Page 44 of Arctic Titans of Northwood U: Volume 1

“I’m not answering that. I’m not answering that, either. And so long as nobody’s seducing Coach Murray, I don’t see how there would be any conflict of interest.” I said no more than that. But those answers pretty much gave the truth away.

Tyler was the one to point at the sofa with eerie precision. “I bet it’s that spot where Sebastian just sat.”

“Ew. What? No way. Why’d you even say that?” Sebastian scooted to the actual spot from Christmas Eve.

“Nobody noticed they’d built a fire in here?” Tyler asked. “That’s why I was sure it was Christmas. Damn. All that money.”

“Don’t weep,” Avery suggested. “I’ll buy you an ice cream. It’s only fifty bucks, anyway.”

Tyler shrugged and decided to accept the consolation prize while my cheeks burned like our Christmas fire. Cameron, however, joined me at the kitchen island and wore a little smile of his own. “Twenty years ago, this would have been unimaginable.”

“Hm, yeah, no sense of decorum or honor among these guys,” I said, purposefully misunderstanding his meaning. The truth was, it was an incredible thing. A team of athletes that made a bloodthirsty sport their entire life, was so unfazed by two of their teammates fucking all over their shared house that it really felt like our society had progressed this morning.

Cameron and I ate and evaded the increasingly personal questions thrown our way, replying with bewildered looks and questions of our own. “How the fuck do you even know what a rusty trombone means?” I gawked at Sawyer.

He shrugged. “I’m a man of the world, my friend. I’ve been around the block.” He ran a heavily inked hand through his pitch-black hair and let a messy arch form over his forehead, then assumed his resting bitch face. Then he asked if the Czech hunter was a real thing and fuck if I knew what to say to that.

The mess of the morning gave way to the business of the day. I never got a chance to sit down — or, preferably, lie down — with Cameron to unpack all the excitement of the morning. And I never got to check in with Caden, either. Instead, we were all dragged to different faculty buildings for lectures. The schedules only allowed us all to reconvene at night and by that time, I was so tired that I first headed to my room to shower and crash in bed for a few minutes.

Caden was at his desk when I entered the room. He looked at me over his shoulder and the same sense of loss crossed his face.

Dread filled me more acutely this time. I feared I knew what this could be. But I’d never gotten a hint from him. I’d never even seen him look at me like that. I was certain he was seeing other guys, too.

I mean, Caden was hot. He was tall and his thick, floppy curls gave him the look of a Greek statue of an ideal athlete. But I’d never been drawn to him. Even at my loneliest, last year, Caden had been my friend, but little else.

So when he looked at me sadly like this, I didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know how to react or what to say to him. I slowed down, shut the door, and frowned a little. “Are you alright?”

“Me? Yeah. Why?” he asked. Again, the way he looked at me was like death was following me.

“It’s just…you’re being kinda…I dunno.” Dammit. I inhaled and parsed through my thoughts. “You looked kinda sad since Cam and I left his room this morning.”

He cringed. “It’s nothing. I just…” His eyebrows contorted and he looked properly pained.

I saw this wasn’t something a few words would solve, so I walked up to the other desk and sat on my chair, then turned on it to face Caden. “You can tell me whatever’s bothering you, you know that, right?”

“I know. It’s just that…” He sighed. “Don’t get me wrong, Cap. I’m happy for you. You’ve had a shitty deal of the hand for the last few years. I’m glad you and Cameron are clicking. But the West Coast and all that. I guess I’m just sad that it can’t go on forever like this.”

I frowned when I lost his trail of thoughts. “What does the West Coast have to do with anything? He’s been back since August.”

Caden slouched. Everything about him got smaller as he closed his eyes in regret. Whatever it was, he was just admitting a blunder to himself. Slowly, he opened his eyes. “Shit.” It was a whisper. “You don’t know.”

“I don’t know…what?” I made a goofy, confused smile and shook my head in expectation.

“Fuck. Listen, it’s really none of my business. I overheard something I wasn’t supposed to hear. And maybe I’m wrong. I wasn’t there in the room when they talked. I just passed by the door that was a little ajar.” He was blurting words fast and I waved my hand to stop him.

“I get it. You weren’t eavesdropping. But what happened?” I asked.

“Erm.” Caden forced a short silence, then gave in. “That agent, Manning — you know him — was talking to Cam in Coach Murray’s office. I don’t know what they said, but it sounded like he was signing on to represent Cameron. Or would, soon. And he was saying something about West Coast teams wanting Cameron, but nothing’s certain yet.”

“Oh,” I said, keeping my tone cool if I couldn’t keep the heat of surprise out of my face. My mind spun but I nodded shortly. “That? That’s good news, right?”

“Is it?” Caden asked. There was no venom in his tone. He was only doing this to protect a friend, but I couldn’t stand the idea of being weak and needing protection. Even from a friend.

“Course it is,” I insisted, my voice pitched higher. “We knew this was just a…college thing. You can’t have relationships and hockey, right?” Suddenly, it was too hard to talk. My eyes stung and my mind spun faster. “So…we’re good?”

“Yeah,” Caden said, obviously taken aback by my reaction. “Of course we’re good.”

I slapped his shoulder. It was the least I could do to show him some encouragement for being on my side. But I couldn’t let myself break down here and now. I couldn’t sit still and attempt to process these thoughts around anyone. “Anyway,” I said, keeping my tone flat because my voice was shaky and about to crack. “I came to change. I think I’ll go for a quick run. Didn’t get a chance this morning, ya know?”