CHAPTER SIX
Sabrina
“He was nice.”
“Just nice?” Finlay asked, chewing down her cheeseburger in the dining hall.
“Okay fine. He was a freaking beast. The guy could go all night long.”
Finlay’s eyes widened. “Liar.”
“Hey, if you didn’t stay at Caden’s last night, you would’ve been there when he had his way with me on your bed.”
“Shut up,” she said.
“You’ll never know.”
“I already know,” she said. “I can see it all over your face. It’s not there. If it was, you’d have those big blue gaga eyes you get.”
My nose wrinkled. “Gaga eyes?”
She nodded. “All dreamy and captivated. The way you get around Forester. You play indifferent, but I know the truth.”
“You do, huh?”
She nodded.
I rolled my eyes. “I’m done being into guys who are into someone else. I want someone who wants me as much as I want him. I deserve that.”
“You do deserve that. You need someone who makes you feel larger than life.”
“And gives me gaga eyes.”
She laughed before mowing down the rest of her burger. The girl could seriously eat anything and not gain a pound. I, on the other hand, had to watch everything I ate. I wasn’t very tall, so the curves I had were a minute away from becoming rolls if I wasn’t careful. “I think I know what your problem is.”
“Oh, yeah?” I asked curiously.
“You think love should be difficult.”
I scoffed. “Not true. My parents never fight and they’re happy—”
“And boring,” Finlay said, holding up her palms. “Your words not mine.”
Was she right? Did I think love should be more of a challenge?
“How’d your date go?” a deep voice asked.
My head flew to my left.
Crosby slipped into the seat beside me.
“What are you doing?”
“Asking how your date went.”
I eyed the scarce space he’d left between us. “No, I mean, why are you sitting here?”
He glanced to Finlay. “Is she a little slow?”
Finlay shook her head, her eyes assessing him. She’d only heard stories about my unwanted run-ins with the infamous Crosby, so I wondered what ran through her mind.
“Why do you care how my date went?” I asked him.
“Just curious if you let him get into your panties.”
My eyes flared. I glanced to Finlay who stared across the table, her eyes jumping between the two of us.
“Who are you?” she asked, both amused and confused.
He reached his hand across the table toward her. “Crosby. I figured your girl told you all about me.”
She stared at his hand still hovering in the air and made no attempt to shake it. “Afraid not,” she lied, like the true friend she was.
“That’s surprising. We shared some memorable moments together.” He lowered his hand and glanced back to me. “Well? Was I right about his condition?”
“Why are you so interested in my sex life? You’re never gonna be part of it.”
“Never say never.”
I glanced to Finlay who tried unsuccessfully to stifle a smile. “What are you smiling about?”
“You two are funny.”
“Funny?” I asked, my exasperation peaking.
She nodded. “And he’s hotter than in the picture.”
My mouth dropped open. What the hell was she trying to do?
“She’s been looking at pictures of me?” he asked Finlay as he swept his hand though his dark hair, definitely working the fact she called him hot.
“Everyone’s seen pictures of you,” I snapped. “Tied to a tree. Remember?”
He raised a brow at my suddenly traitorous friend. “She’s been trolling me on social media, hasn’t she?”
“You’re so annoying,” I growled, wanting nothing more than to storm out of there like a spoiled child.
“Ladies seem to like me fine the way I am.”
“I bet you get gaga eyes from them,” Finlay added, clearly for my benefit.
He tilted his head to the side. “I get a lot of things from them.”
I grabbed my bag and stood. “And the hockey team.”
“Low blow,” he said, feigning hurt. “Even for you, Ice Queen.”
“It’s been great catching up, but I’m outta here.” I spun away from them and stormed off.
“She always that difficult?” he asked Finlay as I moved away from them.
“When she hates someone? Yes.”
Crosby
I walked into the locker room after our first win. Most of the guys had already showered and were in different stages of dress while I opted for more ice time to work on my shot. I may have scored two of the four goals, but I wasn’t satisfied with my form.
No one acknowledged me as I walked to my locker, removed my gloves and helmet, and stuffed them into my bag. It was weird. I was getting used to the silence that surrounded me. Used to the fact that this was like some crazy fraternity that didn’t want me. But the joke was on them. They were a means to an end for me. Nothing else.
I removed more of my gear, pulling off my shoulder pads and wincing at the pain emanating from my shoulder. As much as I wanted to slather on some pain-relieving gel, I wouldn’t let them see they’d hurt me. Fuck ’em.
I grabbed a towel from the pile by my locker and stripped off the rest of my clothes, stuffing them into the laundry pile the equipment manager took care of for us. I wrapped the towel around my waist and walked into the showers. Inside the stall, the warm water cascaded over my body. The sound of the droplets raining down and forming puddles at my feet soothed me, drowning out the noise in my head. I stood there for a long time letting the heat of the water ease the pain in my achy muscles. I’d still need to alternate between ice and heat when I got back to the dorm, though. I usually had to do that on game nights, but now practices were just as brutal.
One thing I did feel good about was my run-in with the ice queen. She appeared unscathed after her date with Jeremy. It wasn’t like I could come right out and tell her she was being used. Maybe they’d make a happy couple. Who the fuck knew…
Once the water turned cold and my balls were pruned to the size of walnuts, I switched off the shower and reached for my towel from the hook outside the stall. It wasn’t there. I stuck my head out and looked down on the tile floor hoping it had fallen. It hadn’t.
Fuck.
I stepped out of the shower and walked into the now deserted locker room. The pile of towels I sought had disappeared and so had everything in my locker. Everything but my skates and jock strap.
God dammit.
I closed my eyes and held back my anger. At least I tried to, but I was seeing a whole lot of red behind my closed eyelids. I dragged in a long breath before opening my eyes and scanning the lockers around me. None of them had anything in them but bottles of shampoo, deodorant, and razors. Nothing I could use to cover up.
Sons of bitches.
I covered my dick and glanced toward Coach’s office. He wanted to know how the guys had been treating me. Wanted to know if I felt like part of the team. As much as I wanted to rat them out and ask for something to wear home, I knew it would be stirring up shit I didn’t need.
So, I did the only thing I could. I grabbed the jock strap from my locker and slipped it on, making my way out of the arena. It would take a lot more than some lame hazing to get me to quit the team.
The sun had set hours before, but students still walked around. If the entire campus hadn’t already seen my goods, I may have been more embarrassed. Still, I wished I had a car—if only mine hadn’t been repossessed. At least I still had what the good Lord gave me. Two feet. Two very bare feet that would carry me across campus and back to my dorm in a fucking jockstrap.
The looks, catcalls, and cars honking would’ve been enough to make a weaker man crumble. But I’d been through hell. This was child’s play.
As I moved closer to the dorms, a horn honked beside me and I flipped the driver the bird.
“That the way you want to treat your savior?” a girl asked.
I peeked over.
The ice queen’s friend sat in the driver’s seat of an old pickup truck that had pulled up to the curb beside me. “Get in.”
I didn’t even think about it. I walked right to the passenger door and pulled it open. The vinyl bench seat gave me pause, knowing my ass cheeks would stick to it.
She laughed, reaching behind the seat and grabbing a blanket. She handed it to me.
“Thanks.” I took it and wrapped it around my waist before climbing inside the truck.
She shifted the truck into gear and pulled away from the sidewalk. “You know I’m gonna have to ask.”
“It was a joke.”
“I work for the football team.” Her eyes jumped between me and the campus road. “Guys can be tough on the rookies. It’ll get better. Just don’t be an ass and provoke them.”
“I see why you and your buddy are friends. You both tell it like it is, huh?”
“The truth will set you free.” She laughed. “Okay, so maybe not as free as you are right now.”
I laughed and pointed to the building coming up on our left. “My dorm’s right up there.”
“Oh, yeah? Sabrina and I live right behind you.”
“Sabrina? That’s your friend’s name?”
My driver laughed. “You didn’t know her name?”
I shook my head.
“So, the two of you have been pushing each other’s buttons since you met and you’re just learning her name? That’s hysterical.”
“I call her Ice Queen. It seems to fit.”
“Yeah, maybe with you. But she’s actually pretty awesome if you get to know her.”
“If you're forgetting, she left me naked and tied to a tree in the middle of the night.”
“She said you were mean.”
“I was fucking cold.”
She laughed, but the memory churned my insides.
I’d been through hell that night. Humiliated. Overpowered. Pushed too far. “I’m not here to make friends. I’ve got a pro contract with my name on it and then I’m outta here.”
She pulled her truck to a stop in front of my dorm and turned to look at me. “A word to the wise. Everyone needs friends.”
Not in the mood to be lectured by some chick, I pushed open the passenger door. “Thanks for the ride. And the blanket.”
A sad smile flashed across her face as she glanced to the blanket wrapped around me. “You can give that back after Thanksgiving. We’re in room 325.”
I tried to ignore the hollow in my chest as I stepped out of the truck. I’d put Thanksgiving out of my mind since I knew what I’d be doing over the long holiday weekend and it sucked. I glanced back to my driver. “Thanks again.”
“Finlay,” she said.
“What?”
“My name’s Finlay.”
I nodded my understanding and closed the door. I watched Finlay drive off before strolling to my dorm like I didn’t have a blanket tied around my damned waist.