Chapter 19
Selena
“We’re going to move into product development, and the vital role marketing plays in informing which products are made. As we all know, fulfill a need and it’s easy to convince people to buy your product. The required reading is chapters three through six.”
I jotted down the reading assignment before realizing with a start that I’d already done it yesterday.
I wasn’t used to being ahead, ever, so it was a nice surprise.
The afternoon passed in a blur. I dragged myself to my classes, my legs aching every step of the way.
Why had I thought it was a good idea to try and beat Brody at jogging?
I had no idea now, just aching muscles and the urge to sleep for a week.
I stopped by The Grind, the campus coffee place, and got a coffee big enough to drown in. Someone flicked my hair back off my shoulder as I waited for my order. I flinched, all the secret worries I was carrying about that cop crowding in and making me anxious.
“Hey. Any word about the acting audition yet?”
It was Winter, lounging beside me. She was the only other person I’d told about going for a part in Much Ado About Nothing.
“Nope. Unless they’ve already told the successful people, and I’m not one of them.”
Winter wrinkled her nose. “They wouldn’t do that. They post a list, won’t they, like in the movies?” She raised an eyebrow at the huge black coffee I grabbed from the counter. “Tired?”
“I went for a run this morning,” I confessed.
She stopped in her tracks, her face comically surprised.
“What? How the hell did that happen?”
Nothing much surprised my best friend, so it felt good to manage it for once.
“Yep, you heard it here first. I went for a run, outside, in fresh air, and now, I regret everything. I’m so sore. I can’t believe I used to do hours of cheer practice. I swear, I must have been body snatched.”
“It makes sense, though. You haven’t been as active. Don’t let it put you off. If you push through the pain, you’ll realize you’re fitter than you think you are. You want to come to the Hellions training with me?”
“Why?” I wondered.
We headed through the main quad. The place was packed.
It made sense. It was still the first few weeks of school.
Everyone still had the excitement and energy of a new academic year laid out before them.
The freshmen hadn’t yet lost their rosy expectations of what college was going to be like, and the rest of us were far enough away from exams to forget how hard the year ahead would be.
Winter shrugged in response to my question, her pale cheeks reddening slightly.
“You just want to stare at Asher, don’t you? God, how long have you been together, and you’re still like this over him?” I teased her. “There’s no helping you, I’m afraid. You’re a lost cause.”
“Don’t. It’s true,” she murmured and then shook her hair back and raised her chin. “Fuck it, I don’t care. Who wouldn’t be the same in my situation?”
I chuckled and continued beside her. Usually, going to sit in a freaking cold ice rink to watch training was the last thing I’d like to do, but I wanted to hang out with Winter.
“Hey, do you know Nick? Left winger on the team?”
“If you think I know anybody by their position name, you are seriously overestimating how much I pay attention at games,” I told Winter.
She laughed. “Fair enough. So, I’ll point him out in training.”
“Why?”
“He’s been asking about you. If you’re single, seeing anyone, you know, since you got back from Cali.”
“Oh. I hope you told him no.” The words left me automatically.
Winter tilted her head to the side, measuring her next words carefully.
“I didn’t yet. I didn’t want to speak for you. For all I know, you’d maybe like to try going out on a date.”
I shook my head before she’d even finished speaking.
“Hear me out. Daytime date, somewhere public, or a double date with me and Ash. It doesn’t have to be scary. You can be in control of every single aspect.”
“It’s not about being scary,” I told her slowly. “It’s more that it’s a waste of time, like what is even the point?”
We walked side by side in silence before Winter spoke again.
“The point is that it might be nice to date again. Have fun. Not being lonely, messing around… putting the past behind you.”
I stopped, barely able to keep the neutral expression on my face. Winter turned to me, a conflicted look painting her features. I could tell she was nervous. I never wanted her to be nervous.
“I worry about you,” she told me in a quiet voice. “I just want to see you happy again. It’s all I want.”
“A man can’t make me happy,” I pointed out.
She swallowed hard. “Well, what can?”
“A time machine?” I offered, my smile bitter.
Winter returned my smile with a small, sad one of her own.
I couldn’t stand her expression. It broke my heart.
“Okay, whatever. Let’s do it. A daytime date, with you and Asher. I’ll do it, for you.”
Winter perked up. “Really?”
I nodded. “Really. If it’s awful, though, you owe me sushi for dinner.”
“As much as you can eat,” Winter promised and clapped her hands with excitement. For my cold-as-ice best friend, that was practically a backflip.
“Okay, let’s get to practice before it’s over.”
Winter grabbed my arm and threaded it through hers.
“Yes! And we can talk about what we’ll wear.”
“We?”
“Aren’t we going to wear a couple’s outfit? Nick should know you’ve already got a girlfriend.”
We sat close to the ice. The kind of position that only the girlfriend of a Hellion could claim. Winter stalked to her VIP position with the air of a queen. Some other girls in the stands watched, puck bunnies and some ice dancers.
I sat beside Winter, glad I’d gotten a hot coffee; the cool of the rink sank through my leather jacket.
I had two items from my own wardrobe on today, reclaimed from Brody. I had no idea where he was keeping the rest of my clothes, but if I went running with him every morning, then in a week I’d have a good amount back.
Thinking of the devil seemed to summon him, because just then I caught sight of a lone figure skating around, warming up.
It was him. A jolt of recognition went through me.
God, he really was good at everything he did.
He was a natural on the ice. Coach Williams was splitting the guys into small groups to do an exercise that involved maneuvering around cones, while the rest of the group attempted to smash into them.
Hockey was so brutal. I hadn’t gotten the appeal before, but I did now.
How freeing would it feel to just start a fight if you wanted to?
To just smash and crash and shout and let all your anger out?
I’d been a cheerleader for years, and I’d seen more than my fair share of violence on the football field, but it wasn’t the same.
If you started a fight on the football field, you were in trouble.
In hockey, you had a few minutes in the penalty box and then back on the ice.
Brody had the puck. It was his turn to try to guide it around the small cones and avoid the guys trying to crash into him and steal it.
I watched as he looked up, waiting for the other guys to get into position. His unfocused gaze moved over the stands and past me, before zooming right back when he recognized who I was.
His eyes met mine. That jolt of awareness zipped through me again. It felt weird. It was like sticking my finger into an electric socket.
Then the whistle blew, and he dropped his head, focusing on the ice, then bursting into motion.
He took off at an incredible pace, guiding the puck like it was the easiest thing in the world.
His stick was just an extension of him. It seemed like he didn’t have to make any effort at all to control the puck.
It went exactly where he wanted it to go.
The first guy arrived to tackle him, and Brody somehow seemed to slow for a second, pushing the puck out in front of him, farther than before.
With his body slowed, and the puck moving faster than before, a gap opened and his attacker sailed through it, not recovering quickly enough to do a damn thing.
As soon as he’d passed, Brody raced back to the puck, twisting his stick just right to get it around a nearby cone at the very last second.
Even with his little evasive move, he hadn’t missed a single cone.
I found myself sitting forward to see how he’d manage the other two guys in his group, speeding up the ice toward him, one on each side.
He sailed toward them, seeming unconcerned, until they were close enough for contact.
He tapped the puck, and it stopped behind him, while he barreled on.
One of the guys went to crash into him, and he just turned in a tight little spin that sent the other player flying off in the other direction.
The last one, seeing the strategy, went for the puck.
But Brody’s stick was already in motion, flung out as far as he could reach and hooking around the puck just before the opponent closed in on it, then shooting it up the ice ahead of him.
Now, the last attacker was behind him, and they both skated after the puck. The goal sat at the top of the ice. They both gained on the puck, but Brody was so much faster, spinning at the last second again and whisking it into the air.
I found myself rising as he somehow bounced the puck on his stick, spun around, and shot midair at the goal.
It sank in easily.
“Nice!” Beckett called from the sidelines. “Not bad at all, Sinclair. Maybe there’s a place for you on the team after all.” His naturally loud voice carried across the entire rink. “What do you think, Cade?”
Cayden had just finished his own drill. He skated in a lazy circle, watching Brody.
“Maybe. Let’s see next week,” he said.
“Who are you watching?” Winter asked beside me.
“What? Me? No one in particular,” I lied, sitting back and trying not to look so intense.
She raised an eyebrow. “Oh, are you trying to figure out which one is Nick?”
No. I was staring at my new stepbrother.
Since that wasn’t something I’d be admitting ever, I just nodded.
“Yep. I can’t tell which one he is.”
Winter smiled. “I’ve got you. He’s over there. Left winger, near Asher.”
I nodded and followed her finger, pointing across the ice.
“Oh, okay. No, I don’t know him.”
I couldn’t see much of him with his gear on, but one thing I could tell right away.
He didn’t have Brody’s smooth confidence on the ice.
Few did, apart from the Ice Gods, and Cal.
Cal was easy to pick out. He moved like his brother.
He passed close to the glass and tapped his glove on the partition when he skated by.
“Is that your new…”
“Stepbrother. Yes, one of them. The good one.”
“That’s Cal, right? Asher said he keeps to himself. The word broody was used.”
“As in… wants to have babies?” I teased.
She laughed. “As in moody and mysterious.”
“Yep, that’s a pretty accurate description, actually. But he’s not awful. He doesn’t interfere with my life, at all, so that’s already a step up on his brother.”
“That’s Brody, right? What’s his deal?”
“His deal is that he’s a tyrant in training. I’ve never met someone so organized, uptight, and controlling in my life,” I muttered, my eyes finding Brody again.
He laughed at something Marcus had said, and his whole demeanor was transformed.
I realized how rarely I saw him smile. He’d been smiling this morning when we’d gone running, though.
Two times in one day felt like a lot compared to his usual gamut of expressions, which seemed to range between annoyed, jaded, and pissed off.
“Sounds like a nightmare,” Winter observed lightly.
I nodded. “He is.”
As if my words had summoned him, Brody skated past us, tilting his head to the side as he went, his gaze on me.
“It certainly looks like you’ve made as much of an impression on him as he has on you,” Winter noted. “He keeps staring over here.”
Brody passed us by and then twisted around, skating backward effortlessly, keeping his attention fixed on me even longer.
“Probably wondering what new rules he can think up to enforce on me.”
“Rules?” Winter raised an eyebrow at me.
“Don’t ask.” I blew out a long breath. “They have a game already?”
“Just a friendly match. The season isn’t up and running yet, but it’ll be a good chance to see how the new players are going to work on the team. Do you want to come with me? I know it’s not your thing—”
“I’ll come. Why not?” I interrupted. “Maybe I’ll get to see Brody get his face smashed in.”
Winter laughed. “Here’s hoping.” Her smile was teasing, but her focus lingered on me.
“What?” I demanded.
“Nothing,” she said quickly and turned back to watch the practice. “Nothing at all.”