Chapter Thirteen
Leo
I’d never felt disappointment like I did as Sophia closed my door.
I wanted her to come back. I wanted her to spend the entire night in my bed doing more of what we just did.
I wanted to hold her and look at the deep blue of her eyes between rounds.
Then I wanted to wake up with her in my arms and do it all over again.
This crush thing is seriously getting out of hand. Is this what they feel like? A fucking nuisance is what it is.
I knew going into this that Sophia only wanted one night, but after the night we’d just had, from our time at The Cohen Club to the amazing orgasms we’d shared, I couldn’t help but hope she’d come back wanting more. I wanted more.
My regret at agreeing to a casual night with her hit hard as I fell asleep but not nearly as hard as my alarm going off for morning practice after having a few drinks and being up late.
The alarm blared from my phone as I smacked it until it stopped making noise and groaned, rolling over.
I dragged myself out of bed, pulled on some sweats, grabbed my duffel, and scurried my ass across campus to the rink.
“Hey, Leo,” a voice drawled from the end of the hallway as I turned to go into the locker room. “Can you ask my brother to come out here?”
I looked the shadowed figured up and down, dread setting in amongst the annoyance I already felt this morning. “Harley?”
“Yeah. Can you ask Devon to come out?” he asked, stepping closer. Even from a distance I could see his bloodshot eyes, pale complexion, and stringy, dirty-blonde hair well enough to tell that he looked high.
I sighed. “You shouldn’t be here. You’re going to get him in trouble.”
“I just need to see him. I need some cash.” His hands moved in his pockets as he shifted on his feet.
“Yeah, I bet. I’ll tell him you’re out here.”
I went into the locker room without sparing him another look.
Harley was a couple years older than us and had a serious drug problem.
He’d already served time for selling on campus during our freshmen year and his antics had almost gotten Devon kicked off the hockey team for trying to cover for his stupid ass.
Their parents had been out of the picture for years and clearly Devon felt some obligation to his remaining family.
Devon wasn’t going pro but he loved the sport and it would have been hard on the team if Harley had caused him to lose his spot on the roster.
I tossed my duffel bag onto the bench in front of my locker, loud enough that a few of the other guys turned to face me, all of them in various states of suiting up for practice. I found Devon among them.
“Your brother is in the hall,” I said. “Get rid of him.”
Devon’s face fell. “What does he want?”
“What do you think he wants, man? Just get him off campus before you get yourself involved in his shit,” I said, pulling my gear out of my bag.
“I’m sure it’s not that big of a deal,” Devon said, moving toward the door.
As soon as he left, Rickles leaned over the bench, his dark braids falling onto his forehead. “That kid is going to do something stupid and we’re all going to be screwed, cap.”
I looked up at him, tired and annoyed and not wanting to deal with Devon’s delinquent brother. “You don’t have to convince me, Rickles. I want him gone too.”
There was something about Harley that sent shivers down my spine, and it wasn’t just because he had a drug problem.
I had plenty of compassion for someone who’d made bad decisions or been in a tough situation and ended up addicted, especially if they tried to help themselves.
But Harley didn’t seem to try at all, and worse than that, he seemed to have no moral compass whatsoever.
Whenever he started sniffing around for Devon I was instantly on guard, waiting for the problems to surface.
I’d just finished lacing up my skates when Devon came back in and told us Harley was gone.
The relief in the room was palpable, which spoke volumes about how dangerous we thought Harley was, considering we were all six-foot-tall, two-hundred-plus-pound blocks of muscle who were capable of knocking his skinny ass over with a good shove.
The worst part was that I liked Devon. We’d hit it off freshman year and had been friendly enough ever since.
His tolerance for his brother’s bullshit was going to be his downfall.
We made our way out to the ice and my concerns about Harley were forgotten as I jumped into captain mode.
It was my job to make sure these guys were capitalizing on their strengths and getting ready for the season.
Our first game was this weekend against Harvard.
Since it was a home game, we had a home-rink advantage.
We were looking pretty good but nothing was a sure thing.
After we finished the on-ice part of practice, we all dragged our asses into the weight room.
A bunch of the guys were bragging about their conquests from the other night when Devon turned to me.
“Hey, Leo, what happened with Chelsea? Saw you hanging out with her when the party started but she was still there after you left.”
“I left the party alone,” I said.
The clanking of metal bars being set down seemed deafening.
Rickles was the one who broke the awkward silence. “You trying celibacy this season or something?”
I chuckled awkwardly and swung myself up from the bench where I’d just finished my last set of chest presses. “No. I’m just not into Chelsea.”
Most of the guys had gone back to their training, but Rickles and Devon were still staring at me.
“What the hell, guys? I’ve said no before. I don’t just leave with every woman who’s interested.”
Devon narrowed his eyes. “Yeah, it’s just, you usually blow off steam pre-season before our schedules get crazy. I’m surprised.”
Rickles said, “I left with some girl named Jia. Smokin’ hot and it was a wild night.”
Jia? Isn’t that the name of Soph’s roommate?
According to Sophia, she and the two girls I met at the party had been living together since freshman year.
Apparently, they’d been randomly assigned together in the freshman room lottery and inseparable ever since.
Not exactly how my freshman roommate situation had worked out—the guy had stayed up all night and smelled so weird, our entire room reeked of an odor I’d never identified.
He’d been nice enough, but we hadn’t stayed friends.
Just as I was about to reveal that I knew one of Jia’s roommates—which probably would have been a mistake with the way these guys gossiped—Coach Alvarez came into the weight room.
“Alright, boys, listen up,” he boomed.
Everyone dropped their weights and turned to face him.
We probably would have done that for any Coach out of respect, but the way Coach Alvarez commanded a room and earned our obedience had more to do with his deep baritone and the two Stanley Cup championships under his belt, reminding us that he’d not only played in the pros, but played well enough to earn two rings that were prominently displayed in his office.
“We have more NHL-drafted players in our starting lineup this year than in any other year in history. The university wants to use that to generate some enthusiasm for the team and get more people interested in hockey. I assume you all saw the article about Harrison earlier this week? Well, that same school reporter is already working on a second article about Harrison and Rickles and their upcoming careers with the Bruins.”
I looked around at my teammates but they all looked equally bored by this conversation. No one cared if the school newspaper wanted to write articles on us. I just wanted to play hockey and so did most of these guys.
“The editor of the paper called me today and said she’s going to assign that reporter to cover all our games for the rest of the season and she’ll be instructed to continue adding her own personal touch.
You know, the one that said Harrison’s looking for a wife.
” Coach Alvarez nearly cracked a smile at his joke.
My teammates were less discrete, hooting and hollering while they laughed. I rolled my eyes.
And this is why only a few of these assholes are getting my new number.
“Listen, I’ve agreed to give this reporter full access to everything.
They want her at every game, which means she’ll be traveling on the bus with us to our away games, she’ll be outside the locker room talking to you after games, she’ll be at practice sometimes, she’ll be everywhere we are as much as her schedule allows.
” Coach paused and took a deep breath. “And since I’m looking at a room full of hormonal assholes, I think it necessary to tell you that if you harass this young woman or make her uncomfortable, it’s going to piss me off and get you benched. So, leave her alone.”
Blood rushed to my ears. He’s talking about Sophia! My pulse soared. Are we not allowed to fraternize with her at all? Because I did that, twelve hours ago and I’d sell my right kidney to do it again.
A lump constricted my throat as I opened my mouth. “I’m sorry, sir. Sophia Grimes? The girl who interviewed me?” I asked.
Coach looked at me with curiosity on his face. “That’s her.”
“Does she know?” I asked.
Surely, she would have said something last night if she did, right? We’d been at The Cohen Club for two hours, and when she’d left my room it certainly wasn’t with any expectation of following me around for the season.
Coach Alvarez looked at his watch. “She should be finding out any minute now. I was told the editor had a meeting with her this morning.”
Fuck, she had no idea and now we are going to be together a lot.
I couldn’t say I was disappointed about that at all.
But what was she going to think? A large part of me worried she would be embarrassed to be around me now, or that she might in any way regret last night.
The thought of seeing that regret on her face made me sick to my stomach.
“Any other questions?” Coach Alvarez asked.
Devon’s hand shot in the air and Coach tipped his chin in that direction. “Can we sleep with her if she wants to sleep with us?”
My blood pressure rose to a low simmer while I turned my tight jaw to Coach to hear his response.
If any of these assholes slept with my sweet, innocent Sophia who deserved to be treated like a queen and not however these morons would fuck her and leave her, I’d be kicked off the team for the beating they’d get.
Then again, I also really needed Coach’s answer to be yes since I very much wanted to sleep with her again.
Coach’s jaw ticked. “What a bunch of college students choose to do with their time—consensually—is not something I’m capable of controlling, Green. But you are capable of controlling your dick, so please do so.”
What am I supposed to do with that? I started to sweat. That sounded like a no. Which means the other guys might leave her alone, but it wasn’t a clear no…so does that leave me any wiggle room? What about past actions?
The team went back to conditioning, but my head wasn’t in it anymore—it was on the shades of gray in Coach’s response.
I finished up my workout and hit the showers, changing so I could head to my first class of the day.
On my way out of the locker room I saw Coach sitting at his desk and I decided I better face this head on.
I knocked on his open door. “Hey, Coach. Can I talk to you for a minute?”
“Sure, Harrison, what is it?” He motioned for me to come in, so I stepped inside and shut the door.
“I need to be honest with you. Sophia Grimes and I already—”
“No.” Alvarez shot a hand up in the air to stop me. “I don’t want to know, son. If whatever you’re about to say is not affecting this team, your game, or her role here, then do not say another fucking word to me about this.”
I froze, slightly shocked. Coach was known for being abrupt and direct, but the force of his words still surprised me. “Yes, sir.”
“Good. Be gone, Harrison.” He waved me off, making it clear that he really did not want to hear any of what I was going to say. His response made me confident that he wasn’t going to tell me to stop whatever Sophia and I had started.
Oh, thank God.
I knew at least half the team probably heard off-limits from Coach’s little speech, which was good because I did not want to punch my teammates for going after her. But I would.
I turned around and reached for the door handle.
Coach groaned. “Wait,” he yelled, causing me to freeze.
I looked over my shoulder at him.
“Consensual, Harrison? Whatever it is, was, or will be is consensual?”
“Of course,” I said quickly.
He breathed a sigh of relief. “Good, then go.”
I scurried out of his office and booked it to class before he could stop me and change his mind.