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“They can get pretty obsessive. Connor told me that when he was a freshman, one of the senior players came home and found a girl handcuffed naked to his bed. They had to call the maintenance guy to come and cut her free because she had conveniently lost the key. Another time, Linc, who graduated last spring, got invited to a bunny hop at one of the sorority houses.”
“A what?”
“A group of sisters basically took turns, you know…” Ella waggled her brows, a strange mix of disgust and amusement etched into her expression.
“So, like a puck bunny orgy?” I clarified.
“Exactly! Turned out one of the girls had a boyfriend back home, though, and when he found out, he and a couple of his friends turned up at Lakers House looking for Linc.”
“Oh my God,” Dayna gasped. “What happened?”
“What do you think happened? The guys were ready to throw down until they realized Linc had the whole team behind him.”
“I hope the girl apologized.”
“They don’t care. Bagging a Laker is like a rite of passage for some girls. But I swear to God if anyone so much as looks twice in Aiden’s direction…” Dayna inhaled a sharp breath, her brows pinched with anger, and Ella chuckled.
“Ahh, young love. You have so much to learn, babe.” She winked, and the two of them burst into another fit of laughter.
When it subsided, and they had refilled their wineglasses, they both turned their attention to me. “So, Aurora, tell us about you,” Dayna said.
Oh no.
This was it. The part where I had to weave half-truths and lies together without tangling myself up so tightly that I couldn’t find a way out. I’d gotten good at it with my brother. He was family, he’d had to learn his own coping mechanisms over the years too. But he’d failed to notice mine.
Ella and Dayna were my friends. At least, they had the potential to be. I didn’t want to deceive them. I also didn’t want to reveal too much and scare them away.
It had been a long time since I’d made new friends, since I’d trusted myself to open my fragile heart and let someone in.
The last time I did, it ended in heartache and tears, but I didn’t come to Lakeshore to dwell on the past. I came for a fresh start.
A chance to put what happened behind me.
I was wary, though. Of getting too close. Of giving too much of myself away.
I’d given Ben everything, and he’d shattered my heart without so much as an ounce of care. So it was strange sitting here listening to Dayna and Ella talk about the men in their lives, hearing the adoration in their voices, the contentment. They were in love—anyone could see that. Yet, part of me wanted to warn them. To remind them that you never truly knew someone or their motivations. That ‘I love you’ meant everything… Until it didn’t.
“Aurora?”
“Sorry.” I snapped myself out of the melancholy I’d found myself in. “I’m just your average girl from Syracuse.”
“Oh, come on. There must be some skeletons in your closet. A cheating ex or tragic tale of unrequited love. We’ve all got a story to tell.”
“Dayna.” Ella shook her head, offering me a strained smile.
Did she know? Or at least, did she sense something about me?
“Oh, shit. I put my foot in it, didn’t I?” Regret flickered in her gaze. “Which is it? Cheating ex or tragic tale? Because I’ve got both, so I know all about heartache.”
My brows furrowed as I tried to figure a way out of this.
“You know about Josh, the cheating asshole,” Ella said. “But Dayna also lost her brother a few years ago to cancer.”
“I had no idea. I’m so sorry.”
A tidal wave of guilt rose inside me. Here I was, drowning in my past. And Dayna had been through so much.
“Thanks. It’s taken me a long time to come to terms with it. After Dalton died, I was so lost. I moved to Boston and switched off from dealing with everything. So yeah, I know all about grief and loss and all that good stuff nobody wants to talk about.”
