Page 21 of The Draft
“You know those guys live next to Laura, right? As far as football players go, they’re pretty decent. I doubt they were trying anything with Baby Bright. Besides, I hear they’re all interested in other people, anyway.”
I gave him a side glance.
“How do you know all this?”
“Heard them talking about it once when I was at Laura’s house.”
That made me pause for thought, and I whipped my head in his direction, studying his face. Nope, his nose wasn’t twitching, which was a usual sign of him lying. His lips were flat, and he was completely serious, which made no sense.
“Scotty, when have you ever willingly been invited to Laura’s house? I thought she hated you.”
His jaw tensed, and he stood up a little straighter because I’d caught him outright.
“She doesn’t hate me, and I haven’t exactly been to her house. I was just in that neck of the woods because I went to one of those football parties Aiden throws. Happened to walk past her as I was leaving.”
I narrowed my eyes, scrutinizing him with a side glare, but as per usual, he held still, never once faltering from what was clearly a lie. I needed totake notes because, apparently, he was much better at keeping secrets than I thought.
“Anyway, we aren’t talking about my terrible luck with Laura right now. We’re talking about what the hell is going on with you and Baby Bright.”
“And much like you avoiding the last question, I refuse to answer this one because there’s nothing going on.”
“You sure about that? Because it didn’t look like nothing when you lost all focus the minute she stepped into the arena just now.”
“Fuck. You noticed?”
“Everyone in practice noticed. We were shooting penalties at you. Why do you think Cade whacked you in the head with the puck? He wanted to get your attention on practice and off his little sister.”
“Fuck!” I said loud enough that the rest of the locker room quieted down. So much for being discreet. “Do you really think Cade noticed?” I asked with my head hung low as I cursed under my breath. Scotty nodded, and I desperately wanted to slam my locker shut, but I knew that would cause a scene, and I didn’t want to draw any more attention to myself.
“Shit. I bet Madison told him about the other night, too.” I mumbled more to myself than anything, but Scotty heard it.
“Oh no, Dash.” He dropped his head, pinching the bridge of his nose before he looked at me with disappointment. “Please don’t tell me you slept with Baby Bright?” His words were a sharp whisper because the room started to fill with the rest of the team. “Because that’s not a secret I want to have to keep.”
Scotty’s reaction was enough to confirm that my instincts were right. This entire thing was a bad idea.
He was still looking at me, waiting for a response but I immediately clamped my lips shut when I heard Cade’s booming voice filling the room. Scotty glared at me with urgency now, so I responded with a clenched jaw and a slow, steady shake of my head. It was the truth. I hadn’t slept with Madison. Had I thought about it? Multiple times and in multiple positions, but I liked to keep other people on a need-to-know basis.
“Whatcha’ guys talking about?” Cade snuck up on us, planting himself firmly between our shoulders. His eyes gleamed with amusement as he looked between Scotty and me, probably thinking we were talking aboutLaura.
“Nothing,” we both said too quickly to make it sound convincing.
“Ahh, don’t hold out on me.” He pointed his finger at me as a smile danced on his lips. “You’ve got that dazed look on your face that you used to get when you got a new hockey stick. Are you guys talking about the girl Dash hooked up with after The Draft?”
Scotty nearly choked on his own spit. His brows rose as he glared at me in shock and betrayal. “You brought a girl home?” I knew his mind was reeling because I just told him I hadn’t slept with Madison, but Cade’s response was giving him second thoughts.
“Nah, I was kidding. You know Dash. He’s too private to do anything in our dorms. He just walked into the common room with a delirious look in his eyes and cherry red lip gloss all over his face. I’m guessing most of the stuff went down at her place.”
“You went to a girl’s house?” Scotty replied more high-pitched and animated than necessary. I rolled my eyes, not sure how to answer any of this. “Is that the real reason you ditched me?”
“No.”
“Then whose lipstick were you wearing?” Cade asked.
Pressure was building in my chest because I had no idea what to do. Scotty was about ready to blow this secret out of the water, and I wasn’t ready to tell Cade the truth. So, I did the only thing I could think of.
“Party at ours!” I yelled, throwing a glance at the rest of the locker room.
Welp, that wasn’t entirely thought out. Everyone was looking at me. Mostly in confusion, because I wasn’t the type of guy to just suddenly initiate a party, especially since I had a broken door, but if a party was the only way to get me out of admitting anything happened with Madison, then we needed to have one.