Page 21 of Rise Above

hand. Despite the silence, it didn’t feel awkward. We were one hundred percent comfortable with each other. When we had seen each other naked as often as we had, there was no being uncomfortable anymore. We were brothers in all but blood. And because of that, I knew Zeke and Davis were going to interrogate me about what had happened with Aife. They knew I was attracted to her, and they also knew my past and my feelings about being in a relationship. It just wasn’t my thing—not anymore.

“So… that Dre girl is fairly cute.” Zeke sipped on

his beer. “She really knows hockey too.”

“Her entire family loves it. Nat says bringing up

hockey around Dre usually turns into a full-on rundown of the past three Stanley Cup wins,” Davis said with a touch of humor to his voice.

“Speaking of Nat…” Zeke trailed off, eyeing our

best friend with suspicion.

Shrugging, Davis chugged his beer. It was his

attempt to deflect the conversation. He was never one for attention or the spotlight, even amongst friends. “There’s nothing to speak about.”

“Your little smirk around her says otherwise,” Zeke

said.

I watched my friend flush light pink. It was obvious

he had a crush on this Nat woman; he could barely keep his eyes off her. There were often times in the game where he

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was trying to impress her. Perhaps Davis was blind, but I thought it was obvious Nat liked him back. Her eyes constantly sought him out too. Clearly, they were too shy to admit that to each other.

“I don’t smirk.” Davis ducked his head to avoid our

eyes. “She’s not into dating right now.”

“Says who?”

“Dre every time I even act like I might ask Nat out.”

Davis sounded exasperated. “Sometimes that lady is way too overprotective.”

I scoffed. “You aren’t some random player trying to

get into her pants. That’s not you. Zeke, sure. But not you. Have you talked to Dre about it?”

He sighed and rubbed a hand over his face. “No,

and I’ve got too much on my plate right now. The last thing I need is to lose myself in a relationship like I seemingly always do.”

“Yeah or you could shoot your shot.” Zeke pointed

his beer at Davis. “Like the GOAT said, ‘You miss a hundred percent of the shots you don’t take.’”

“Alright, relax Gretzsky.” Davis laughed, easing

some of the tension in the room. “Let me work through my dissertation, and we can re-evaluate after that.”

“Well, since we are on the topic…” Zeke’s eyes met