Page 7 of Sticks and Stones (Shadow Valley U)
“You good?”
I pull away and glance at his warm eyes, catching moving gray clouds behind his head. I lie and nod, but by the way his lips purse, he knows I’m lying.
“Well, come on. The rest of the guys want to meet you.”
I try to steal the boxes back from Evan, but his parents taught him to be a gentleman, so he holds them up above my head until I surrender and follow him through the threshold of my new home.
A pang of guilt backs every step over the creaky floorboards of the hockey house.
I shouldn’t be here.
Yet, here I am.
It was the best choice, given the circumstances. What’s a girl to do when she stumbles upon her steady boyfriend of the last year banging a sorority girl on their kitchen counter?
Jasmin says I should burn his belongings, but I usually try to avoid breaking the law, because the last thing the Davis name needs is another crime attached to it.
The moment Evan and I turn to the left, I’m the center of the room. Heat swipes up my neck and wraps around my cheeks like a snake as I stand beside him, staring at several of his teammates.
I’ll admit it.
I’m not a fan of hockey.
I have never been to a game, so I don’t recognize a single one of them, and although this is my second year at Shadow Valley University, I hang with the academic crowd versus the jocks. Just like in high school.
The first guy stands and slowly walks over to me. I tip my chin. He’s a freaking mammoth.What on earth does he eat for breakfast?
“Hi, Wren. It’s nice to meet you. I’m Taylor.”
His hand is there for the taking, so I gingerly take it, although I’m the furthest thing from a docile college girl. Once I shake his hand, his toothy grin appears.
“I’d like to volunteer as tribute to be your roommate. You can sleep in my bed.”
Everyone in the room snickers.
I look at him, unsure if he is kidding or not. When he winks, I realize I’m in way over my head in my new living arrangements.
“With me, of course,” he adds. “But I won’t touch you.”
Evan places my boxes on the floor and slaps the six-foot-something hockey player over the head. “I told you guys to be fucking normal. She’s my sister.”
“Be normal?” Another hockey player replaces Taylor, slipping in front of me quickly. He smiles and shows off his missing tooth. “How can we be normal with someone this gorgeous standing in front of us?”
Most girls would have giggled and blushed.
But I’m not a normal girl.
“She was just cheated on. Cut the shit.” Another guy pushes Toothlessaway and rolls his eyes. “I’m Sullivan.”
His hands land on my shoulders, and I’m suddenly being pulled into his hard chest. His hug is nice, but I don’t wrap my arms around his waist because, to be honest, I’m a little thrown off balance.
My world has shifted dramatically over the last week. I’m damn good at dodging the punches, but right now, I’m tired.
So fucking tired.
Evan leans in. “We call him Sully because, well, he looks like a monster, but he’s actually the nicest of us all.”
“Including you?” I peer through my thick eyelashes. “Because not many people would let a Davis live in their house on a moment’s notice.”