2. Avery #2
I looked to my left, where Jordan mulled over something, finished his drink, and decided to head back to the house.
Across from where he had been sitting, the conjoined twins, Tyler and Sebastian, had their phones out, tapping hurriedly.
They were probably texting their girlfriends, whose names I couldn’t remember and whose faces I couldn’t distinguish.
I had seen them both, but I would be hard-pressed to match them with their boys.
Both guys were smirking. And to my right, Sawyer and Noah were still experiencing their honeymoon phase even though they had been together for over half a year — I was starting to think they were just simply happy.
That left me. Alone. The fifth wheel.
My gaze wandered around the tavern. Fewer and fewer students remained. Most of the Breakers had left, too. And as I scanned the mostly empty tables Grayson Reed’s team had occupied, my gaze landed on his oblong face.
He had been staring at me. I didn’t know for how long.
But when our gazes met, I saw the spike of panic on his face.
He almost looked away but instead cocked up one side of his lips and lifted his head in a greeting.
He was about to drink, so he paused and saluted me with a tall glass of foggy beer.
My eyes narrowed. A sort of humming filled my ears. My hands were clumsy when I reached for my glass like someone else was controlling them. I lifted the glass, pursed my lips for a moment, and then drank. Even when I looked away from him and then returned my gaze back to him, he was facing me.
Why? Was he mocking me? Or was he angry that I had blocked him to secure the win? It was his own fault. He had been careless, cackling like an idiot instead of focusing on the puck.
Sometimes, I felt like Sawyer was right. Maybe I was a robot. I had no clue why Grayson wasn’t talking to his friends but instead looking in my direction every so often. I tried to be cool about it and not reveal that I was observing him, too, but he caught me at it three or four times.
“We should head to your place,” Sawyer said to Noah.
I looked at him, then checked the time. It wasn’t even eleven.
Last year, before Sawyer had met Noah, he had been a menace.
Taking him out usually meant staying until dawn.
Occasionally, Sawyer would disappear for an hour or two, then reappear with the goofiest smile on his face.
I’d always played along, but I hadn’t been all too happy seeing my friend waste his time on meaningless hookups.
Not that I wasn’t guilty of quite a few myself.
But the tales of my bedroom conquests were greatly exaggerated.
Back then, Sawyer had often assumed that if he was sleeping around, everyone was.
Especially me. The truth was, I had never bothered correcting him.
It changed nothing and it would have involved a lot of explaining of things that even I wasn’t sure of.
I’d been around the block with a few people, but it had never felt right and so important that I would need to brag about it.
“Are you staying?” Sawyer asked me. “We’re watching Bride of Frankenstein. You can come with us.”
I wasn’t thrilled about third-wheeling tonight. “Nah, I think I’ll stay a while longer.”
“Your loss,” Sawyer singsonged.
“I really don’t think it is,” I replied.
He found it amusing and laughed, then tapped Noah’s shoulder, and the two left. I stayed, even though I wondered why. We had done the celebrating part, we had done the falling out that was almost a tradition of the season at this point, and now I stayed for another drink.
“Are you having another beer, guys?” I offered. “I’m buying.”
Tyler and Sebastian drained their glasses. “Never say no to a free beer. That’s my motto,” Sebastian said. His dark locks went in all directions and his brown eyes glinted. He was tipsy, I realized.
“Right,” I said carefully, getting up from my chair. “But let’s maybe try and savor it.”
Sebastian laughed, although Tyler met my eyes with a sliver of concern. “I dunno, A. Maybe I should take him back to the house. There’s beer in the basement if you wanna hang out.”
I instantly knew it was the best way to go. Sebastian needed to rest else Beckett would never stop riding him about it. And Tyler was right. We had a mini fridge full of beer in the basement if that was what I wanted. But I also realized that beer wasn’t at all what I was after.
“Can you take him?” I asked. “I think I’ll stick around a little longer.”
Tyler checked the time. “I don’t know where you find the energy.” He laughed softly. “All I want is a soft pillow under my head and you’re going fishing at this hour.”
I snorted. Fishing. I wouldn’t correct him any more than I would Sawyer.
If Tyler wanted to believe I was some sort of Casanova, getting laid whenever I wasn’t in his field of vision, he was welcome to that fantasy.
I tipped my head and winked as the two left.
There was a drunken sway to Sebastian’s stride.
Instead of sitting alone at the row of tables we had joined together, I transferred to the bar.
I didn’t look left or right as I did this, but curiosity burned within me.
I’d glanced only once at the tiny group of Blizzard Breakers.
Their captain sat idly, watching his few teammates stare at their phones. He was bored.
I sat down and ordered another beer for the sake of looking occupied. Rather than pulling out my phone, I looked at the mirror behind the shelves with booze on the other side of the bar.
The tension I felt in my chest was a strange feeling.
I didn’t know what I anticipated. Grayson Reed was a skilled player and a respected captain.
He was uniquely attractive, although that didn’t matter a great deal.
His good looks helped grab my attention but did nothing else to me.
Not that I couldn’t hook up. But doing it had never left me feeling particularly happy.
I’d gotten together with a few girls and a couple of guys, but it always lacked something in those encounters.
I hadn’t been able to exactly put my finger on it.
Maybe I just disliked sleeping around with strangers. And maybe I wasn’t the fondest of people who spent all their hours chasing a cheap thrill. But then there was this guy, ruining what little I understood about myself.
Whenever my gaze met Grayson’s, a nagging thought told me that I should entertain that option, but I couldn’t make myself obey my own advice.
I could see how handsome he was just like I could see how handsome Noah was, or Sawyer, or any of the guys on our team for that matter.
And still, I felt nothing other than a platonic appreciation of beauty.
When I looked at the mirror behind the bar again, Grayson Reed wasn’t in his chair. But the shifting figure behind my back pulled my attention. I hadn’t even noticed him sneaking up on me like that.
“Is this spot free?” Grayson asked, his voice husky and calm. His pearly teeth closed around his lower lip. The creamy skin on his face had a touch of pink.
What the hell was I doing here? “Yeah,” I said. “Knock yourself out. I was just leaving.”
I slipped off the chair, resolving to stick with this decision.
I couldn’t tell what had made me stay here and open myself up to him, but some sense still remained within me.
He was the guy who had tried to best me on every turn all of last year.
And he was the guy I had humbled in the rink tonight.
Whatever he wanted, he wasn’t getting it from me.