Chapter 5
Chapter Five
Jamie
After hockey practice, I find Preston in the exercise room in the middle of a set. Pushing the hair out of my eyes, I approach the weight bench, staring down at him.
“Want some company?” I sit on the open bench next to him and tug at the string on the seam of my mesh shorts. “We could take turns spotting each other.”
“Yeah, I guess.” He lifts the bar above his body. “Think you can keep up? You looked like some washed-up has-been on the ice earlier.”
I roll my eyes at him and then help him set the bar on the rack. “I just need to focus.”
“It’s all the drinking you’ve been doing with Tuck and Trent over at Delta Sig.
They can get away with having a few beers, but you’re not like them.
Stay away from that shit during the week.
If you guys spent as much time practicing as you do chasing around sorority chicks, you’d be giving me a run for my money at MVP this year. ”
I lean forward, digging my elbows into my thighs. “I’ll be fine by the game on Friday. Stop worrying. You sound like my dad.”
He shrugs. “I’m the captain of the team for a reason. Someone has to keep your ass in line.”
I push out my hand to silence him. “Whatever. Don’t start with me. I’m not in the mood. I had two hours of sleep last night before I had to get up for practice.”
He wipes his face with his towel and then slings it around his neck. “I’m only looking out for your career. We can’t make it pro together if you’re too busy drinking and running around campus trying to get your dick wet.”
Preston couldn’t be more wrong right now.
Just because he saw me talking to girls at frat parties doesn’t mean I did anything with them.
Cece had me so fucked up over the summer.
None of my friends know I allowed her back in my life.
If not for Shannon, I doubt I would even bother with another girl.
But she’s different. Shannon is nothing like Cece, which is why I like her so much.
“Says the guy who has a crush on Coach Bryant’s daughter,” I quip.
Preston shakes his head. “That will never happen.”
“She looked pretty into you last night. That eye-fucking I saw in Gio’s went both ways.”
We ran into Coach Bryant and his daughter, Bex, at the pizza shop on campus last night. Preston has a major crush on her. He doesn’t even try to hide it.
Preston swings his legs off the bench, and I follow him to a leg press machine. I stand beside him, moving my hands to my hips. “We should go watch Bex play sometime, maybe scout some of her teammates.” I wink at him, partially joking. “We can always use new recruits.”
I don’t mean a single word. The only girl I want right now is Shannon. Unlike my friends, I’m a one-woman kind of guy. I guess I get that from my dad. He was the same way before and after he met my mom.
Preston stops moving his legs and crosses his arms across his chest, smirking.
“I was kind of hoping you would help me with Bex. I need you and the guys to make nice with some of her teammates, or better yet, her roommate. She said something to Coach about him having rules. I want to know what she means by that. It seemed like she was referring to his players and that being around us was breaking those rules.”
“Why don’t you stalk her online like any normal person?”
He laughs as if the idea is ridiculous. “I looked last night, couldn’t find her anywhere. I checked Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. It’s like she doesn’t exist.”
“Maybe she’s an android,” I joke.
“You’re such a nerd.”
I shrug, unaffected by his words. Everyone calls me a nerd, but I’m the one they turn to when they need their computer fixed, can’t get their phone to work, or need cheat codes for video games.
I shove my hands into my shorts pockets and shrug. “I can take one for the team. I’m sure Tuck, Trent, and Drake will, too. What do you want to know about her?”
He scratches his jaw, thinking over my question. “Find out if she has a boyfriend. Where she hangs out. Who she’s friends with, other than her roommate. Whatever you can get out of her teammates.”
“I don’t think she has a boyfriend. I’ve seen her on campus before, but never with any guys. She always hangs out with the same girl.”
“Coach probably doesn’t let her date.”
Bex literally ran face first into Preston’s wet chest in the locker room after practice. She was on her way to her dad’s office at the back of the room. Apparently, she didn’t realize the players would be in there. That must have been a rude and awkward awakening for her.
“But she’s meeting your mom. She loosened up a lot after you offered to take her with you on Saturday. You forgot to mention the games last all day.” I snicker. “Wait until she finds out she’s spending the entire day with your mom… and my dad.”
Our parents still coach a youth basketball team together. Aunt Charlotte is the head coach, and my dad is the assistant. She’s the most dominant woman I have ever met.
Preston grabs a paper cup from the holder on the wall next to the water cooler. “You should come, too. It will be a long day. Bex will need someone to talk to when I’m busy helping with the kids.”
He drinks the contents of the cup and fills it again before I pour one for myself.
“Depends on how drunk I get on Friday night after the game,” I say to annoy him.
Too eager to pass judgment, he frowns at my stupid remark. “Dude, we just talked about this. For a smart guy, sometimes you’re so dense. Stay in and play video games with me instead. Your dad’s new game is sick.”
“Oh, I know. Right? I was playing Mage Wars last night drunk off my ass. The graphics were insane and even better with a good buzz going.”
I sit down at a leg machine and remove the towel hanging from my pocket to wipe down the equipment.
“We should play later,” Preston says.
I flash a joker-like grin. “Think you can keep up with me?”
He throws his hand out at me and laughs. “Please. More like… can you keep up with me? Seriously, though, stay in with me after the game, kill off a few levels, and come to the games on Saturday. If you’re there, Bex might lower her guard more. She probably thinks it’s a date or some shit.”
“I guess.” I pause for a second and then add, “But I’m not leaving the house at the ass crack of dawn with you. I’ll meet you and Bex for the second half of the games.”
Somehow, he always manages talking me into doing shit I don’t want to do. Like getting up early on one of my few days off from school and hockey.
He slaps me on the back. “I knew I could count on my wingman.”
“You know, you could just ask Bex whatever you want to know. Stop acting like such a pussy.”
Preston groans. “Whatever. I’m hitting the showers. I’ll catch you later.”
“I’m making dinner later.” I lift the bar, somewhat out of breath. Damn, this is sad. “Make sure you’re home.”
He narrows his eyes at me. “You’re making dinner? What in the microwave? You don’t know how to cook.”
“Shannon’s making dinner for me, by extension, she’s now cooking for the entire house.”
“Sounds good. But I don’t want my food poisoned.”
I laugh. “Nah, Shannon’s cool.”
I tell him about Shannon and her sisters dancing in a contest this weekend at The Sixth Floor. He agrees to come with our friends and me. Not like he’d miss an opportunity to watch half-naked girls shake their asses on a bar.
About to leave, Preston glances over his shoulder at me. “Did you get any new leads on The Queen?”
“No. I wish. I looked again this morning before I went to class. Whoever’s running the blog is good. Better than I expected.”
“So, what’s that mean? You can’t find her?”
“I can and I will. But I need more time. She’s a coder with actual skills.”
He laughs. “You’re getting beat by a girl?”
His question irritates me. “She’s just making it harder for me to find her.”
“If we don’t react to her, maybe she’ll go away.”
“She posts new pictures of us every day,” I point out. “Everyone on campus is talking about her. They’ve even downloaded her app. I doubt she’ll go away soon. When you feed an animal, they keep coming back for more.”
That’s the worst part about all of this.
The Queen has infiltrated the cell phones of almost everyone on campus because of her stupid app.
You can scroll through pictures of most of the popular students on campus in compromising positions, all because of the mastermind behind Dethroned.
She’s good, way better than I could’ve imagined.
I hate being bested by anyone, and The Queen has really gotten under my skin.
“Then we have to stop feeding her ego,” Preston counters.
I chuckle. “Good luck with that. Our teammates might listen to you, but I wouldn’t hold my breath with the rest of the students on campus.”
He rolls his eyes at me. “I’ll see you at home.”
After he stomps off, my cell phone vibrates in my pocket. It’s Shannon telling me she’ll see me in an hour. My heart crashes into my chest.
I’m excited about our date.