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If I can help shore up her confidence about something, I want to do it.
Once the bus leaves Ridley and pulls onto the highway, I crack the book and start reading. I’m at the chapter where Sebastian and Laura are letting the mutual tension get the best of them for the first time and finally get physical.
It takes a while before Hunter pulls his attention away from his phone and notices I’ve got an actual book in my hands. It’s not the most common sight.
“What are you reading?” he asks.
“A book about Roman history,” I quip.
Even in my peripheral vision I can see his eyes turn into saucers. “Really?” he exclaims, excitedly.
“No,” I say, chuckling. “It’s a romance novel.” I flash him the cover.
The square between his eyebrows furrows disbelievingly. “Wait.Really?”
“Yep,” I say, turning my attention back to the words on the page like it’s the most natural thing in the world.
I flit my eyes forward for a moment, and notice that Zoey is glancing back, an interested smirk playing on the edges of her lips.
Ryder leans over the back edge of our seating section. “Wait, Liam’s reading a romance book?”
“Yep,” I answer, again. “The story’s really good. Not to mention hot as fuck. Check this out.”
I pass him the book. He holds it in front of him, reading the page silently for a minute. Finally, he lets out a low whistle. “Damn, I should try that with Candace some time.”
“Lemme see,” Grant chirps like an impatient schoolboy who doesn’t know how to wait his turn (which he kind of is). He reaches across the aisle to snatch the book from Ryder.
He flips through the pages, reading a section at a time, until he suddenly stops somewhere in the middle of the book and his eyes go wide. “Holy shit. The way they’re using the headboard on their wedding night …”
“Spoilers, dude!” I admonish him.
Tristan grabs the book next, turning it around to read its blurb. “Damn, I never knew an arranged marriage could sound so appealing.”
I look forward again to see Zoey turned around, her cheeks rosy from trying not to laugh as she shakes her head at us acting like idiots.
Zoey and I might have to move on from our feelings about each other, but at least I can always enjoy the way a smile looks on her face.
* * *
“Fuck!”I shout as Darren Kilpatrick, one of the best players on Ohio’s team, sends the puck past Cole, scoring a goal on us after burning me with a nasty deke.
That puts them up 4-2 at the beginning of the last third of the game.
I line up behind Tristan as he takes the face-off during the puck drop.
Tristan wins it and passes the puck back to me. I skate it up to Ohio’s goal. Two of their bigger, tougher defensemen loom ahead of me. I’m able to deke past one, but the other engages me in a stick fight for the puck.
I slide the puck behind me to Grant, who then passes it forward once I get away from the defensemen. I’m in perfect position for a shot on goal, and I take it.
Their goalie sprawls and the puck ricochets off his leg pads. It flies right in Ryder’s direction, who strikes it with his stick, sending it soaring to the goal again, but this time the Ohio goalie catches it with a brilliant glove save.
Man, this goalie is good. He’s playing the game of his life.
We’re both playing our hearts out. Ohio wants the home-turf win badly. As for us, we haven’t been multiple scores behind very often this season, and we all want to prove to ourselves that we can come back from a deficit.
I hold my breath as Kilpatrick steals the puck from Grant and takes another shot on our goal, but Cole bails us out with a great sprawling save. Hunter finds the puck next and starts pumping his legs, zooming towards Ohio’s territory.
Until Jake Hartford, the dirtiest player on Ohio’s team, rams his hockey stick into Hunter’s blades and trips him up, sending Hunter flying forward. Hunter slams hard against the cold surface of the ice, letting out a pained groan.
