No, I got a raw deal, but I can’t gripe about it to my teammates.
Liam sits across from me. He’s silent, scrolling through his phone and eating his breakfast, keeping to himself. I appreciate him not making things worse for me.
He knows the truth, just like Ashton. But Ashton would rather give me shit.
“Anything interesting?” I say, glancing at Liam, hoping to steer the conversation away from my fucked-up love life.
Liam smiles and shakes his head. “Just my friend with benefits,” he says. “She likes to send me pictures.”
Rowan reaches for Liam’s phone, and he snarls at him, shoving him off. “Get your own girlfriend.”
“Wow,” Rowan says. “I didn’t think you’d be so possessive since she’s just your side piece.”
“She’s actually a friend. We just hook up when we’re both in town. They’re pictures of her and her dog, jackass,” Liam growls at him.
Liam’s friends with benefits doesn’t go to school at Evergreen University, which makes the benefits situation seem less than ideal. But I know better than to mock Liam. He’d just pick a fight with me, and I already have Ashton doing that enough as it is.
“Would be better if they were pictures of her and her cat,” Ashton snickers.
“Do you have a death wish, Rinaldi?” Liam glares down at Ashton and then throws a croissant at his face.
“Oh, he definitely has one,” I say as I take another bite of my breakfast.
Ashton steals the pastry that assaulted him. “Thanks, man.” He holds the sweet treat up and grins before taking a bite.
The crowd at the ice arena is covered in green and black. We’re playing the Predators tonight, a team that’s only a few hours from the city. It’s a smaller private college, but they’ve been our longest and biggest rival.
Liam is stoked since his friend with benefits attends Great Falls College. We’d usually drive home after a game that’s within a couple of hours’ commute, but the forecast is calling for several inches of snow overnight, and it started after we arrived.
Coach booked a block of rooms for us at the local hotel in town. I share with Ashton, who isn’t the worst roommate to have, although whoever gets Liam is lucky, since he won’t be staying at the hotel.
There are no rules about leaving. If you have family, you’re allowed to crash with them for the night, so long as you’re back on the bus in the morning when we leave. Otherwise, you better find your own ride back to campus.
“The place is packed,” I say, noting the crowd. There’s a handful of Narwhals fans that stand out in teal and white, but there aren’t too many in the arena. I suspect the weather kept a lot of our fans from coming out tonight.
We warm up on the ice, do some stretching, and get ready to annihilate the Predators. There are no other options.
We need a win tonight.
Liam is on one side of me, Ashton on the other. “Did you see who is in the stands tonight?” Liam nods toward the plexiglass.
My vision scans the crowd, wondering who Liam sees.
In the front row, a gentleman with thick dark hair and even darker eyes is wearing a business suit. He seems a bit out of place, but I recognize him. “Is that?—”
“Kyler Greyson,” Liam says, and his jaw clenches. “His annoying brat, Bristol, attends Great Falls.”
My breath catches in my throat. He must be visiting his daughter this weekend. “You know Greyson?”
“Which one—yes.” Liam answers a little too quickly. “Not that well. We went to private school together since we were little.”
“I meant Kyler Greyson.” I don’t care about Bristol. “Any chance of an introduction?” I ask, skating backward as my gaze doesn’t leave Mr. Greyson’s.
“Only if you want to make it yourself,” Liam says.
Greyson is the one chance I have at making the NHL and getting away from my father.
That’s not to say I couldn’t be drafted if I enroll in the NHL draft, but it’s a long shot. There are better players at other schools. I may be the best at Evergreen, but I’m not the best out there.
