Total pages in book: 119
Estimated words: 116028 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 580(@200wpm)___ 464(@250wpm)___ 387(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 116028 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 580(@200wpm)___ 464(@250wpm)___ 387(@300wpm)
I snicker.
“Thanks for the lift.” She hops out of the car and starts to close the door, but then abruptly pokes her head back in. “Hey, whose jersey should I wear tomorrow night? Fitzy’s or Davenport’s?” She blinks innocently.
With a scowl, I flip up my middle finger. “Not funny.”
“That was hilarious and you know it. See you tomorrow, crazy girl.”
I watch enviously as she dashes into the diner. I’d love to be having lunch and eating pie right now. But Brenna’s right—I can’t keep putting it off.
It’s time to go home.
7
Fitz
There’s a shiny Audi in the driveway when we pull up. My shoulders tighten, and I hope Hunter doesn’t notice the reaction. I don’t glance at the driver’s seat to gauge his reaction, because I’m sure he’s thrilled to see Summer’s car. At least I assume it’s Summer’s. I stowed my beat-up Honda in the one-car garage before we left for Vermont, so there’s nowhere else she could’ve parked.
Besides, it’s a fucking Audi.
Hunter parks the Land Rover behind the silver car and addresses us in a stern voice. “This stays between us.”
“Obvs.” Hollis yawns loudly and unbuckles his seatbelt. He slept like a rock in the backseat the entire drive home.
“I’m not joking. If this gets back to Coach…”
“It won’t,” Hollis assures him. “This trip didn’t happen. Right, Fitz?”
I nod grimly. “Didn’t happen.”
“Good. But let’s go over our story in case he asks at practice tomorrow?” Hunter kills the engine. “We were in New Hampshire with Mike’s folks. We chilled by the fire, sat in the hot tub, played Monopoly.”
“I won,” Hollis pipes up.
I roll my eyes. Of course he has to be the winner of this fictional Monopoly game.
“Naah, I won,” I say smugly. “I bought Boardwalk and put eight hotels on it.”
“Screw that. I owned Boardwalk.”
“Nobody owned Boardwalk,” Hunter grumbles. “We didn’t play Monopoly.”
He’s right. We were skiing, aka the stupidest thing we could ever do, seeing as how we’re midseason. But Hollis, Hunter, and I are not exactly the best influences on each other. We all grew up on the East Coast and love winter sports, so when Hollis suggested a secret ski trip over break, it sounded like too much fun to miss out on.
Coach will be livid if he finds out, though. As hockey players, we can’t do anything that might jeopardize our bodies or our season. A drunken ski weekend in Vermont? Cardinal sin.
But sometimes you’ve got to prioritize fun, right?
And no, I didn’t agree to the trip just to delay seeing Summer. Because that’s pitiful and stupid, and I’m neither pitiful nor stupid.
So what if she hooked up with Hunter? She’s not my type, anyway. And now I get to pay less rent. Win-win.
“Okay, so we’ve got the story straight? New Hampshire. Fire, hot tub, Monopoly, hot chocolate.”
“Hot chocolate?!” Hollis screams. “What the hell! You’re throwing a whole new plot twist into this. I don’t know if I’ll be able to remember.”
I start laughing.
Hunter shakes his head at us. “You guys have been playing for Jensen a whole year longer than me—you of all people should know what’ll happen if he finds out we were partying this weekend. The skiing’s bad enough. The booze and weed might be worse in his book.”
Hollis and I sober up. He’s got a point. The last time a player was caught partying, he was kicked off the team. That player happened to be Dean, who took some molly at a party and then failed a piss test the next day.
Not that we did anything like MDMA this weekend. Just a few beers, one joint, and a bunch of tricks on the slopes that we probably—fine, that we absolutely shouldn’t have tried.
“Let’s go in. Can’t keep our new roomie waiting.” Hollis is downright gleeful, his grin eating up his entire face.
Hunter gives him a dark look as he hops out of the Rover. “Hands off.”
“No way. You can’t call dibs.”
“First of all, she’s not a piece of meat. She’s our roommate.” Hunter flicks up one eyebrow. “But if we are calling dibs, I’m pretty sure mine was implied when I had my tongue in her mouth.”
My teeth clench of their own volition.
“True.” Hollis sighs in defeat. “I’ll back off.”
The muscles in my jaw relax as I snicker. He says that as if he ever stood a chance. Hollis is a good-looking guy, but he’s a total bro, not to mention obnoxious. A girl like Summer would never go for him.
“Thank you,” Hunter mocks. “That’s so generous of you, Mike. Truly, I’m touched.”
“I’m a good friend,” Hollis agrees.
As we trudge up the front stoop, there’s no mistaking the glint of anticipation in Hunter’s eyes, which is to be expected. I saw his face when Dean called and said Summer needed a place to live. It was obvious he couldn’t wait for a repeat performance of New Year’s Eve.