“Aww, baby,” he bats his eyelashes in Tucker’s direction. “If you wanted to see me naked, you could have said so.”
Tucker flips him off, but he’s laughing too. “Fuck you, dipshit. There would be nothing wrong if I were attracted to you, but I don’t swing that way.”
Mack grabs him and kisses him noisily on one cheek. “Me neither. But a shame, huh? We would be hot together.”
“We would be,” Tucker agrees. “But I don’t know if I could trust you with my heart, Mack. Since you broke up with Gen,you’ve been banging every hot girl in sight. I wouldn’t want to be another notch on your belt.”
Mack’s eyes are as wide as saucers. “Never! You would be husband material, Tuck. There’s going to be one very lucky woman one day who gets to call you hers.”
Macklin and Tucker keep laughing and fake flirting as we leave the locker room, headed outside.
Colsen shakes his head, clearly amused. “Too bad that love story isn’t meant to be. Those two would be perfect for each other if they weren’t exclusively into women.”
I listen to my teammates joking and laughing, and the tension in my chest skyrockets.
The easy banter, the friendship between them, is what I’ve been craving more than anything else in the world. They’ve been nothing but welcoming from the moment I joined the Cove Knights. And my stupid ass might have fucked it all up already.
COLSEN
The walk to the hot springs is pleasant. Tucker had the idea to stop at the food hall in the main building and get a few sandwiches.
We’re always starving after practice, and we all agree to have a picnic while we enjoy the hot springs.
“Aah.” Tucker sighs, content as he lowers himself into the luxuriously warm water. “I could get fucking used to this. What’s better than a nice dip in a hot pool, surrounded by nature, with some of my favorite dudes and,” he takes a giant bite out of his Italian meat sub and sets the sandwich down on the stones that decorate the edge of the pool. “Some delicious food? This is whysummer is my favorite season. It’s seven p.m. and we still have several hours of daylight to enjoy.”
“I can’t disagree with you.” I say eating a piece of my sushi. “My muscles are definitely thanking me for the hot water.”
For a second, we all soak up the warmth of the hot springs, enjoying the peaceful, quiet surroundings and the sea scented breeze.
Birds are chirping in the trees that surround this secluded spot within the training grounds; we have some delicious food and the company isn’t half as bad either.
The tone of an incoming text message comes from Mack’s phone. He checks it, shoots back a quick reply, and then sets the device back down by his side. His eyes are closed, and a satisfied smile spreads across his face.
“That must have been good news?” Nash asks before I can.
“Booty call.” Mack’s smile widens, but he doesn’t open his eyes.
One thing you wouldn’t know about hockey players unless you were around some is that they might be big, imposing men with quick reflexes and hard muscles. But they’re some of the nosiest creatures known to man. Give them a piece of gossip and they’ll go on and on forever.
“Ooh,” Tucker giggles, shoving the last bite of his sandwich into his mouth. “Same chick as last night?”
Mack shakes his head, his eyes still closed. “Nope.”
My curiosity is peaked too. “I assume one of the trainee cheerleaders?”
“Winner, winner, chicken dinner.” He says. “I’m on the rebound. One and done is my motto for the foreseeable future.”
I can’t say that I blame him too much. “I guess after Gen you need a palate cleanser, huh?”
“You don’t know the half of it, man.” Mack groans, opening his eyes. “I don’t even know why I dated her for this long. Iguess it’s because our parents are best friends and they kind of expected us to end up together. I went through the motions, but I didn’t realize how unhappy I was until she started upping the ante. I finally gathered the courage to end things when she demanded some things I wasn’t willing to give.”
I’m not the only one who’s curious about what Mack means. “What kinds of things?” Tucker asks. “Sexual things?”
“I wish.” Mack snorts. “Believe it or not, Gen and I only slept together a handful of times. She used sex as a way to control me and dangled it in front of me to get what she wanted.”
Tucker shudders. “Fuck. That sounds horrible. So what was the dealbreaker?”
“No offense, Tuck,” Mack says. “But I’m in an excellent mood and I don’t want to ruin it talking about my ex. I’ll tell you someday. For now, just know that breaking up with her was the best thing I’ve ever done. I didn’t realize how tired I was of her constant drama. And horny, too. So this is my summer of discovery. I can’t believe that until last week, I had only ever slept with Gen.”
