I just laugh. “Poor bastard. How awful it must be to prance around half naked, be adored by a roomful of college students, and then have to take a sorority girl on a date. Oh, the agony.”
Viv sets her cup down, and her expression turns serious. “It might actually be agony. I know Lauren and she’s student teaching this semester. I wouldn’t be surprised if she just hands him a stack of papers and makes him grade a bunch of essays written by fifth graders.”
I grimace. “In that case, poor bastard.”
“Yeah, but he didn’t get the worst of it. No doubt Laurenis using him, but at least her intentions are good. I can’t say the same for the rest of the Sig Delts.”
She takes another sip of coffee, as I hang on to her every word. I want no part of drama. I had enough of that last year. But will I listen to other people’s drama? Absolutely.
“So, I don’t know if they saved the best for last or what. I mean, like I said, all the hockey guys are pretty hot. Even that one who looks like a giant teddy bear. Big burly guys are not my catnip, but no self-respecting straight girl on this campus would turn down a date with Pete Santos.”
“Pete’s the one they saved for last? What did the sorority girls do with the teddy bear?”
Viv shakes her head. “No, they saved Mickey for last.”
“Mickey?” I ask. “Does he look like a mouse?”
My best friend snorts with laughter. “Not at all. He’s tall and lean and delicious-looking. But that’s not his claim to fame.”
“Does he do cartoon voices or something? Does he have season passes to his namesake’s amusement parks? I’m missing something here. What makes him the best?”
“Well…word on the street is that the man is walking around with a freaking third leg, if you know what I mean,” she says with an exaggerated wink.
But I don’t know what she means. “Wait. How can he play hockey with three?—”
Viv sighs before finishing her coffee. “They call him Big Dick Mick for reason, ok? From what I hear, the man is packing serious heat. Anyway, a couple Sig Delt sisters bid on him, and that in and of itself wasn’t a huge deal. He went for the highest price of the night, so it’s not shocking that a couple girls pooled their money together. But…Mandie, one of our tumblers, lives next to the Sig Delts. Mickey has a reputation for being just as talented off the ice as he is on it, and Mandie said that she heard that the sisters were going to take turns finding out if the rumors were true.”
I blink. I don’t think of myself as a prude, but I also can’t see myself bidding on a guy and then sharing him with a bunch of my friends. But, if they’re all consenting adults, it’s none of my business.
“I’m telling you, you missed out,” she singsongs.
As if he can sense when Viv’s out of coffee, Theo swings by our table and drops off a fresh latte for her. “Hey, Maggie. Can I get you more hot chocolate?”
“Oh, no. But thank you. And?—”
Before I can dig out my wallet and pay him for my drink, Viv’s telling him I need a fresh cup. He’s totally nonplussed by her bossiness. He just nods and goes right back to work.
“Maggie, we don’t turn down free beverages,” she admonishes.
She makes a good point. Viv hustles up to the counter while my mind wanders back to what she was saying about the bachelor auction. The whole time my bestie was raving about the guys on stage, I couldn’t help but picture JT up there in all his muscled, tattooed glory. That will have to remain a fantasy, though. I’m not like those Sig Delt sisters. I’m not going after what I want, no matter how badly I want it.
But boy, do I want it.
CHAPTER 18
JT
“Okay,so I’ll finish up the citations and make sure the formatting’s right. And you can finish the slide notes. Sound good?”
I lean back against the flattened cushions of this lumpy, second-hand couch. “Yeah, that works for me. I’ve got training in the morning and practice after class, but I’ve got some time in the middle of the day tomorrow, so we’ll be good to go for class on Friday.”
“Yep. We’ll ace the presentation and then you guys will bring us a win to start the season off right. No pressure, of course,” he says with a laugh.
I power down my laptop and nod at my assigned partner. Theo’s a good guy and a hard worker, so I have no complaints. Sociology might just be the academic highlight of my week. I may not be the most extroverted guy, but I’m a born observer, and Soc takes people watching to a whole new level. Theo might be even less of a joiner than I am, but his job at the coffee shop forces him to be social and I know he’s seen some weird shit from the patrons of Drip. Hell, I bet half his best work stories come courtesy of my teammates.
I’m zipping my bag and getting ready to head back to the hockey house when Randall, Theo’s roommate, walks in
“You guys done studying yet?” he asks, setting a case of beer on the coffee table before tapping out a message on his phone. “I’m having some friends over. You should hang out with us. It’s nothing big, just a low-key thing.”
