Riley Lennon wasn’t my type, but she seemed to be everyone else’s. The moment Coach’s daughter walked out of his office and swung her hourglass hips through the locker room with her dainty chin held high, was the exact moment a spell of lustful silence fell over my teammates. It was witchcraft. Their longing gazes followed every one of her feisty steps, and their shared curiosity morphed to desire within seconds.
I’d admit, my eyes clung to her too, but I wasn’t under Riley’s little spell. I wasn’t as tempted as these other fools. It wasn’t because she wasn’t attractive. If anything, she was more desirable than most of the girls that attended Bexley U, and that was simply because she didn’t fall over her own feet to get our attention. She wasn’t blown away by our masculinity and ability to conquer the ice. In fact, her loathing for us was more obvious than the boners most of my teammates were currently sporting.
When I’d walked over and closed Coach’s office door—because apparently eavesdropping was a form of foreplay for the team—Riley looked even angrier than before. Her creamy cheeks blasted with heat, and her glare was laser-like. I only heard snippets of her conversation, though. Something about how degrading it was to have the hockey players watching her every move. I agreed, but nonetheless…
Coach shot through his door a second after Riley disappeared, leaving a bad taste in my mouth. My teammates’ heads were on a swivel as they pulled their attention from the lingering essence of Riley and clicked back into reality. Their gazes dropped, and they engaged in meaningless conversations, as if Coach Lennon didn’t realize that each of them just played out several different scenarios of fucking his daughter all over this very locker room.
I gave Theo a sideways glance, and he rolled his eyes. He and I were on the same page. We were both more focused on hockey than your typical college player. We were at Bexley U to secure our careers. We weren’t at Bexley U to chase girls. That wasn’t to say we didn’t let them chase us, but we weren’t bewildered by something as futile as simple attraction.
“Listen up.” Coach left little time for any of us to fully give him our attention. He whizzed right into a lecture. “My daughter is now attending Bexley U on campus instead of online, which I’m sure some of you already were aware of.” No one spoke up and admitted to knowing, probably because they didn’t have a death wish. “She is off-limits. You got that?”
“Coach, I could fall on the ice during practice, get a critical concussion, forget my name and my family members, and still remember that your daughter is off-limits.” Efrain was only half-joking, but truth be told, the gravity of his joke was heavier than the humor.
I swore I saw a quick dash of amusement on Coach’s face. “I will personally go out of my way to destroy your future at this school if you try anything. Do not tempt me.”
“So we can’t even be her friend?” I didn’t care to see who asked the question, and if Coach hadn’t tasked me with being his daughter’s glorified babysitter, I might not have cared to hear the answer.
“You? Absolutely not. You don’t know how to have friends who are females!”
The team snickered under their breath, but I didn’t. Instead, I continued digging through my locker for the rest of my practice gear.
“With that said…” He paused for dramatic effect. “I don’t think I need to remind you all to watch out for her. Or any other female at Bexley U. I do not tolerate foul play on this team.”
That was Coach Lennon’s recycled unwritten law that he repeated often.
There was a huge scandal a few years ago that completely destroyed the hockey team’s chances of having their own hockey house. Most of the athletes at Bexley U had their own sanctuary where their teammates lived, but not the hockey team. Coach put an end to that when a girl was roofied at one of the parties. He shut it down real quick—thus the hockey players either getting their own apartment off campus or living in the dorms, like our captain, Theo. Poor guy.
Coach didn’t wait for us to confirm we had heard his threat—I mean, team discussion. Instead, he stormed out of the locker room and barked, “Ten minutes,” on his way out.
The locker room talk started up almost immediately.
Ford tried to lighten the mood. “We’ve gotta get some blinders, fellas. Coach’s daughter is…” He took his finger and ran it across his neck very slowly, pretending to cut his head off. “Off-limits.”
I chuckled before pulling my practice jersey over my head. Some of my teammates had already gone onto the ice to begin warming up, but I slowed my movements, too caught up in my thoughts, wondering why Coach needed me to keep an eye on his daughter. The choices were endless, but my first guess was that she flunked out of her previous school and got in some trouble with ol’ daddy. Even as uptight as she seemed, she very well could have been a party girl. Maybe that was why he was so adamant that I make sure she’s ‘making the right choices.’ Fuck, why do I care? Move on.
“Off-limits.” Berkley stood up after putting his skates on. “Doesn’t he understand that we are feral when it comes to things we aren’t supposed to do? Like her?”
“Coach would strangle you with the laces of your skates if you touched her.” I briefly looked at Emory, our goalie, before he knocked Berkley on the back of the head and continued through the locker room. “Just like I’d strangle anyone if they touched my sister.”
Someone from the next line of lockers mumbled under their breath, but I caught every last word. “It would be worth it. I’ll gladly be strangled if it means touching her.” Emory stopped walking and spun around. The poor freshman was quick to add, “I mean the coach’s daughter! Not your sister.”
Locker room talk. That was all it was.
I glanced at Theo. His jaw worked back and forth, and I knew him well enough to know he was trying to hold back his reprimanding. Theo was a good team captain, meaning he knew when to put his foot down. There was a very thin line between admired captain and controlling asshole, but Theo did it well. The one thing you didn’t want to disrupt on a team like this was the dynamic. It wasn’t that we were all best friends, but we had a strong team bond. No one wanted to fuck that up.
Winning the Frozen Four was something we all wanted.
Berkley waited until Emory left the locker room before saying, “He is going to kill you on the ice now. You know that, right?”
The freshman was shaking in his skates.
“Don’t worry.” Efrain slapped him on the shoulder. “You wouldn’t have a chance with either girl. Em’s sister isn’t swayed by hockey players, and Riley looked like she wanted to kill us earlier. That was well before you idiots drooled over her.”
“Earlier?” Theo asked.
“Yep.” Efrain nodded. “Riley lives across the hall from us.”
“Whose idea was that?” Theo glanced at me.
I turned my head and lowered my voice. “Believe it or not, Coach’s.”
“Shit, can I move in with you guys?” Ford wiggled his eyebrows before pulling his jersey over his head.
“You practically have.” Efrain threw his shirt at Ford’s face. “And stop using my fucking body wash.”
“Oh, will you relax? I’ll buy you some more.”
“No, you won’t. And you’ll probably use my cologne now too, hoping that the scent makes its way across the hall and sways Riley off her feet and into your arms.”
“Will you two fucking stop?” I snapped. “No one is touching Riley.” I didn’t plan to sound so gruff, but the longer I listened to everyone lusting over Riley, whether they were kidding or not, the more irritated I became. Probably because I was the one who was supposed to keep them in check.
“Why?” Berkley loved pressing everyone’s buttons, including mine. “Do you want her for yourself?”
As if on fucking cue, Graham Sullivan slithered out from behind the second row of lockers with his arrogance intact and the ability to piss me off in full effect. Sully was a transfer, but I knew him well before he relocated to Bexley U and found a spot on the team. He was my own personal antagonist. A foe. I have considered him an enemy on more than one occasion, and he thought the same of me.
We had always been neck and neck. Every accredited sports news outlet had compared us at one point over the years, and I was certain there was a meme floating around the internet about us.
Rosewood University was my first choice.
Bexley U was my second.
It was no surprise that it was the same for Sully.
His ego exploded when the scouts chose him over me. I was the first to admit that the reason they didn’t choose me was because of the shitstorm I’d found myself in my senior year of high school, but Sully believed otherwise. The chip on his shoulder formed shortly after Bexley U started to climb to the top, and he was still stuck at Rosewood, thinking he was the better player.
But now, here he was, attending Bexley U, where we both had to shelve our hidden rival.
“I’d like to know the same. You got your eye on the coach’s daughter, Aash?”
I instantly zeroed in on Sully’s cheeky smirk as he pulled his shirt over his head and began getting dressed for practice. Fucker. I couldn’t help but swell in victory when I noticed that my stomach was more defined than his. I wanted to puff my chest out like a twelve-year-old boy for winning an ab competition that he was unaware of. My competitiveness ramped up near him. It was simply out of my control.
Theo’s sigh hit the back of my neck on his way over to Sully. He grabbed on to his bicep. I waited eagerly for Sully to recoil at his touch, but to my surprise, he didn’t even blink. Theo’s voice carried throughout the locker room and caught the ear of every player who was still in the vicinity. “Don’t fuck around, Sully. This year is about the Frozen Four, and even thinking about Riley is going to be a distraction.” Theo swung his firm stare around the locker room. “Get her out of your heads and focus on the game.” He let go of Sully and started to walk past our silent teammates. “I can assure all of you that Coach didn’t say those things to bait you. He meant what he said. Riley is off-limits. Don’t fuck up our chances at being the best or ruin your futures over your need to be defiant.”
Silence ensued when Theo disappeared out of the locker room, and the majority of us followed him out onto the ice. Our pucks had a little more fire to them, and Sully was a little more antagonizing than usual when we were pinned against one another for a practice scrimmage. The puck sliced past my head, clipping my padded shoulder. It took everything in me to keep my stick hovering over the ice instead of thrusting it outward to cross-check him.
“Were you going to take a bite out of that biscuit, Aash?”
I hated when he shortened my name. We were not on a nickname basis with one another.
“Jealous of my hat-trick, Sul?”
Theo skated in between us, and his disapproving frown did nothing to sway me from continuing my banter with Sully. It was rare when we shared words, but considering the fact that we had been enemies for years up until now, I think we both deserved a little leeway.
Coach blew his whistle, signaling that practice was over. I glanced at him, wondering if he was going to give me shit for my spar with Sully, and that was when I saw Riley quickly climbing the stands. I was already annoyed with her for reasons she was unaware of, but distracting her father so I could talk shit back to Sully wasn’t one of them. Thank you, Riley Lennon.
Once back in the locker room, I began stripping out of my practice gear. Theo was the first to leave, and I wasn’t really sure why, because he had been avoiding his dorm room since finding out that his new roommate was a chick, but I was glad he’d dipped out quickly. If he had stuck around, then he’d hear the team talking about Riley again and likely pop a blood vessel.
“Sounds like some of you are trying to score with Riley. Who will be the first to make her fall?” Ford was joking. I knew him well enough to know he didn’t take many things seriously, but I also knew the mind of a twenty-something-year-old college guy because, well, I was one, and the wheels were fucking spinning in my teammates’ heads.
“Maybe you?” Ford wiggled his eyebrows in my direction, and I laughed him off.
Sully peeked around the edge of the lockers and waited for my answer. I ignored him and answered truthfully. “Nope. Uptight and cold aren’t my type, even without the thought of Coach coming at me with a shotgun.” Or worse, a quick call to my future NHL team, sending me packing.
I’d already been disappointed once when it came to my future—ironically, over a girl. I wouldn’t make that mistake twice.
“I can loosen her up,” Nate said, pulling off his skates.
“Doubtful,” someone quipped.
“Watch me.”
I denied myself the energy to engage in their fruitless arguing. They were all likely to go home and ponder Coach’s threat along with the look of disapproval on their captain’s face and snuggle up with a puck bunny instead.
Riley Lennon was too much work, and our effort went onto the ice. There was no room for anything else.
Ford began heading toward the door with all his gear. “She’s been surrounded by hockey players all her life. Let’s face it, fellas. We just don’t do it for her. Why do you think we call her duster? That girl never plays the game. The few times I’ve seen her around, she sticks her nose in the air and ignores every single guy who approaches her.”
“That’s not true.”
My fingers stopped undoing the laces of my skates. I didn’t have to look up to see that it was Sully who argued. His voice was nails on a chalkboard.
“What isn’t true?” someone asked in between shutting a locker.
“Ry not liking hockey players. She used to date a hockey player.”
He calls her Ry? What are they, fucking besties?
I suppressed a growl. “And how exactly do you know that?”
Sully’s chuckle rubbed me the wrong way. I cursed Coach for propositioning me and leaving me no choice but to agree to being Riley’s handler. If it weren’t for our covert conversation, I wouldn’t have cared. “Do any of you know where Riley used to go to school? Before transferring here?”
The answer was obvious by the haughty sound of his voice. “Rosewood.”
Of fucking course.
My teammates broke out into hushed conversations, but there was one question that snagged my ear. “So what? Have you tapped that or something?”
Suddenly, it felt like I was the prey and Sully was the predator. “No. But I know her type.”
The collective, “Ooh,” provoked an eye roll from me. A bunch of idiots who weren’t focused on hockey even in the slightest.
“So, it’s settled, then. She’s into hockey players.”
No, she isn’t. She better not be.
“Let’s see who can tap that first. Winner gets to fuck Leon’s mom.”
“What the fuck?” Leon came barreling out of the steamy showers like a wild animal. He took the towel off his hips and zeroed in on Nate. The sound of a wet towel on skin sliced through the stuffy locker room. My teammates laughed, and I walked away before I got too riled up by their talk. I was headed toward the door, rounding the last set of lockers when I paused. Their conversation was hushed, but I had excellent hearing.
“Winner gets her. There’s no need for anything else.”
For fuck’s sake.
“Let’s make an ice bet.”
I stayed hidden and cursed under my breath. An ice bet was the oldest trick in the book. It was an unwritten tradition that I had thought died down but apparently not. It was considered hazing, and not only did Coach have a no-hazing rule, but Bexley U itself had a zero-tolerance policy for it. My heart picked up speed the longer I listened.
“So it’s settled. Whoever gets to her first, wins.”
“But you have to do so without Coach finding out.”
“Obviously. We will all keep it on the down low.”
“Are we talkin’ sex or what?”
“We should do a point system.”
“The hotter the act, the more points you get.”
They laughed while I silently teetered between my choices. I listed them off quickly in my head and grew more irritated with each stupid remark from my teammates. Coach had no idea that putting a no-touch rule on his daughter would be like dangling a piece of steak in front of hound dogs. He also had no idea that I would quickly grow to resent her for taking up space in my head that wasn’t reserved for her.
The obvious choice would be to tell Coach about the little hazing activity, but there was a problem with doing something like that: the team.
Bexley U was number one in our division. We were elite, and although there were lead players on every team, we all worked together on the ice to secure a win. We had a good relationship and an even better team dynamic. Tattling on my teammates—Sully in particular because he was the one who started it—would ruin that in a heartbeat, because if Coach didn’t kill him with his bare hands, he’d definitely kick him off the team for poor morals and hazing. Then I’d be the team pariah for fucking up our chances at the Frozen Four, thus ruining my future and everyone else’s. It was a snowball effect that I wanted no part in.
The other choice—and the one I was happily replaying in my head—was to knock Sully’s teeth out.
“Oh, it’s fucking on.”
“Ice bet secured, baby.”
I pushed off the lockers and stormed out of the locker room.
Riley told me that she didn’t like hockey players, and unfortunately, my future was balancing on whether or not that would hold true.
