Chapter 18
The last of the party piles out of the house, and my teammates and I turn around to the mess.
“Fuck. We should’ve gone to Lulu’s.” I run my fingers through my hair.
“Dude, this is the second game in a month we won against the Titans. Anyplace but The Castle would have been a cheap shot,” Grey argues.
I growl and pick up a trash bag, ordering the two freshmen players to start in the kitchen. Grey, Hunter, and I shuffle around the living room like we’re figuring out where to start. Like we haven’t done this hundreds of times.
Hunter glances upstairs. “So?”
Grey’s eyes move between us. “It’s her, isn’t it? Isla’s your Shadow.”
I pause and pin him with a glare. “Do not call her that out loud.”
Hunter backhands my arm. “So, what’s the deal? You into her?”
I shake my head. “I don’t have time for that. We’re friends,” I emphasize, even if she does seem to want to get far away from me at times.
Jackson steps into the living room. “Well, your new friend is a little weird, Andrews.”
My jaw tightens and Hunter tosses a throw pillow at him.
“Oh, alright jeez, I’m going.” He picks up the box of leftover pizza and his jacket. “See you tomorrow.”
Jackson is likely my least favorite player on our team. He’s a junior and cocky as hell. And he really shouldn’t be, if you ask me. We’ve got freshmen better than him on the ice.
“She is a little on the strange side—but I kinda dig that she’s different,” Grey adds, spraying the coffee table with a cleaner.
I toss down the bag of cans. “Alright, the next guy that calls her that is going through a wall and sitting out the next three games.”
“All we’re saying is everyone on campus wants to know who she is. Any other girl would be aiming to be crowned queen at this point. But here she is, hell-bent on staying anonymous.”
“She’s just a little shy,” I mutter. Okay, so I know it runs deeper than that for Isla. But she’s trying to break free of it.
I know all about fighting your own demons.
And losing that fight often if you don’t have help.
Me? I have my app.
And Isla…she could have me. I could teach her to break out of her shell, to embrace what she feels and wants instead of shying away from it.
We each move about the room quietly for a moment, barely making a dent in the mess.
“Why is she here again?” Hunter asks, voice low.
I glance up. “Have a feeling she’s got a tough roommate situation at the Northwind House. Haven’t asked her about it.”
“Can we skip to the important question? Is she going to keep…sending love before our games? That something we can…I don’t know…get in writing?” Grey asks.
“Dude, I’m not striking up a fucking contract for her to send me messages before a game.”
At least, not one in writing.
Grey chuckles. “Yeah, especially her kind of messages.”
“Watch it.”
“Dude, it’s public and I’ve got a dick.”
“Well tuck that shit in because I hear something,” Hunter hisses, tossing stale popcorn at Grey.
We all turn to the stairs, watching Isla come down. Her long dark hair now tied up into a messy bun. She’s in tight jeans that shape her in all the right places and a grey sweater. I can’t imagine she’s comfortable in that, so I make a mental note to offer her some clothes to sleep in.
Wish I’d thought of that earlier.
“Hi,” she says warily.
“Hi,” Grey offers with considerably more enthusiasm. Like she’d come down naked.
Isla blinks away at the stares and I lift another pillow, tossing it across the couch to snap them out of it.
“I um…I thought I’d come help you guys clean up.”
“Oh, you don’t have to,” I start, but she cuts me off.
“No, really. I can’t sleep anyway, knowing you guys are left with this mess while I’m crashing upstairs.”
I notice her gravitate toward me when she makes it down the stairs and I’m more than ready to pull her into my arms if she needs a human shield.
She tucks an invisible strand of hair behind her ear. “Um…you got another one of those?”
I hand her the roll of trash bags. “Thanks.”
We lock eyes for a beat before she starts moving about the room, somehow making more progress than the three of us had in the last ten minutes. I’m also keenly aware of how incredibly suspicious we all look. Standing around only to fall silent when she comes down.
She glances at us. “So, do you all live here? I uh, only saw three bedrooms upstairs.”
“The three of us do,” I tell her. “Couple others at the Northwind House or shared apartments around campus.”
Isla hums. “That’s nice that you all get along so well.”
“Where you from, Isla?” Hunter asks.
Her big eyes glance up and she hesitates. I’m about to tell her she doesn’t have to answer my nosy roommates, but to my surprise, she tells them.
“Brooklyn.”
Hunter jerks like he wasn’t expecting that. Truthfully, I wasn’t either. Somehow I pictured her from a quiet small town. Certainly not a city like Brooklyn.
And damn, what the hell kind of cloud was I living on that I never asked her that?
Hunter gives me a quick look. “Cool. What brings you to Northwind?”
Her lips part and she shoves two more beer cans in the bag then pushes more hair behind her ear. “It’s um…complicated.”
I frown, but Grey asks first. “Like a relationship?”
There’s no humor behind her laugh. “I’ve been staying with my aunt and uncle since my mom died six years ago and…I won’t bore you with the details, but I was interested in Northwind when I was applying to schools three years ago and…now I can afford it. Sort of,” she laughs softly.
“Oh shit, I’m sorry.” The apology comes from Hunter, who started this impromptu interview.
She quickly waves a hand. “Oh, please, don’t be. I’m here now and,” she glances at me. “I like it so far.”
River, one of the freshmen, steps out of the kitchen with a few beers. “These don’t fit in the fridge. Anyone want another round?”
“Good idea.” Grey steps forward, taking two off his hands and handing one to Isla, then taking her garbage bag. “Have a seat, Isla. We’re not fans of putting girls to work.”
She accepts it with another glance my way. “Thanks. You guys wouldn’t happen to have any of that… cheese left?”
I snap my fingers. “River, can you fill the tray up? Grapes, crackers, the works.”
“And grab a couple more beers and have Daniels join us out here. We deserve a low-key after-hours night,” Hunter adds.
River pumps a fist in the air and spins toward the kitchen. “After hours at The Castle!”
Isla laughs and settles on the far corner of the couch, her shoulders relaxed, her eyes smiling. Now if only I could get her into some comfortable clothes—my clothes. She’d be the picture of perfection.
I walk Isla back up to my bedroom. The guys each called it a night one by one after we spent another hour downstairs bullshitting over beers and a cheese platter. The freshmen did a damn good job cleaning up.
There were no more Isla questions but hell, now that I’ve had a glimpse, I want the whole damn story.
What was her life like in high school without her mom? Did she get along with her aunt and uncle?
Where’s her dad?
Was she always this…reserved? Or did some of it stem from grief and trauma?
Isla’s pieces are slowly coming together. But fuck, I’m not trying to get to know this girl, am I?
I don’t want to think of our friendship as a transaction. I like being around her. Like finding out the little things she doesn’t tell anyone. Things she didn’t know about herself.
But I want to know more. The shit that makes her happy, what pisses her off…what turns her on.
We step into my bedroom. Her bag is on my bed and there’s a small crease in the pillow and middle of the bed from where she must have lain earlier.
“The bed comfortable?”
She scoffs as if that’s an understatement. “Yeah. It’s pretty great.” There’s a smile in her voice. “Thanks for letting me stay tonight.”
I open my dresser and pull out a shirt for her. “I’d offer you pants, but it gets pretty warm at night.” I scan her. “Might fall right off you anyway.”
She places her hands on her hips and dips her eyes at mine. “Think they’d be perfect for me actually.” She jokes, but I take the opportunity to admire those hips.
My gaze travels up her body. “Alright, one pair of pants coming right up.”
And shit. Something else is coming right up if I don’t stop picturing her getting undressed in a moment.
I dig around for the nicest pair I have. Or hell, ones that don’t smell like they haven’t been washed in a year.
I turn around and find her already in my T-shirt, her bra and sweater on the bed.
“Jeez, you’re quick.”
“Yeah, well, when you don’t have a lock on your door, you learn to change quick.”
“At your aunt and uncle’s?”
“At my dorm.”
“Ah, makes sense. Ours wasn’t working either when I lived in one freshman year.”
Her eyes drop to the side and she folds her sweater. “They’re a good group—you’re friends. You’re all lucky you have each other.”
I pull off my shirt, tossing it in the hamper—or somewhere near it.
“You call it luck, I call it purgatory.” I find a sleep shirt for myself, pulling it to my nose to make sure it’s clean.
I turn and catch her eyes dragging slowly over my bare chest before settling lower.
And fuck if I don’t feel every second of it.
She lifts her eyes to mine, barely flustered when she finds me watching her. “What would this look like?”
I toss my clean shirt aside and narrow my eyes, stepping closer. Her eyes dip briefly again. “What would what look like?”
“Our pre-game ritual. You…teaching me. How would it work?” She licks her lips and lifts the phone from her back pocket. “You know, without um…one of these between us.”
I smirk and close the distance. She takes a step back, but I catch her waist. “For one, girls usually don’t step back from a guy they’re into…unless it’s part of foreplay.”
“Foreplay,” she breathes.
I nod and swipe my hand across her temple, brushing hair aside. Then I take the phone from her hands and toss it over her bag on the bed. It lands with a thump.
“Second—”
Isla’s eyes snap to her bag and it takes me a minute to hear the buzzing sound in the room.
I pause, step back, and scan the room.