Chapter 2
CHAPTER TWO
DON’T GO ON brEAKING MY HEART
TUCKER
“Are you sure she’s coming?” I’m pacing back and forth between the couch and the front door.
Quack, quack.
Baety is following me, waddling behind me like a duckling with her mama.
“She texted that she would sneak out as soon as her roommates were asleep.” Colsen answers. “Can you two stop pacing? You’re making me dizzy. Besides, you’re gonna wear a path into the carpet if you don’t stop.”
“I’m sorry.” I look outside through the peephole in the door. “You know when I’m nervous, I have to move.”
He sighs. “Yeah, I know.”
I walk back to the couches; Colsen is sitting on the one that faces the door. He can pretend to be calm and collected as much as he wants, but I know he’s as anxious as I am.
“When I’m nervous, I also get hungry. Do you think we should order something? Maybe a pizza?”
The question has barely come out of my mouth.
“Did someone say pizza?” Mack walks out of his room and lowers himself onto the couch opposite Colsen.
I roll my eyes. “Do you have super hearing, Mack? I thought you were listening to music with your noise canceling headphones.”
“I was.” He shrugs. “And I was about to go to sleep, but I heard you mention pizza, so I came out in case you were serious about it.”
“I swear to God, when pizza is even mentioned, you’re like a shark smelling one single drop of blood in an entire ocean.” Col ribs him.
Mack doesn’t take offense. “Pizza is life. So? Were you serious, Tuck? I vote for pizza. Possibly pepperoni and mushrooms.”
Mack is a good guy, but his love for pizza borders on obsession. And I love pizza myself.
“I don’t know.” I snap. “That’s why I was asking Col.”
“Are you hungry?” Colsen asks.
Thinking about it, I don’t think I am. “No. I’m too nervous to eat.”
“You have your answer, then.” My best friend says.
“But what if Taryn’s hungry?” I turn on my heel to go check the front door again.
“I think we should order pizza just in case she is.” Mack suggests.
I turn to look at him. “If you want pizza, why don’t you get some? Why do you have to wait for us to order it?”
Mack’s father is a retired NHL player. A really rich and famous one. I know he isn’t hurting for money, and he isn’t tight with his money either. He always offers to pay for food whenever we order something.
He avoids meeting my gaze. “My dad wants me on a new eating plan. There are a few teams interested in signing me, and he wants me to perform at my best. Spoiler alert, pizza isn’t included in the plan his sports nutrition specialist just emailed me.”
“If your season this year were even ten times worse than last season, you’d still have every NHL team knocking on your door.” Colsen’s tone is encouraging.
“Not according to my dad,” Mack’s jaw ticks. “He’s always looking for something to fix or to improve in me or my game.”
This isn’t the first time I heard him say that. Last year he was so nervous before every game that he puked. “You’re one of the best wingers I’ve ever seen.” I say honestly. “And I’ve played with Luca Rossi and Jamie Hart. Tell your old man to relax.”
Mack’s laugh is bitter. “Right. If you had met Paul Shayba, you wouldn’t say that. He thinks I should consider leaving college this year if the right offer came along.”
“You don’t want to?” I ask.
“I want to play for Coach Harrison for four years. And I want to graduate. If I got injured in my rookie season, I want a Plan B other than working for my dad.”
I can’t blame him. That’s why it’s so important to me to take those two classes I still need to graduate.
I don’t have a trust fund like Mack does, but from what he’s been saying more than once, his dad’s money comes with all sorts of strings attached.
“Got it. Do you want me to order you a pizza? I can get some for you even if we aren’t hungry. ”
Rather than answering my question, Mack asks one question of his own. “Why are you so nervous?”
“What if she breaks up with me?” The question that has been plaguing me since that stupid meeting in the auditorium finally comes out.
“Do you think she would?”
Fear makes it hard to breathe, so I begin pacing again. “I don’t know. That’s why I’m so nervous.”
“If she wanted to break up with you,” Mack muses. “I don’t think she’d be coming here. It’s too much of a risk if someone saw her.”
Maybe Mack is right. “True. But Taryn isn’t the type who would break up via text.”
This time Colsen agrees with me. “Yeah, you’re right. That’s why we feel the way we do about her.”
“You two have it really bad for her, don’t you?” Mack looks from me to Colsen.
“I’m falling for her.” I have no problem admitting it.
Colsen runs a hand through his hair. “Yeah. Me too.”
My phone vibrates in my hand. “She’s here.” I scoop Baety up to make sure she doesn’t sneak outside and open the door.
Please don’t break my heart. I send a silent prayer to the universe.
TARYN
The door to the guys’ apartment opens just enough for me to slip inside.
Tucker is holding Baety in the crook of his elbow as he ushers me in.
“I’m sorry I’m late. Gen was doing yoga in the living room. I thought she would never go to bed. And she’s been staring at me all day.”
Tucker is barefooted in a pair of light gray sweatpants that should be outlawed. If gray sweatpants are famous for highlighting certain assets in men, Tucker having way more than the average amount of said assets makes this sweatpants downright obscene. In the best possible way, of course.
But my mind isn’t totally in the gutter. I’m not just staring at Tucker’s cock. He has on a dark blue t-shirt that makes his eyes stand out even more than normal.
His short blond hair catches the light in the living room, like spun gold.
He’s so handsome that he takes my breath away. One thing that’s missing, however, is his usual smile.
Tucker looks at me for a second, then his blue eyes drift away. “I’m just glad you’re here, baby.”
This day has been rough, so I’m glad to see him too. I walk deeper into the living room where Colsen and Mack are sitting on the two couches.
While my first instinct would be to go sit next to Colsen, I lower myself next to Mack instead. If this conversation goes south, I’m gonna need a friend.
“I see we’re all here. Or almost all.” I bite out when Tucker sits on the edge of the couch next to Colsen with a sleeping Baety in his arms.
“Nash went to the gym for an after hours workout.” Mack informs me.
The news cause relief and a little pang of pain at the same time. “Right. I think it’s for the best.”
“You don’t want to discuss the situation with him too?” Colsen asks.
I sigh. “I bumped into him earlier, and we talked.”
“By the look on your face, I guess it didn’t go well?”
One nod is all they need in response to that question.
“To be honest, I wasn’t surprised.” I admit.
“We had a conversation the day before yesterday, and he was clear that hockey is number one in his life right now. And now that even being seen having an innocent conversation could get me kicked out of camp and him benched, we didn’t really stand a chance.
But the no fraternization clause wasn’t our only problem. Nash was really mad at me. At us.”
I explain Nash’s possessive edge. “Even without risking his good standing with Coach Harrison, he was furious after he saw us together last night. He asked me point-blank if I was going to choose him. And when I said that I couldn’t, he didn’t like it.”
There’s a coffee table between me and the guys, so Colsen can’t touch me.
But the way he looks at me gives me the same feeling as if he had pulled me into his arms. His hazel eyes are full of warmth.
“I’m sorry, pretty girl. I know you care about him.
And I’m putting this out there because I want you to know how I feel.
The fact that I didn’t give you an ultimatum doesn’t mean that I’m not possessive and that I don’t want you to myself.
Until last night, I thought I did. And I do, really.
But I realized that I’m not possessive where Tucker is concerned.
Maybe because he’s the best friend I’ve ever had, more than even a brother.
I don’t know. Sharing you with him doesn’t feel like I’m giving up anything. ”
His words would have made my heart sing before that meeting.
“So you guys are both going to continue dating Taryn? Like, long term?” Mack asks.
“If that’s what Taryn wants.” Tucker finally looks at me. “Is that what you want, baby?”
His question feels like a double-edged sword. “I don’t know. It depends, I guess.”
Tucker lowers Baety onto her little dog bed on one side of the couch. “On what?” He scoots forward, his blond eyebrows furrowed as he looks at me.
“I would never want to cause any trouble for you guys. Before that meeting, being together was already dangerous because we could get our hearts crushed if something went wrong. But now, if we got caught, I could get kicked out of camp, and you could get benched by your coach. You’re elite athletes, headed for the pros.
I don’t know if I’m worth risking your future.
It wouldn’t be a matter of waiting until training camp is over either.
Carole forwarded us the paperwork that was accidentally omitted from our welcome package.
The no fraternization clause applies as long as we’re part of the Shooting Stars.
So if I make the team, we wouldn’t be able to hang out even as friends until next summer. ”
Tucker runs a hand through his hair. The corded muscles in his forearm jump and somehow he manages to look even hotter with the hair on the top of his head all mussed.
“That’s so fucking unfair. I don’t get why it’s such a problem if cheerleaders and players fraternize.
If they didn’t want us to even interact, they shouldn’t have put our training camps in the same place. ”