hard. I needed that recommendation letter.
For the next hour, I listened to what had to be the most intense first lesson ever given. Begrudgingly, I was thankful for Jax’s coffee. Not that I’d ever tell him that.
Dr. Carter closed his laptop and put it in his bag. “Decide what you’re going to do, and you’re free to go.” He paused at the door. “And good luck.”
I was practically shoved out of the way as classmates surrounded Jax. One cute brunette started in. “You could come by my place. I have it all to myself, so we won’t be interrupted.” She winked in his direction as if what she was implying wasn’t perfectly clear.
I snuck out around them, ignoring Jax calling after me as I escaped class.
FIVE
JAX
As soon as I got home, Lucas, our starting defenseman, met me at the door. He was a big man and he wore a bright pink shirt that he swore contrasted nicely with his dark brown skin. “Want to tell me why you’re tagged in a million tweets about running after some girl?” He used his massive form to block me in the doorway and waved his phone in my face with Twitter open. Sid’s and my little competition was on full display as he scrolled.
Tweet: Who’s the mystery girl?
Tweet: Hold on to your panties, girls, because this you’ve got to see.
Tweet: We want some of whatever got into Jax Ryder.
I shrugged. “Nothing to tell.”
There was no way I was getting into it with him. As it was, I would already get shit in the dressing room. Hockey players were huge gossips.
Lucas looked at me with amusement written all over his face. “Bullshit.”
“Seriously, man. Drop it.” I walked past him into the living room, where both Alex and River chilled on the couch, playing a game on our giant flat-screen. From the way he yelled, Alex was losing badly.
“Come on, man! Mr. Reserved can’t go running through the halls and not tell his best friends what the hell happened.” Lucas was practically falling over himself, getting a kick out of ripping into me.
Alex, a forward, slammed his controller onto the couch, his dirty-blond hair falling out of its bun, and grabbed his phone. You’d think he would’ve learned no one beat River when he was committed to the win.
“Oh fuck, there’s a video.” Alex watched for a second, and a sly smile took over his face. “It’s not some girl. It’s the girl.” He grinned as he jumped from the couch and pointed his phone toward me. “She lay her rules on you again, bro?”
Lucas cackled. “This I’ve got to hear.”
Oh, hell no. This needed to stop right the fuck now. There was a sofa separating Alex and me, creating an obstacle I didn’t need. Alex was big and fast. Fuck it.
I scrambled to jump over the couch, knocking him on his ass, but as soon as I grabbed the phone, he tossed it to Lucas, laughing at my failed attempt to take it.
I shouted to our right winger, “River, you gonna help me out here, man?”
“Not getting involved. I heard she’s cute, though.” He gave me a wink and raked a hand through his pitch-black hair before starting a new game.
I walked slowly toward Lucas, cornering him like a scared buck ready to bolt, and lunged to grab the phone. Sidney’s laugh rang out through the room as the video played. The sound was free, open, no holding back. None of the fake giggling that I was used to.
It was really too fucking bad she shut me the fuck down. Again.
“Christ, man, you were laughing.” Lucas looked at me with genuine shock. I wasn’t a big laugher; I tried not to think too hard about why. I mean, I put on a good show, but that was what it was. A show. Lucas’s head was still bobbing from the screen to me, a grin curving his mouth.
I’m never going to live this down.
River’s dark head snapped up. “You like this girl, Jax?” His eyes searched mine, head tilting with the question.
Did I like her? Fuck, I wasn’t going there. “Nah, man. Just another girl.”
Alex laughed. “Just another girl who turned you down.”
River looked over at me with disbelief in his voice. “Wait a fucking minute. This is the girl from the club?”
I tried to blow it off with a shrug. “She’s not into hockey players.”
Alex laughed from the other side of the room. “Sure, buddy, that’s why she left you high and dry.” He shared a look with Lucas and River, and the three of them smirked, calling me out on my bullshit.
I had to pull my shit together before these guys found out how twisted this girl had me. I gave her my coffee, for fuck’s sake. Some uncontrollable urge to do something nice for her and wipe the dejected look off her face. So, like a sixteen-year-old with no game, I slid my coffee over. Worse, I caught myself watching her drink—her soft mouth indenting on the lid—more times than I cared to admit.
Alex threw a pillow at me. “You’ve got it bad, man.”
Luckily, I caught it right before it smashed into my face. Bastard caught me daydreaming.
I grabbed my bag from the counter, intent on making an escape. Our house was set up with two bedrooms on the main floor and two upstairs. The best part was each of our rooms had an adjoining bathroom. It was out of most college students’ price range, but with each of our bonuses, we were more than fine here.
Plus, it was fucking perfect.
We’d been living together for the last three years and had a pretty good system going. Not to say we didn’t get on each other’s nerves because we fucking did.
I bunched the pillow in a tight ball and whipped it back at Alex, who stared at the TV, hitting him square in the back of his head. I rushed toward the stairs when he threw it back. It slammed into the wall, barely missing me. As soon as I was in my room, I pressed my back against the closed door and rubbed my hands over my face. I cracked my neck before resting my head against the solid wood and closing my eyes, picturing Sidney’s victorious smile. What the hell was I thinking?
I was supposed to be keeping a low profile to avoid school becoming a circus. Instead, today’s stunt would be blasted all over social media. This fucking girl.
I’d been pissed about her no-kissing rule, but One Night Only should’ve worked perfectly for me. I would make a shit boyfriend. I spent all of my time practicing, playing, studying, or sleeping. My whole life was about making it to the NHL. So tell me why I tried to convince her to break it?
It was bad enough I had to worry about my two oldest friends. Lucas was drafted to the Bruins right after me, Alex and River after that. Something I would never let them live down, and we were heading to Boston together when we graduated.
The thing was, Lucas was head over heels for Piper, and pro sports were brutal on relationships. Between road games, mandatory events, and training camps, a player spent most of their time out of town. Then, when they were home, players still needed to maintain their workout and training schedule. I didn’t want to watch Lucas’s and Piper’s hearts get stomped on if it all fell apart. And let’s face it, the odds weren’t in their favor. Lucas said she was worth the risk, and seeing how they acted together, maybe she was. But if it fell apart, they would end up wishing they’d never met at all.