“This is Bailey.” Chase gestured to me. “Bailey, Dallas and Siobhan. Or Shiv.”
Dallas’s eyes widened. “This is the famous James?”
Oh god. Was I famous because Chase liked me or because I threw up on his shoes?
“It’s so nice to meet you,” Shiv said, giving me a warm smile. Most of the hockey girlfriends I knew didn’t appreciate the presence of new girls, but her greeting was sincere, like she actually meant it.
“Likewise,” I said.
Dallas jerked his thumb at the front door. “Can you give me a hand, man? I need help with a bookshelf.”
“Bookshelf?” Chase cocked a brow. “Shiv, are you domesticating him or what?”
Siobhan grinned. “What can I say? He’s finally housebroken. It’s a proud day for us all.”
“Yeah, yeah.” Dallas rolled his eyes, smacking her on the butt as he walked past her to the entry. The door slammed shut behind them, and Siobhan stepped closer to me, eyes twinkling.
“So, you and Chase, huh?” She lowered her voice.
“Oh, we’re just friends.”
I wondered how many “friends” he’d kissed. Then I wondered how many “friends” Siobhan had met…Especially lately.
Not that it was technically any of my business.
“Of course.” Siobhan winked at me. “Dallas and I are ‘friends’ too. How long have you and Chase been, um, hanging out?”
Were we hanging out? I guess we were. What did that even mean? My relationship experience consisted of one short-lived high school boyfriend and Luke. I was not well versed in the workings of the dating world.
But this wasn’t that kind of hanging out…Was it?
How did I not know what I was doing?
“About a month?”
“Huh.” She nodded thoughtfully. “Well, I could really use some more estrogen around here to balance things out. He’s a good guy. I hope you can put up with him long-term.”
I wasn’t sure that would be the problem.
OceanofPDF.com
CHAPTER 18
OceanofPDF.com
OWN IT
Chase
Could I have completed that essay a little faster? Probably. Was I motivated to speed up the process when James was in my bedroom, looking adorable as fuck on my bed? Not really.
When I got home from dropping off Bailey, Dallas was sprawled out on the living room couch, a bottle of beer in hand with his other arm draped around Shiv. In the dark, a horror film flashed on the oversized flatscreen, complete with revving chainsaws and splattering blood. Those two were a match made in weirdo horror-loving heaven. I wasn’t squeamish about guts and gore, but I never really got the appeal of scary movies. If I was going to sit through a movie, it either had to be funny or have lots of car chases and explosions. Or, well, be a naked movie.
I paused in the doorway to the living room. “Hey.”
In the background, there was a bloodcurdling scream from the TV.
Dallas picked up the remote and paused the movie. “How’s your ankle?”
“Hurts like a bitch, but it’s slowly getting better,” I said. “What are you two psychos watching this time?”
“Chainsaw Slaughter 6.” Shiv grabbed a handful of popcorn from the bowl beside her. “It’s the best one of the whole series. Wanna join?”
It sounded better than economic theory, but I had a quiz tomorrow, and Coach Miller had been watching me like a hawk since our little chat. He’d been cornering me on a weekly basis for updates, which was really code for trying to catch me in a lie since he’d already talked to my professors. If I wanted to keep playing, there wasn’t much room for error.
“I still have to finish some schoolwork, but thanks for the offer.”
Dallas tilted his head, studying me. “Schoolwork? Is this Bailey’s influence or what?”
“Coach is up my ass about my grades again.” I shrugged. “It’s buck up or get benched, and we all know you’re fucked without me.”
“Back to the Bailey thing,” he said emphatically, ignoring my jab and blatant attempt to change the subject. “You’ve seen her a lot lately. Taking this toying with Morrison thing pretty far, huh?”
“Nah, I like spending time with her.”
He pointed at me with the neck of his beer bottle. “Because you like her.”
Beside him, Shiv widened her eyes and gave a little shake of her head as if to say, “I didn’t tell.” I believed her. Unfortunately, Dallas was good at reading me. Plus, hanging around a girl this long without banging was basically a dead giveaway. The only other girl I was friends with was Shiv.
Besides, let’s be real—not even I believed my intentions with Bailey were platonic. But was that what Bailey wanted?
“Maybe.”
“Don’t even try to act cool. We already know, dumbass,” Dallas said. “But I wanted to make sure you did. You’re not always the most self-aware.”
Dammit.
Okay, whatever. I could own it.
“Fine,” I said. “I like her.”
“I like her too. Can we keep her?” Shiv gave me a puppy dog face.
“I have no idea,” I said honestly. With how often we had been talking lately, it was hard to imagine my life without Bailey in it. But I’d known her all of a month, and I wasn’t entirely sure where we were headed. For all I knew, she could get back with Morrison tomorrow and never speak to me again.
“She does seem cool,” Dallas agreed.
“She is.”
He smirked. “Which means you have no business with her.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence, man.” I flipped him off before continuing upstairs to my room.
“Love you too,” he called.
When I got into bed later, it still smelled faintly like Bailey—something sweet, like her perfume, mixed with something else that I was pretty sure was just her. And hockey help me, I liked it.
I was so screwed.
Tuesday evening’s practice rolled around, and Coach Miller bag skated us for the first half as punishment for playing so poorly against New England U. He was sneaky that way. He hadn’t done it the day after the game or the day after that, so we thought we were in the clear. But midweek?
Surprise, motherfuckers.
Now everything hurt and I was dying. To make matters worse, I was dumb enough to carpool with Dallas and Ty, which meant I got dragged to O’Connor’s after practice. I mean, the pub part was fine. It was the crowd that frequented the pub that I was ambivalent about. O’Connor’s was puck bunny and former-hookup central.
“Solid practice,” Dallas said. He drained the last of his rum and coke and set it on the black laminate tabletop. “Aside from the part where half the team puked in the garbage can at center ice.”
“At least none of us did.” I shrugged, pushing my chair away from the table to stretch out my legs in front of me. My ankle still wasn’t 100 percent going into practice, and it was agonizing coming out. “Plus, by Miller’s standards, only half the team is practically a pass.”
Ty smirked, tipping back his beer. “And you even got a few shots past me during drills for once. Good for you, little buddy.”
“I guess your strategy of flopping has to work sometime,” I said.
“Maybe you should learn to lift the puck.”
“Maybe you should—”
From out of nowhere, a soft hand touched the back of my neck and startled the crap out of me. I jumped in my seat and jerked around to find a pair of blue eyes with heavy eye makeup staring back at me.
“Hi, handsome.” Lindsay slid into my lap, looping an arm around my shoulders. She crossed her legs, causing her very short, very tight black skirt to hike up a little more.
I shifted my weight uncomfortably. Would it be rude to tell her to get off my lap? Diplomacy wasn’t exactly my strong suit. Even if I did mental gymnastics to justify this—like reminding myself that I was still technically single—it felt disloyal as hell.
“Hey.” My voice fell flat. In the background, Ty rolled his eyes and stood up to grab another beer.