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“You better take something.” He hands me a bottle of aspirin from the nightstand between our beds. “We have to help a bunch of pledges build a kissing booth. I’m sure this is gonna be a real shit show.”
Nodding, I shove four pills in my mouth and choke them down with the last sip of water left in a bottle from two days ago. “Don’t let me do what I did last night ever again, or this suspension will be more than two games. Promise me.”
Trent hooks his arm around my back, dragging me toward the door. “Promise. Now, let’s get over to the Kappa house and get this shit over with.”
Two hours into building the kissing booth, I want to blow my brains out. Most of the guys working with us are freshman, nervous pledges from various fraternities, who are terrified of messing up. They are also acting like a bunch of virgins, gossiping amongst themselves about the girls in the house like they’ve never seen a hot chick before.
I ignore them, doing my best to focus on the task at hand. All I want to do is get the wooden booth assembled, so I can go home and shower and then sleep until morning. My body is drained from consuming so much beer and hard liquor last night, dehydration hitting me like a motherfucker with how hard the sun beats down on my back.
Without a shirt on, my skin burns, slick with sweat from the alcohol pouring out of me. I glance over at Trent as he hands me a few nails, the glare from the sun hitting me in the face just right. It’s hot-as-fuck outside, despite it being the end of October. Fall should be in full swing, a cool breeze blowing through the air. But not today.
I hammer the nails in place, and then let Trent finish the rest, before reaching into the back pocket of my mesh shorts. Using my shirt, I wipe away the sweat on my face and chest, exhausted and ready for a break. I regret drinking so much last night, because now I’m paying for it. One beer at night is normal for Trent and me, even when we’re playing hockey. I mean, what’s one beer, anyway? But binge drinking is another story.
After we finish one side of the booth, the structure for the most part pretty sound, we drop the tools on the folding table beside us. We each grab a bottle of water from the cooler and stand off to the side, watching the pledges fight with each other over the correct way to clamp two pieces of wood together.
I take a sip from the bottle and laugh. “Can you believe these guys? If we were doing this with our teammates, we would have been done with this by now.”
Trent finishes off the rest of his water. He crushes the bottle in his hand and drops it on the table. “They haven’t learned how to work together yet.”
The close and personal bonds we have with our friends and teammates are a large part of the reason we play so well together on the ice. That’s the one advantage we have over other teams in the league, and we fucked it all up because I couldn’t get my shit together and study. I’m still mad at myself for getting him into trouble. And even more irritated that I keep fucking up.
Since when do I eat pot brownies at frat parties, full well knowing I have to stay clean for hockey? Drugs are not my thing, never have been. I’ve acted so out of character ever since we left Dean Whittaker’s office. Even I feel like something is off with me, so my brother and friends must see it, too. I’m losing my edge, slipping a little bit. And I can’t afford to have that happen—not when I’m so close to another Frozen Four and my shot at the NHL.
Trent taps me on the shoulder. “I gotta take a piss. Watch after these idiots.” He points at the fraternity pledges and laughs. “I’ll be right back.”
He walks toward the side entrance to the house and then disappears. A minute later, the back door swings open, and a group of girls shuffle into the yard, their hands filled with cups of what looks like fruit punch. I take a quick scan of the girls and like what I see. The pledges at Kappa are a nice addition to the current sisters.
I’m busy checking each of them out when I spot her—Jemma, the smoking hot redhead from the Quad. Perfect. I wasn’t so sure I would see her again, especially when she didn’t show at the party I invited her to last night. But here she is, staring right at me. She looks surprised to see me, too stunned to move. Her feet are firmly planted on the ground, and her mouth opens wide in shock.
