Page 32 of Ice Cold Heart
After our first meeting, where we’d read together curled up on the couch, I’d understood the first third of the book enough to have a discussion with her. I hadn’t been able to do that since high school.
My actions in the hallway might have cost me the answer to passing this class. I needed to remember there were bigger stakes than Avery’s affections. If I failed again, I wouldn’t be able to play, wouldn’t be able to graduate, wouldn’t be able to look Grandpa in the eye when I slunk home with my tail between my legs.
Knowing all that, I wouldn’t change anything. I tossed my wet towel in the bin with more force than necessary and stomped back into the main locker room where my roommates waited.
Reece and Mase sat by their lockers, playing on their phones and completely ignoring each other. I slowed to a stop as I considered getting their advice. Avery would skin me alive if she knew I was talking about her to my teammates, even if they were also my best friends, but I was somewhat out of my depth with her.
Reece looked up from his phone in time to catch me staring at him. “What?”
Gavin would have been a better option, but I’d take what I could get. “Hypothetically, how would you deal with having feelings for someone who could destroy your future?”
Reece frowned. “I don’t understand the question.”
Mase snickered without looking up. “You don’t. If someone has the power to destroy your future, you get rid of them or find a way to take the power for yourself. You don’t get emotional.”
Both Reece and I turned to stare at Mase. Sometimes I wondered about his past, but he’d never volunteered the information. When Mase didn’t add anything else or acknowledge us, Reece stood and stretched.
“Look, Cole, no one has the power to destroy your future except you. What are you worried about?”
“I may have fucked things up with my one chance to pass this lit class.”
Reece nodded. “I assume this is about Coach’s daughter, so I’ll try to be specific.”
At Reece’s ridiculous nickname for Avery, Mase’s head jerked up and his intense blue gaze locked on me. “You’re fucking Coach’s daughter?”
Reece held up a finger. “Nope. You had your chance. I’m talking now.”
Mase snorted and went back to his phone, but his thumbs stopped moving on whatever game he was playing.
“Rule number one is to never get emotionally involved with someone you aren’t willing to go to the mat for. Rule number two is never get emotionally involved with someone who isn’t equally fucked up. Rule number three?—”
“Maybe it would be easier to just not get emotionally involved,” Mase interrupted.
Reece scowled. “That was rule number three. Thanks for stealing my thunder, asshole.”
Mase saluted him and stood, shoving his phone in his pocket. “Glad to help. We ready to go?”
Yep, should’ve held out for Gavin. Or Eva. She’d been inserting herself in her friends’ love lives for years. Neither of these assholes knew what to do with a girlfriend. Not that Avery wanted to be my girlfriend, but I’d settle for a hint of emotional investment.
Reece pushed through the door first, and Mase stopped long enough to send me a pointed look. “Take away her power.”
I shook my head and followed them to the car. Mase took the backseat, put in his earbuds, and stared out the window. Which left me the front seat and Reece’s questionable advice. He argued for the benefits of one and done the entire way home. Next time, I’d drive myself.
Henry met us as we came in, wiggling her tail, then ran straight for the back door, feet slapping the tile. Without Eva here, we didn’t have to trudge through the gate, so she had to wait for us to open the door for her. She’d been outside a lot lately, but as long as she was happy, I wasn’t going to limit her backyard time. I’d make sure to tell Eva when she got back though. Right after I asked her about Avery.
Mase disappeared down the stairs, and Reece and I shared a worried look. He was always worse around Christmas. We had another week before the holiday, but I wasn’t going to be the one to bring it up.
“Hey, baby girl,” Reece crooned at Henry, pulling strawberries out of the fridge. She quacked at him, then went back to staring a hole in the glass.
I chuckled and let her out, setting my gear on the back porch. “Looks like you’ve lost favor.”
Reece grunted, then joined me with his bag. “She’ll be back. Toss Mase’s stuff too. Eva will be back tomorrow, so we need to air this place out.”
Mase had gotten lazy about leaving his gear next to the front door, but Reece was right. Eva would make our lives hell if she came back and the living room smelled like hockey ass. She’d probably also give me bad advice on purpose.
I heaved Mase’s gear onto the porch and watched Henry chitter at the back fence. “What are you up to, silly duck?”
She ignored me, so I went back inside in time to catch the package of Pop-Tarts Reece threw at my head. He leaned against the counter with his ankles crossed and his mouth full.