I shake my head. “Nah, Coach. Just waiting on Van.”
Anderson nods. “He’s upstairs with the freshmen, I bet.”
He holds open the door and we both file out. There’s no real reason for either of us to be in there by ourselves, let alone together. Anderson heads back to his own office and shuts the door. This is the part where I should head upstairs to find Van or wander out to the weight room to start my warmup. Instead, I turn toward Maggie. “Tell me you don’t think I’m the kind of asshole who brags about his sexploits in the locker room,” The fact that she might think so little of me stings more than it probably should.
“I don’t think you are,” she says evenly. “But I’ve been wrong before.”
“And you’re wrong now if you even think for a second that I’d do that to you,” I say, turning toward the stairway.
“Wait—” she says, and I don’t know if it’s the crack in her voice or the fact that I couldn’t really walk away from her no matter how much I want to, but I stop in my tracks.
“What do you need, Maggie?” I ask, the question loaded.Whatever it is, I’ll fucking make it happen, even if it means staying away from her forever.
She bites down on her bottom lip. “I…for what it’s worth, I wish things were different. That we could explore this thing between us.”
Her words make things better and worse. “Why can’t we? I know, I know. But let’s take Coach out of this for a second, okay? You said you don’t date, but what if?—”
“What if we did the whole friends-with-benefits thing?” she asks, the words tumbling out of her mouth in a hopeful heap.
That’s not at all where my mind was headed, but I’m not stopping her now.
“It makes sense, right? I mean, we are friends. And we like each other’s, um, benefits. And it’s what people do, right? Viv’s a pro, I’m pretty sure, and she highly recommends it.”
“You like my benefits, huh?” I ask, because I can’t resist.
“So much. And you like mine?”
“Way more than I fucking should,” I answer.
“So…okay. We’ll be each other’s secret situationship,” she says, biting her lip. “It’s decided. Should we shake on it or something?”
The wordsecretjumps out at me and flashes in neon colors. I hate it, and I need to tell her that. But if I do, this is all over. For whatever reason, secrecy is a dealbreaker for her, so if I want this, I need to go along with it…for now, at least.
“No handshake necessary,” I say, letting my lips ghost over her for just a second. It’s dangerous as hell, and it flies in the face of everything we just agreed to, but I can’t stop myself.
There’s a squeak on the stairs and I glance over just in time to see the heel of Van’s white sneaker pivot in the other direction.
Maggie touches her finger to her lips, blissfully unawarethat my teammate just saw us. I’d trust that guy with my life, so I don’t mention it.
“We’re really doing this?” she asks, her voice low.
I hear the locker room door open in the distance, so I take a few steps away from her instead of answering. When Ollie calls my name, I walk away from Coach’s office like I was never there in the first place. But before I join the guys for a workout, I grab my phone.
JT: We’re really fucking doing this.
CHAPTER 22
MAGGIE
Sneaking around is not asfun or as easy as I thought it might be.
It’s only been a week since we agreed to a secret situationship, and I just don’t know how Viv does it. Maybe the fact that her arrangement with Jake is out in the open makes things easier? I’ll have to text her later and ask. Since she’s on the cheer squad, football season keeps her pretty busy. They’re at an away game in North Carolina this weekend, or else I’d have dragged her along to this fundraiser as my date.
Because I really wish Viv were here to distract me now…
The hockey program has thrived under Uncle Hudson’s coaching, which translates to donors, I guess. The events center on campus is decked out in Bainbridge burgundy and silver and guys with tuxes on are circulating throughout the room with champagne. There are multiple food tables and lots of little seating arrangements. It’s the perfect setting to rub shoulders and mingle if that’s what you’re into.
I am decidedly not, but I had to come and support my uncle. Plus, I love an excuse to get dressed up, especially in clothes that are mine. Nothing on my body came from Viv’s closet, but I have to admit that this little red dress is a smidgetighter than when I wore to a winter formal last December. My boobs aren’t necessarily spilling out the top like they did in Viv’s dress, but the cleavage is strong in this one, let’s just put it that way. My strappy gold heels give me an extra three inches, but that’s hardly enough to see over the heads in this crowd. I knew hockey was popular, and I knew the team had a great season last year, but wow. There are tons of people here tonight, but that doesn’t mean I didn’t spot JT the minute I walked in.
