Page 33 of Ice Cold Heart
“Kelly specifically told you to stop with the junk food,” I reminded him.
He swallowed and pointed the half-eaten pastry at me. “Look, the only time I’m going to listen to someone telling me what to eat is if they’re naked and covered in peanut butter.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose and set the foil packet on the kitchen table. “Our nutritionist is not part of the menu.”
Reece very carefully didn’t say anything.
I groaned. “Don’t tell me you banged the nutritionist.”
He grinned. “Okay.”
“Dammit Reece, she’s a professional. She works for the school. Don’t you have any boundaries?”
His grin dimmed a little. “Guess not. What time is Coach’s daughter coming over tonight again?”
“Her name is Avery.”
“Mhmm,” he agreed. “And you’re going to fuck her. Don’t lie to me. I saw the way you were looking at her today.”
“It’s not the same,” I growled.
“It is to me. Kelly had fun, and we’re still on good terms. Which of us is freaking out because his dick might ruin his future?”
I needed to change the subject before I did something I’d regret like take a swing at him. “Thanks for the advice. You heading out again tonight?”
Reece eyed me for a long beat, then set his food down. “Yeah, party at Kappa. I thought I’d drag Mase along, give you plenty of time to study.”
“It’s working, you know,” I said quietly.
Instantly, the tension drained from his stance. “I’m glad, man.” He leaned back to stare at the ceiling and sighed. “Sorry for being a prick.”
“Everything okay?”
“Yeah, just feeling restless.” With a dry laugh, he met my gaze again. “Nothing some time with the lovely ladies at Kappa house won’t fix. I’m going to take a nap before I head out. Let me know if you need me to hang after all. My offer to be your buffer still stands.”
Guilt hit me for ragging on him about Kelly. They were both adults, and Reece knew what he was doing. He didn’t need me to parent him, or worse, judge him.
I stopped him before he could leave the kitchen. “I’m sorry too. Who you sleep with is none of my business.”
Reece sent me a wicked grin. “No sleeping involved, but maybe think twice before you use treatment room four.”
He laughed at my cursing as he bounded up the stairs. Honestly, it was a miracle Reece hadn’t gotten himself suspended with his antics. Gavin usually kept an eye on him, but I doubted he knew about treatment room four. Reece had gone out every night this week, which was excessive even for him.
All of us were on edge, though. We were only a few weeks away from making the playoffs, and I couldn’t fault him for needing a release. I usually went home when the pressure got this high, but the damn lit class got in the way. Then again, if I’d gone home, I wouldn’t have run into Avery in the library.
Coach might have still tried to coerce her into tutoring me, but without the initial introduction, she probably would have blown me off. And here I was freaking out because I couldn’t keep my hands off her.
I shook my head and started loading dishes into the dishwasher. Maybe I needed a release too. Not the Avery kind, but something to take my mind off all the ways I could fuck this up.
Henry waddled back into the kitchen, her conversation apparently done, and quacked at me. I dried my hands, then picked her up.
“Hey, baby girl. Want to watch some Next Best Ninja?”
She wiggled her tail and head-butted my shoulder. A definite yes. I carried her upstairs, and she snuggled down in the blanket I left for her on the bed. Next Best Ninja was on hiatus until February, but I had no problem rewatching old episodes. Henry would be asleep in minutes anyway.
If I didn’t know better, I’d think she was part cat. She liked to swim in the bathtub each morning, but other than sticking her face in the water every time we washed dishes, she was mostly a land bird. I blamed Eva because none of the ducks on Grandpa’s farm acted like a pampered princess.
The reminder of my family and the time I was missing with them tanked my mood. We weren’t big on holidays necessarily—Grandpa liked to say a farmer didn’t get days off—but Kate and Mom always put up a tree and made a feast for Christmas. This would be the first year I missed it.