Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 98487 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 492(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 98487 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 492(@200wpm)___ 394(@250wpm)___ 328(@300wpm)
When one of the guys winks at us, we both giggle as the guys then all flash us grins. “How many of those grins do you think are fake?”
I scoff. “None of them. They have to play with cages until they get into the AHL, so they still have all their teeth.”
At this point, Cameron is no longer impressed by my endless knowledge of hockey. Maybe a little last year, but this year, she expects me to be a know-it-all. Her blond hair is up in a messy, crooked bun as her brown eyes move along all the boys, and a little grin sits on her lips. “Well damn, that was my opening line,” she says with a wink, and I laugh. She uses people’s teeth for all her pickup lines. She’s here for her predentistry schooling before going off to big-girl dental school, with the end goal of becoming an oral surgeon. She told me on our first day of practice that she has been obsessed with teeth ever since she knocked most of hers out when she came down doing a double back on floor, hitting her mouth on her knees. Scared the living shit out of me since I’ve never done that, and that even made me change my pass from a double back to a double layout. Harder skill, but at least nothing is coming for my teeth.
I love Cameron, even if she is a bit kooky. I wouldn’t say we’re besties, but we’re close, and we have each other’s backs. I think she thinks we’re best friends, but no one can replace Aviva. No one. She’s the first person I text when I wake up and the last at night. I freak out, I call her. She is my person. My everything. I think Cameron knows that, though, and doesn’t expect much out of me. I mean, she knows me. But she doesn’t know, know me. She doesn’t know that Aviva almost died from cancer or that my dad is a drunk. She knows I don’t have a mom, but I don’t go into detail like you would with a best friend. Our relationship is very superficial, but it’s that way with everyone I know. I don’t really open up easily.
I almost did last year, though. Tommy Mavrich, he is a junior and a swimmer for the Bullies. Super hot, super funny, and a super-fun hookup. We dated for most of my freshman year, and I almost let him in, almost showed him all the trauma that has messed me up just enough to be really funny. But then he slept with a girl who swam for the girls’ team. She didn’t know about me and she apologized, but it wasn’t her fault. Hell, it may not have been Tommy’s.
I’m just really glad I didn’t tell him anything important. Plus, he didn’t like Vance. He said he wasn’t a baby person. But come on! Vance is the cutest baby ever! Oh, and Tommy didn’t like animals. Like, any animals. I should have known he was a dick.
Within seconds, though, Tommy is the last thing on my mind when I see the guy bringing up the rear of the hockey team. I’ve been watching these boys on all of their training camp runs, and I can pretty much describe tattoos and nipples at this point—but nothing, and I mean nothing, prepares me for who is running toward me.
“Good gravy, who is that? And thank you, Lord, thank you, for making shorts that short.”
Cameron is not wrong. Everything about him is strong. I can’t see his eyes or nose since his hat is so low. But that jaw. Whoa, talk about chiseled. He isn’t as defined as the other guys, but it’s just enough to make my mouth water. His thighs barely fit in the shorts he wears, and with each stride, I catch a peek of his stomach. His shoulders are wide, abundant with muscles. The shirt he wears is basically useless since it’s drenched with sweat, and across his chest, I can read a name.
Adler.
Holy. Fuck.
Before I can even process who I’m looking at, Cameron hollers out, “Hey, girls! Come check out the new hockey guy!”
Of course, the girls come running, but he pays us no mind. I don’t know if he heard us, but then, he is running to stay with the group and not flirt with us. His loss, of course, and mine. Then I notice the back of his shirt. RA, resident adviser. “He is their adviser,” I mutter, my jaw hanging open at the sight of him. I remember the first time I saw Evan and his twin brother, Owen. They had come to stay with us since the captain of the IceCats had just had a baby, but the moment they walked in and I set eyes on them, Nico was convinced I was going to give my body to both of them.