Page 151 of Chasing Headlines
I eyed the highlight reel of a giant of a man—who skated beyond the laws of physics. “Boris ‘the Flame’ Paljevic?”
Which were apparently the magic words to make Dublin Serra appear. She waltzed through the door in her long coat and perfectly straight hair, landing heavily on the couch. She tossed her coat over the back cushion and rested bare feet on the coffee table with a dramatic sigh. Almost like she lived here.
And she didnotlive here.
“I need to change the locks,” I grumbled under my breath. A loud cheer rose from the TV. I returned my attention to the hockey thing that had been happening earlier. Some famous guy named Boris, sold out game, something something something . . .
“I met him the other day. Saw him coming out of the locker room. He’s a giant, even off his skates.” Antonio wrapped his arm around Hilda.
“Who? Boris the Flame?”
“Yeah, he's been on campus for a few days. Visiting with his son.” Antonio answered over his girlfriend’s head.
“Wynter Paljevic. He's hotness on ice.” Dublin grinned like a feral cat.
“A hockey player namedWynter?” I groaned.
Dublin held up her phone with her online . . . lair, er, social feeds. Some weird video playing to an old lady song about wind and wings—with really bad subtitles? “Dad’s a hockey player and mom’s a former national figure skating champion.”
“Of course. So does he have siblings named Frost and Flake?”
“I'm not the one to cast stones based on names.” Dublin rolled her eyes. “And only the youngest son is hotness on ice.”She zoomed in on a picture of a guy in a Strikers hockey jersey. He didn't smile. Dark hair fell over his forehead with the exception of a single stripe of white-blond over the right side. Heterochromatic eyes—one brown and one blue—glared at the screen.Uh, yeah, hotness factor’s definitely right. Wow.
“I don't really care what the others are called.”
I looked Dubby square in the face. “And I don't really care about hockey.”
“Well, good thing I'm the one with the ticket to the game. One of my followers, Mia, she's dating a defender and snagged a guest pass for me. Hockey players are all the rage. I want one.”
“So, what, you're going to show up and tackle him on the ice?”
“Oh, not Wynter. He's uh, little toodamagedfor my taste. Mia's got the right idea, her defenseman is a total cinnamon roll hottie. And I hear there's a perfectly delectable morsel returning from Olympic camp next week. I'm counting on an intro.” She held up her phone, again. This new guy smiled at the camera with a sprinkling of freckles across his nose. Warm green eyes, dark lashes, he wasn't hard to look at either.
But Wynter's photo had been unforgettably striking. Like he should be modeling, shirtless . . . definitely shirtless. Oh damn, bad brain.
“Michel is gonna have his world rocked. I've been studying up on hockey lingo?—”
“Woah! What a shot, wow!” Antonio pumped his fist in the air. “That man is the real deal right there. I can't wait to see what this Wynter guy's gonna do for our team.”
I high fived Antonio, but definitely didn't feel it. Or know why?
He stared at me a little longer than he should have. A pleading smile.
“I still can't get tickets.”
“Reporter Chica.” He threw his arms wide. “You're not even trying to help a guy out!”
I gave him a small smile, but I wasn't really up for this. The game continued, I guess. I sat there, not really seeing what was on tv, barely even present in the room.
“The scouts don’t even have me on their rosters anymore. I’m standing at the back of the line . . .”
Hilda glanced at me from across the room. She inclined her head toward the front door. My heart contracted a little too tightly in my chest. I swallowed, but nodded. Found my feet and followed her into the hall.
I didn't know what she'd have to say to me. A part of me felt like something had been broken between us. It wasn't that I stopped caring about her. I just didn't know how to make our way back to what our friendship was before.
“I shouldn't have yelled at you. I think we were all stressed and anxious. But Liv, I stand by my concerns about this scouting thing. You've changed. Or maybe stagnated.” Hilda shook her head. “While the rest of us are taking on more responsibility, you're just hanging around baseball players. Is that really all you want out of life?”
I crossed my arms and put on my game face.So we're going to do this, now. Great.“What if it is?”