Chapter 15 #2
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Gen looks at Tucker, her eyes narrowed into two furious slits.
“Nothing.” Tucker shrugs, a little provocative smile on his lips. “I see that you hired someone to help you move after Mack told you to get lost when you asked him. And he got the whole team to refuse to lift a finger for you.”
Gen’s face is as red as an overripe tomato. “You know what? I’m glad they decided to give us cheerleaders our own half of the building. You guys are assholes. All of you. Word of advice,” she then says to me, Jodie and Talia. “Never date a hockey player. They’re the worst.”
She storms off into a room that, thank fuck, is on the opposite side of the apartment from mine. We all jump when she slams the door shut with a sound that I’m sure can be heard in the entire building.
We all file outside, leaving to her own devices. We still have a few boxes of stuff to bring out of my car to complete our move.
“I’m sorry your room shares a wall with hers.” I say to Talia.
“I’m sorry for all of us, to be honest. Living and training with her is going to be a struggle.”
Colsen clears his throat. “I can’t believe she’s been allowed into training camp after what she did to you, pretty girl.”
I squirm under his gaze. In today’s light, the amber ring around his pupils is larger, leaving only a thin green outer border and making his gaze look like pure gold.
The way he’s looking at me, as if he could see deep inside my soul, reminds me of when he was looking at me while his head was between my thighs.
A wave of warmth washes through me, and I almost forget what we were talking about.
“That’s because Tar-Tar downplayed what happened when Carole and Lexi asked.”
“What? Baby, you have to tell them that she sabotaged you. They almost didn’t select you because they thought you had something to do with that incident to get more attention.” Tucker’s usual smile is nowhere in sight.
“Nash and Mack had to fight for you, Taryn,” Colsen adds. “They argued that it was an accident or there was foul play because you weren’t the one who fastened that button.”
Everyone is looking at me like I’m crazy.
“Look, I don’t know. Ok? I think she did something to that button and to the safety pin, but Carole was clear that she needed proof to justify excluding one of the highest scorers of the day.
And I didn’t have any proof other than my gut feeling and Mack’s. Maybe it was an accident.”
“I doubt it.” Tucker says. “I’ve gone to school with Gen for three years and that’s exactly something she would do.”
It’s Talia’s turn to back her brother. “We’ve been in the same sorority for two. And Gen is the meanest person I’ve ever met. She made our president cry on more than one occasion.”
“It’s true.” Tucker agrees. “Candace told me she almost quit the Zetas for the sake of never having to speak to Gen again.”
“Yeah. And she plans to run for president this year. If she gets elected, I’m ending my membership.” Talia’s tone is grim.
Jodie barks out a mirthless laugh. “Fucking great. She wants to be team captain, too. We need to stop her.”
Talia takes her hand, giving it a squeeze in solidarity.
“I’m in. Gen never plays by the rules because she thinks they don’t apply to her.
We need to watch her and be ready to get proof next time she does something wrong or questionable.
Carole and Lexi might look at her in a favorable light, but I doubt they’ll let her get away with the kind of thing she did to you a second time.
They want positive vibes for their team, a sisterhood.
All we have to do is show them that Gen is the wrong person for that. ”
I hate conflict.
“I almost wish she had gotten her wish to have an apartment on the ground floor. Living with her is going to be hard.” I sigh.
Colsen grabs the biggest box in the trunk of my car as if it weighed nothing.
“That wouldn’t have happened. Coach refused point blank.
He wants the hockey team and the cheerleaders to have their own separate spaces as much as possible to avoid distractions.
I heard that originally the cheer team was supposed to be housed in a different building, but the training complex is still being finished and this is the only building that’s been completed. ”
“Distractions?” Tucker snickers, carrying some of his sister’s things. “He will never be able to keep a bunch of horny college hockey players away from an entire cheerleading team. The proof is tonight’s party.”
Jodie immediately perks up. “A party? Are we invited?”
“Of course you’re invited.” Tucker winks.
“Ten p.m. in apartment three C. It’s the corner unit on the ground floor.
If there’s one man who can throw a rager on a couple of hours notice is our new frat president Vaughn Heston.
He sent his roommates, Haller and Davis, to get a few kegs, and Slash is in charge of snacks. ”
I don’t know these guys, but a party will be a great chance to get to know the team. On week three of training camp, we’ll have some general knowledge tests about hockey in general and the Cove Knights’ history and current roster in particular.