Page 29 of Arctic Titans of Northwood U: Volume 1

His breaths were still uneven, as were mine, when he stepped toward me and let the water pour over his face. He seemed to completely forget how much he hated showers that were anything but boiling. He batted his long, wet lashes at me. “You better fucking play well on Wednesday,” he said, his voice tight with amusement and restrained laughter.

A side of my mouth cocked up in a lopsided grin. “What if I don’t?”

He shrugged. It was an oddly elegant move with someone so broad-shouldered as Riley. “Let’s worry about that if we fail.”

And right now, I felt like I could totally sign up for that.

Chapter Nine

RILEY

I awoke with a peculiar sense that I had dreamed that last twenty-four hours. Caden was still fast asleep when I writhed out of my bed, muscles in my legs tight and aching. My ass was sore and my heartbeat matched no rhythm I had ever heard. If I’m shit on the ice tomorrow, it won’t be ‘cos of Cameron distracting me, I thought as I wobbled to the bathroom.

The tingling sensation that was spreading through my lower abdomen was a welcome change of the status quo. I’d spent half the summer back home, where life consisted of cooking meals and cleaning dishes after eating, Sunday mass, and an everlasting sense of being out of place. The strained relationship I had with my family was like quicksand. The harder I tried to break free of their expectations, the more they sucked me in. To say the second half of my summer had been a dry and lonely one would be an understatement.

But even then, surrounded by all my memories of Cameron, I hadn’t, in my wildest dreams, dared to imagine he would have me again. Especially not in a place like a locker room shower. Jesus Christ, we had to be crazy.

Just horny, my voice of reason, still waking up, supplied.

There was that, too, but it wasn’t the biggest reason why we’d ended where we had. Cameron knew me. It was clear to me, especially yesterday, that he knew me like nobody else. Every little kink and every insecurity, he sniffed them out and spun them around.

However much he drove me crazy with his easy dismissal of my authority on the team or the depth of my feelings for all the shit that had gone down between us, I had a weakness for Cameron Martinez.

There were certain people you never totally moved on from. Your first crush. The first one that got away. And to me, Cameron was both of those. I didn’t love it, but it was as true as anything.

I splashed my face with warm water, brushed my teeth, then put my running clothes on before quietly sneaking out of the room and the house. Part of me hoped, suddenly and stupidly, to run into him on my way out. In truth, it was a relief that I didn’t. These flares of hope were infused with lust and that never sharpened your mind.

That morning, I ran like hell. I ran to loosen the knots in my muscles. And I ran from the tangled thoughts that tugged on my mind this way and that. I ran because I couldn’t stand still and let the perfect storm of feelings pull me down.

By the time I circled the entire campus, I knew one thing for sure. We had given in to a temptation that had been building for weeks. It didn’t have to mean anything. I had more than enough reason to doubt it meant anything at all to Cameron.

Did it feel fucking fantastic? Hell yeah it did.

Did that mean something changed? Probably not. At best, we had a truce. A nice little ceasefire with the added bonus of a double orgasm in the shower. And holy Mother of God, that had been an explosive serving of delight.

When sweat covered me and my lungs stung with the cool morning air at each breath, I returned to the team house. I had just enough time to shower, grab a bite, and get ready for lectures. And in that time, I only encountered Sawyer and Caden in the house, both of whom were oblivious to the fact that I’d gone to shower with the enemy.

Though I kept looking over my shoulder, as if something would happen if only I spotted him, this entire day lacked Cameron. All until the evening when I found him in the basement, playing Fallen Order solo while a couple other guys made noise around the soccer table.

I feigned interest in the soccer match all the while looking at Cam’s long neck. He was so deeply invested in the game of our teenage years that walking up to him and intruding felt like sacrilege. To us, that game had been the only thing that was ever holy. That and the shrine of lust we had made of my bed every Sunday morning.

I knew I had a ticket to hell, if my parents turned out to be right all along. It didn’t matter. I carried it in my breast pocket. Even if it had ended where I’d thought it had, I always felt like it was worth it. The many hours Cameron and I had spent together were still locked up in a hidden compartment of my heart. Untouchable, but there.

Tyler scored the last point and Sebastian called the end to the soccer game, then they all filed out of the basement to take care of their notes from their lectures. All of us were here on a hockey scholarship, but that entailed maintaining passing marks everywhere else. And while mine had all been flying colors for the past three years, not all of my teammates were so dedicated. I often wondered why I bothered. My family had never seemed particularly pleased with my grades.

“And yet, you are still chasing a pipe dream,” Dad had said the last time I had shown him my transcripts.

“A brilliant mind,” Mom had added sadly. “Wasted potential.”

My mood soured a little and I shoved my parents right the fuck out of my mind, then looked at the boss fight Cameron was struggling with. “The hell? I remember a time when you passed that one on your first try.”

The fact that he didn’t even flinch or look at me told me he had been aware of me all along. “I wasted my health boosters,” he muttered.

“Excuses,” I accused him and joined him on the sofa. “Your fingers are rusty.”

Just as his character died again, Cameron turned his head slowly to me and gave me a grim look. “I don’t remember you complaining about my fingers yesterday, Riley.”

My eyes widened in shock and heat rose to my face. “I…”