Page 94 of Hot As Ice

Meet me at the hockey house in 20

Jamie

Roger

Ryder

Aye aye, captain

THE HOCKEY HOUSE is an old, red brick building on campus where we lived freshman, sophomore, and junior years. A lot of the other players on the team still live there. It’s kind of like a frat house. Sometimes I miss it and the shenanigans we used to get up to, but I like having my privacy too much to ever live there again.

Jamie and Ryder are standing in front of the red door when I walk up.

“What’s the plan?” Jamie asks immediately.

Ryder cracks his knuckles. “Want me to kill someone? Just say the word.”

“I need to talk to the editor of the paper. Now.”

Jamie nods. Ryder grins.

“I have a thing with one of the reporters,” Ryder says. “I’ll text her. She’ll tell me where to find him.”

“Thanks.”

Ryder steps aside to send the message as Jamie looks me in the eyes. “You alright?” he asks.

“Fine.” I crack my neck and look up at the house. “Remember all the crazy shit that happened here?”

He smiles. “Not really. I was drunk most of the time.”

I smile back. “I remember.”

“Perks of never drinking alcohol.”

Ryder turns back toward us. “She says he’s in the library.”

“Let’s go.” I start walking across campus with my two friends in tow. They didn’t bring up the rumor, which I’m grateful for. Knowing them, they’ll never mention it again. I can’t wait till the whole thing blows over and there’s a juicier rumor to take its place, but I know it’ll be a hot topic for a while.

I just need to know exactly how it got in the paper, and I need to make sure the editor never prints anything about it again. We walk into the library like we own the place. It’s a huge building, but Ryder’s lady friend said we’ll find the editor, Wyatt, on the third floor, in one of the study rooms students are able to reserve.

I might need Jamie and Ryder to keep me from killing this dude.

“That’s him,” Ryder says, pointing. The study rooms have floor-to-ceiling windows and you can see inside them easily. Wyatt is hunched over his laptop, glasses on his face, wearing a light gray sweater. Typical nerdy looking guy. He’s not gonna know what hit him.

Ryder walks toward the study room ahead of me and flings the door open. It slams against the wall and Wyatt jumps up. “What the fuck?”

“Hi,” I say. “Wyatt, right? You’re the editor of the Concord Courant?”

His eyes widen and he swallows. “Yeah. That’s me.”

Ryder closes the study room door and stands in front of it with his arms folded. Jamie stands beside him. I know the three of us together look formidable as fuck.

“Interesting paragraph in the gossip section today.” I pull up a chair and flip it, sitting on it backwards. I rest my arms over the back of it.

“Which one?” Wyatt asks, pushing his glasses up. “There were several paragraphs.”

“I think you know which one I’m talking about.”