Hockey With Benefits(93)

“I don’t want to know how you pulled that off.”

“A lot of blackmail.” He gave me two thumbs-up. “And threats. They go a long way here.”

I held my hands up, beginning to back away. Zeke was being Zeke. I just needed to go with it by now.

Going over and sinking down in the chair across from Darren, he gave me a tight smile before flipping his phone around and pointing to a screen. “You see this?”

Word’s out! Cruz Styles is officially off the market until his latest squeeze sleeps with someone else, and word on the street is that could be anyone at any second!

I jerked up. “What is this?”

Zoe said, “It’s a campus blog. She covers all the big athletes, but Cruz has been her main focus for the last month. You didn’t know?”

“I had no idea.”

“That’s why we were teasing you. This was posted this morning. We thought you were just being quiet about it.”

“How did this get out?”

Zoe shook her head. The rest of the table didn’t have an answer.

Darren pulled his phone back. “You okay?”

I held up a hand, shrugging, and leaning back in my seat. I’d lost my appetite, but… “I’ll be fine.” But fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. We were out in a big, huge way if a blogger was posting about it. And in a seriously insulting way too. “She’s implying I’m a slut.”

Darren frowned. “Click bait. I’m pretty sure she sells information.”

“What’s that mean?”

“You could give her twenty dollars, and she’ll share her source.”

“Are you serious?”

“We deal with her too. Cruz has been her target since hockey started, but she likes to write about football players as well.”

“I’m sorry.”

He shrugged, hunching over his plate. “I’m pretending it’s practice for when we get to the NFL.”

That blog stung. And I knew more attention was coming. It was inevitable now.

“Eat. We’ll plan retribution later.” Darren gestured behind me, right as the server came over.

Retribution. Too bad I couldn’t order that off the menu.





Kit: I got a weird DM about you. You never called me back so I’m not eager to wade into your stuff, but call me back. I’ll send you the SS. Could this be from your mom?

Kit: image sent.

I deleted it. I owed Kit a call, but my mom was getting to me through her. I didn’t need to see whatever it said to know what it was. My mom being my mom.





45





MARA





After we ate, Tasmin rejoined us and pulled me outside.

“What?” I laughed as she brought out a gift-wrapped piece of clothing. It was big and bulky, and wrapped in brown tissue paper, a light pink ribbon tied around it. “What is this?”

“Something I special ordered for here because I couldn’t get it to arrive earlier than today. I fully planned to squirrel it away until the day you and Cruz finally went official, and I’m so giddy that it finally happened.”

“What’s going on?” That was Zeke, joining our circle. He had a large plastic mug, and a full beer can open inside it. A bunch of guys I didn’t know joined him, so I was guessing they were some of his fraternity brothers. The rest of the circle were my roommates.

I ignored him, unwrapping the gift, and when the tissue paper fell away, I was speechless. A full old school hockey sweater with Cruz’s number and in Grant West’s colors. Purple and white. 71.

My mouth was on the floor.

“Look at the back.” Tasmin was gushing.

I turned it, shock spreading through me, and I saw the words embroidered in big and purple lettering was his last name, his number, two small hockey sticks crossing over each other, and beneath in smaller print was, “Property of Girlfriend.”

A choked sound came out of me.

I’d never… I covered my mouth with my hand.

This was a serious gift. She put thought and money into this, and planning, and now hearing she was going to hold onto it until we were official… “I can’t believe this,” I whispered, my voice hoarse.

She–no one had any idea, but with my mom, how she was, I wasn’t celebrated. Gifts were not something that happened in my life.

“Thank you so much, Taz.” She had no idea how much this meant to me.

But maybe she did because she was blinking back tears. “I just–with your mom and what you’ve been through–” Her cheeks were pinking. “I wanted you to know that I appreciate our friendship and yeah. You’re stuck with me.”

If I were a guy, I would’ve been on the floor in pain from the karmic kick in the balls. I shook my head, still whispering because I couldn’t get anything else out right now, “I’m so sorry for being such a bitch. I–I don’t deserve this jersey. I don’t deserve–”

“Oh, my gawd, shut up.” She hurled herself at me, hugging me tight. She whispered for just me to hear, “I’m happy you let Cruz in, and I’m happy you’re starting to let me in. Just know that people do care, and they don’t judge, and we’re here for you, and you’re wrong. You do deserve kindness.”