I didn’t admit that I was wrong often, but leave it to Claire to cause just that. I whole-heartedly thought she would back out. I gambled back and forth with myself, landing on the assumption that she wouldn’t come, even saying as much to Aasher and Ford when we showed up at the party, high on the fumes of conquering the Wildcats. I pushed Claire clear from my head the second I scanned the room and didn’t see her or Taytum, but surprise struck me as I turned around to walk out of the kitchen to slip away from some overly accommodating puck bunnies. I choked on my drink as I slipped my gaze down her body.
She looked different, and irritation brushed over my skin at her appearance, because the team was really gonna amp up their remarks after seeing what she looked like outside of her waitressing attire. Damn it, Bryant.
Tight jeans and a little black top that showed just the right amount of skin. I’d give it to her—she knew how to fight back. I had pissed her off yesterday, and the moment she accepted the challenge, I should’ve known she’d show up just to prove a point.
A smirk crawled over my face as I pushed off from the doorframe of the kitchen and headed straight for her. A bob of a swallow worked its way down her slender neck, and she pulled her gaze away from me to talk with one of her friends. I stood, stunned, but only for a split second, as Claire tried to walk past me. I laughed before I gripped her arm and pulled her toward me.
“That’s not very nice. You’re not even going to say hi to your roommate?”
The sharp sting of her blue eyes was full of annoyance, so I dropped her arm. “Hi,” she said, shooting me a fake smile. She started to walk into the kitchen again, but I slipped in front of her.
“That’s it? Just a hi? You act like we don’t sleep in the same room.” I shook my head with obvious disapproval. “What’s wrong, Bryant? Fighting with your boyfriend or something?” The sound of her teeth grinding against one another gave me a clue that she was truly angry about something. What did I do now? “Don’t tell me. You’re mad that I put your underwear in your drawer. Didn’t you get my note? I swear I didn’t go through it.” I most definitely wanted to, though.
“Theo,” she hissed, bringing her face a little closer to my chest. “Knock it off.”
“Knock what off?” I asked, hearing the way my voice skirted very closely to something flirty. What am I doing?
“Here ya go!” A drink was placed in between my chest and Claire’s face.
“Thanks, Rose.” Claire tenderly smelled the brim of her cup, and her nose wrinkled.
She and her friend, Rose, cheered their cups silently, and something involuntarily forced my hand to snatch Claire’s drink before it touched her lips. She huffed and shot me a dirty look, wondering what I was doing. I’m wondering the same. I turned to Rose and peered down at her disapprovingly. “Did you pour this? Or did someone hand it to you?”
Rose’s cheeks turned a little pink, but I was used to that when talking to a female. They were either too eager for my attention or struggled to get words out. Except Claire, though. “I poured it myself.”
My hand left Claire’s cup swiftly, and I was surprised at my random act of chivalry. It wasn’t that I was a bad guy, but ask me if I’d done that to any other girl before. The answer was no. “Okay, carry on.”
I stepped away from Claire and her friend and walked toward Aasher and a few other teammates. I was the center of the conversation as I slid up in the middle of their explanation to Rush over the stats of the game.
We were tied 2-2 and down to the last few seconds of the third period until I caught a pass from Aasher, allowing me to tuck the puck under the goalie’s leg as he stretched to block the shot. He was a little too slow, though and I gained the point for my team. Moments after the goal horn blared, the buzzer signified the end of the game, and the entire arena rattled with excitement. The adrenaline from those last few moments took a while to wear off, and Aasher’s voice grew louder the more he talked.
It didn’t take him long to notice my silence, though. I made sure to keep my attention away from Claire and Rose, but I still felt unsettled.
“What’s wrong?”
I shrugged, turning my head slightly so no one else could hear me. “I don’t know. I just had an out-of-body experience.”
“What?”
I shook my head, not wanting to examine my behavior. I tipped my head back and took a bigger swig of beer than usual and trained my eyes to the left side of the room—the side I knew Claire wasn’t on. A puck bunny caught my eye, and she winked at me, and surprisingly, I winked back. Wait, what am I doing? I didn’t fuck around with girls after a game, and I already swore off puck bunnies for the rest of the season.
Focus. Focus. Focus. That was my mantra. Focus on the game, focus on the after interviews, score a one-on-one with Tom Gardini, and land my dream team in the NHL. I wasn’t sure where my head was tonight, but I didn’t like that it was skirting in areas it shouldn’t have been.
“You gettin’ laid tonight?” Emory’s gruff voice came out of nowhere, and I shrugged.
“I don’t know. Maybe.”
“Shit, she did come?” I knew who Aasher was referring to, so I didn’t even look in the direction he was staring off into.
“Bryant? Yeah, I guess.”
There was a rumbly snicker that came from Emory, and I glared over at him, not in the mood for games. “What?”
His brows shot up, and he shook his head innocently. “Oh, nothing.”
Why am I acting like this?
I nodded to the blonde who was still staring at me, and she started over in my direction. At the very last second, I turned and skimmed my gaze over to where I had last seen Claire. She was still standing with her friend Rose, and they were chatting about something that clearly was very exciting to Claire because there was a twinkle in her eye. I wasn’t sure why I was so concerned with her being here. Maybe I liked her being in a separate part of my mind. She was my roommate, and that was it. I didn’t want her to start imposing on other areas of my life, but I wasn’t sure why.
“Hey.” The blonde slid up beside me, and my breath was heavy as I exhaled. She blocked my view from Claire, and I was thankful. Apparently, I needed a fucking distraction tonight, which—again—was very unlike me. “Good game.”
“Thanks,” I said, pulling her in close. “Were you in the stands?”
The blonde began chatting very frantically about some of the things that had happened in the game, and I would have been impressed with her knowledge of hockey terminology, but instead, I checked out of the conversation and scanned the rest of the party. I half-chuckled as I watched Ford take Taytum away from one of the football players to spin her around to some country song that he undoubtedly put on. Emory rolled his eyes, and when Ford caught his eye, he threw his hands up in innocence. I kept scanning the crowd and paused a moment later when I caught the side angle of a dark-haired guy that made my blood run cold.
“Oh, fuck.” The two words came out in slow motion, but Aasher heard the uptick in my tone and stood up straight right beside me.
“What? What’s wrong?”
I no longer noticed the blonde as she clung onto my side. My shoulders tensed, and I had lost my beer at some point. I didn’t move an inch as I watched Claire’s boyfriend make out with some girl with hardly any clothes on in the corner of the room. Fuck. I frantically searched the party, knowing that I was right about him cheating on her and that Claire was about to walk into something that was going to cut deep. I loved to be right but not about this. Fuck, this was going to be bad.
“Wolf, what’s wrong?” Emory’s voice was muffled as my heartbeat thumped in my ears. I felt like I was back on the ice, and everything was fading away except this burning drive in my core. I pushed the blonde away and took a step forward, looking over every single person’s head until I landed on those rich, chestnut-colored waves falling over delicate shoulders. I turned back and saw that Chad had no intention of stopping his make-out session with someone who wasn’t his girlfriend and brought my attention back over to Claire. I felt panicked, and the expression on Claire’s face had my world stopping for the briefest of seconds.
Her pretty lips were parted slightly, and the color had completely drained from her cheeks. The cup of warm beer in her hand slipped from her grip, and Rose grabbed onto her arm, shaking her slightly. It was like watching a tower fall and not being able to stop it. I wanted to protect her from what she was witnessing, but it also wasn’t my job to do so. What is her boyfriend fucking thinking?
“Shit, is that her boyfriend?”
Aasher’s voice broke though the muffled sounds of the party, and my heart was racing so fast I couldn’t catch my breath.
Emory answered Aasher, “Yeah, and I guess Taytum was right. He’s a fucking douche.”
“Ouch,” the blonde hissed between her teeth. “Who is that girl? That’s awful. I feel so bad for her.”
I stared at Claire, unable to move from the chaos that was occurring around me. Some people were unaware of what was going on, but I swore I heard her heart break from clear across the party. The second she tore her gaze from Chad, she landed on me, and I took a step backward from the jolt.
Her eyes were glossy, and the acceptance I saw as she realized that I was right the other night hit me smack dab in the center of my chest. Her wobbling lip was a sucker punch right to my jaw. I moved toward her, but she shook her head and mumbled something to Rose and was out the door a moment later.
“Fuck, that hurt to watch.” I met Rush’s expression as he clued in to what had just happened. His head tilted, and his eyes squinted. “She mean something to you?”
Does she?
I glared in Chad’s direction, watching in disgust as his hands gripped the girl’s ass underneath her dress. I was thankful Claire had left the party so she didn’t have to see how this was progressing. Where is she?
“Just one, Wolf. I’ll let it slide this time.”
Rush flicked his chin over to Chad, and I shook my head, knowing I needed to leave it alone.
“Just one what?” someone asked.
Before I could stop myself and listen to the rational thought I’d had a second prior, I moved through the party with as much swiftness as I was used to on the ice. I could smell Chad’s sleazy cologne, and it angered me that much more. Claire’s hurt expression slid into my head at the last second, and I wished it hadn’t because it only egged me on that much more.
I tapped Chad’s shoulder roughly, and he tore his mouth away and glared at me out of the corner of his eye. There was a set of glassy, bloodshot eyes set on me from the girl with swollen lips, and I barked, “Move.”
She didn’t act confused in the slightest. Her eyes widened, and she backed clear away from Chad and into Aasher’s hands. He pushed her behind him and gave me a warning look before I turned back and looked at the dipshit who just hurt my roommate. Fuck, why do I care so much?
“You again?” he said, putting his hands on his hips like he actually had the upper hand. “Mind your fucking business, bro.”
An angry laugh left me as I shook my head. I turned my back to him for a single second, letting him think that he was superior to someone like me. But newsflash, he wasn’t. My knuckles cracked as I formed a fist, and I swung around so quickly you wouldn’t have even known I’d clocked him, except the little bitch let out a screech as blood sprayed from his lip.
“One and done, Wolf.” Rush’s hand landed on my shoulder, and he gave me a squeeze. I shrugged his grip off as Chad smeared the blood across his mouth and glared at me.
“I fucking dare you,” I barked, seething between my teeth.
Chad stepped away from me in fear, but I still saw the haughtiness lingering. “She won’t believe you.” He spit blood onto the floor, and Rush cursed under his breath.
I laughed loudly, drawing attention from the party. I half-expected Taytum to come through to back me up, because it was apparent she didn’t like Chad, but I didn’t see her or Ford anywhere around. Rose caught my eye, but before I went to look for Claire, I shot Chad a quick smirk.
“She doesn’t have to believe me, man. She saw you for herself.” His confusion was comical, but I didn’t laugh. Instead, I spun around and walked through the party and went on a search for my roommate.
