The Graham Effect (Campus Diaries, #1)

Beckett overhears and nods in agreement. “Ryder gets it.”

The weather’s nice enough again to take the party outside, where one of my drunk teammates is barbecuing, and I pray to God he doesn’t burn the house down. At least wait till the lease is up. Although…Beckett is sticking around, so maybe no house fires. Will Larsen is moving in, claiming he’s sick of the dorms, so it’ll be just the two of them here unless they manage to find a third.

Shane, meanwhile, is moving into a condo his rich parents just bought him. Turns out it’s in the same complex as Gigi’s friend Diana. He’s raving about it now, telling us about all the renovations his dad did in preparation for Shane’s move-in date.

“Must be nice,” Gigi drawls.

“Oh shut up,” Shane tells her, grinning. “Your dad is rich and would buy you a fuckin’ mansion if you asked.”

He’s got her there. In fact, her father has already been threatening to do just that. We said no. We can wait until I officially sign my rookie contract with Dallas next year and buy it ourselves.

“Hey, off topic,” Shane says, sipping his beer. “You’ll like this, Gisele—last night TSBN was showing highlights from the women’s Worlds. They did a countdown of the top five plays. Four of the plays were Canada.” He snickers softly.

Gigi rolls her eyes at him. “I appreciate the solidarity, but don’t cheer for our country’s loss on my behalf.”

She and I watched the game together last month, though, and she was definitely throwing some shade. I don’t know if her presence on the roster would have altered the results of that game and given USA the gold instead of Canada. But it wouldn’t have hurt, that’s for sure.

“Anyway, there’s still a chance I’ll make that roster one day.” She shrugs. Unbothered. Which is a vast improvement from the night she sobbed about what a failure she was. But like me, she’s learning to accept her limitations while continuing to hone her strengths.

“And if I don’t,” she says with a grin, “I’ll just graduate from college and be Ryder’s agent and land us multimillion-dollar endorsements.”

“Solid plan,” I agree.

Will, Beckett, and Case drift toward us, and we chat over beers and drunk-boy-prepared burgers for a while. At one point, Diana wanders over in a tiny skirt that barely covers her thighs and a T-shirt with the neckline cut away so it drapes low on one shoulder.

“Lindley,” she says, eyes narrowed.

“Dixon,” he mimics.

“I just want it to be known that Meadow Hill was my turf first, and you are to stay away from me at all times. In fact, we can draw a line down the center of the pool and assign sides.”

“Well, that’s mean.” He feigns a pout. “Are you going to be rude to your own friends too? Because I plan on bringing a cheerleader or two over. Nightly.”

She glares at him and saunters off.

“Do you have any big plans this summer other than tormenting my best friend with your fuckboy antics?” Gigi asks pleasantly.

Shane grins. “Nah. I’ll probably split the time between here and my parents’ place. What about you guys?”

“I want a honeymoon,” she declares. Beaming.

He grins at me now. “Take the woman on a honeymoon, asshole.”

“I plan to,” I protest. “We’re going to fuckin’ Italy in August.”

“That was highly aggressive toward Italy, mate,” Beckett says, and Will and Colson laugh loudly. Case seems to have completely gotten over his issues with Gigi and me being together. He’s spent most of the night flirting with Gigi’s teammate Camila.

“He doesn’t think he’ll like it there,” Gigi explains.

“It feels like a very lackadaisical place,” I mutter.

Neither of us mention that we’re going to Arizona in July. Gigi and I discussed my dad’s parole hearing at length—Owen weighed in too—and eventually we decided the benefits to speaking at the hearing outweighed the costs. Owen and I would rather never see that man’s face for as long as we live, but fifteen years isn’t long enough. He deserves to rot in prison for what he did to our mother. And if there’s even the slightest risk the parole board would let him out if they don’t hear any dissenting voices, we can’t take that chance. So the three of us are flying down there next month. Gigi’s parents offered to come along too.

Life is…good.

That’s not a sentiment I’m used to expressing. Or experiencing. But it is. I’ve got my health, my friends, my brother. My wife. Neither of us have any idea what the future holds. Nobody does.

But I can’t imagine any future with Gigi not being bright.





ACKNOWLEDGMENTS


When I first wrote The Deal and subsequent books in the Off-Campus/Briar U series, I didn’t expect these characters to have such an impact on me. Every single one of them has stuck with me over the years, especially my OGs—Hannah and Garrett. When I decided to revisit the Briar universe, I broke one of my own rules and chose to write a “next generation” story. I’m not usually drawn to those types of stories, but lately I’ve been driving myself mad wondering what Garrett and Hannah’s twins from The Legacy would be like. And…The Graham Effect was born!

A quick note about some of the hockey plot points in this book—I usually fudge certain details in order to create a fictionalized hockey world so that certain plot elements can line up better. In this book, I played around with the NCAA hockey schedule and conferences, as well as certain elements about Team USA/the national team. All errors are my own (and often intentional).

As always, this book wouldn’t be in front of your eyes right now without the support of some very important people:

My agent, Kimberly Brower, for always being there to hold my hand through minor, major, and imagined emergencies.

My editor, Christa Dèsir, for being my biggest cheerleader and even bigger champion for this series. And the rest of the rock-star team at Bloom Books/Sourcebooks: Pam, Molly, and the rest of the marketing and publicity team, the incredible art team, and Dom for being the coolest publisher I know.

Nicole, Natasha, and Lori for their social media wizardry and overall awesomeness.

Eagle/Aquila Editing for always dropping everything to proofread for me.

My family and friends for putting up with me when I’m on deadline and forget to answer their calls because I’m lost in a different universe. And my little sister for feeding me when I forget to eat while I’m writing.

Sarina Bowen and Kathleen Tucker for lending me their ears and eyes and never failing to make me laugh. Oh, and Kathleen gives me plants. Gardening for the win.

And of course, you. My readers, the kindest, funniest, coolest, most supportive people on the planet. You’re the reason I’m able to do what I do, and you’re the reason the romance community is the most welcoming and engaging place to belong to. I hope you enjoyed Gigi and Ryder’s book, and I can’t wait for you to read the other stories planned in the Campus Diaries series!