Ruthless Player: A College Hockey Romance (Westfall U Series)

by R. C. Stephens

  I rub my temple as I walk through the kitchen door.

  “Good morning, sunshine,” Declan says. He’s Cole and Wolfe’s other housemate.

  “Why are you so cheery?” I grumble, making my way to the fridge.

  “Because I drink all the time, and then I wake up and have my special shake and I’m like new. Wanna try some?” He lifts the blender jug filled with a creamy green liquid inside and I heave.

  I run for the back door and slide it open in time to vomit on the grass. Shit! That is disgusting. I feel gross. What the hell possessed me to drink so much? The last thing I remember is doing the slip and slide while piggybacking on Cole.

  I walk back into the kitchen.

  “That bad, huh?” Declan says. “Here it’s the last one.” He passes me a fruit punch Gatorade. Now that I’ve vomited, I actually feel a little better.

  I twist off the cap and drink the cool beverage. It feels so good going down my throat that I can’t stop drinking. I take gulp after gulp.

  “You may want to slow down,” Declan warns.

  I shake my head and take a brief pause. “This is perfect,” I say, and then I continue to down the bottle.

  I finish and gasp for air.

  “You’re a mess,” Declan declares.

  I look down at myself covered in dirt and grass. He’s right. I see my reflection in the kitchen window and even my hair is matted and standing up.

  “So you and Cole, huh?” he says.

  That’s when my heart ricochets.

  “What, no?” I ask with a poor attempt at hiding the fear in my voice.

  “Don’t deny it,” he says.

  “I’m not denying. Nothing happened,” I state, trying to keep my tone even.

  “Right, you two were practically humping each other as he carried you up the stairs,” he says.

  “Declan,” I gasp. “I don’t remember any of it.”

  He gets a deer in the headlights look on his face. “Shit,” he mumbles.

  “Right.” I rub my temples.

  He walks over to a cabinet and takes out a bottle of acetaminophen. “Take two of these, pronto.”

  I fill my empty Gatorade bottle with water from the kitchen sink and I down two pills.

  “Did anyone else see me and Cole?” I ask Declan.

  He laughs. “What kind of question is that? You guys were totally about PDA, the whole party saw you.”

  I curse under my breath.

  “Did Rebel and Wolfe?” I ask, whispering.

  He shakes his head. “Those two ran off midway through the party and had their own private fuckfest.”

  I blow out a breath. Okay, this isn’t so bad. I’m pretty sure Cole and I made it upstairs and basically passed out.

  “Please don’t mention it to them.”

  “Yeah, sure your secret is safe with me and the other fifty people who were here, but I can promise you they won’t hear about it from me,” he vows lifting his right hand.

  “Thank you,” I say, but I don’t feel relieved.

  Elle saunters into the kitchen. Her blonde hair askew, but at least she’s doing better than I am because she is wearing a T-shirt and shorts.

  “What the fuck,” she says when she takes me in. “You look like Swamp Thing.”

  “Uh, thanks,” I say.

  Declan bursts into laughter.

  “This isn’t funny,” I whine, but the more I see how ridiculous I look, I can’t help it and laughter builds inside me until I am laughing hysterically. Elle is laughing hard too and watching her laugh makes me laugh more. Is it possible I am still drunk?

  It takes time for our laughter to die down. My belly hurts from laughing so hard. When we fall quiet Elle leans into my ear. “So you and Cole?”

  “What?” I feel my eyes pop. “No. No, that was nothing.”

  “Yeah, right.” She nudges me with her shoulder. “Spill it, girlfriend. Are the legends about his cock true?”

  Declan hisses beside me since he’s clearly heard her.

  “No. . .no. . .I-I wouldn’t know. Honestly,” I stutter.

  She rolls her eyes like she doesn’t believe me. “Whatever.” She walks over to a cabinet and takes a glass and fills it with water from the sink.

  “Yay to margarita night,” Rebel says from behind me. I turn around and her gasp is so loud I flinch. “What happened?” She palms her chest and her voice is mega high-pitched.

  I wince and freeze. What do I say? How can I explain my lack of inhibitions last night, other than I was feeling trapped in my life and needed to let loose.

  “OMG. Are you okay?” My best friend walks over to me and looks me over from head to toe, but she does it with microscopic precision.

  “I may have had a little too much to drink. I did the slip and slide one too many times and got a little dirty. That’s all.” I shrug it off as if I don’t look like Swamp Thing.

  From off to the side Elle watches us and mutters, “And she slept with Cole Davis.”

  “I did not,” I retort quickly, knowing I probably sound like a small child. My face scrunches with disgust as I look at Elle. Liar, liar, pants on fire.

  Rebel’s jaw drops. “Is that true?”

  I can’t lie to my best friend. No, I’ve never lied to my best friend.

  I lean into her ear. “I actually don’t remember.”

  Rebel’s eyes go from round to popping. She is looking at me like she doesn’t know me.

  “Shit,” she says.

  “I really don’t think we did anything but I would rather not talk here,” I whisper, because we have an audience. I don’t want to risk Declan getting into a rendition on how I humped Cole up the stairs.

  “Okay, so margarita night was a little too much fun. You should come over to my house and get cleaned up. I’ll give you some clothes. There’s no way you can go home looking like that,” Rebel says.

  She’s right. Chances are my dad isn’t home but Mary is, and she will be totally freaked if she sees me like this.

  I follow Rebel toward the door and she pauses, looking down at my feet. “Shoes?” her eyebrows rise up to her forehead.

  I bite my lip. “I don’t know where I left my flip-flops.”

  “Okay. I’m going upstairs to get you a pair of Wolfe’s shoes,” she sighs.

  “No, let me just drive barefoot to your place. It’s a two-minute drive. I’ll borrow a pair from you. Wolfe has huge feet,” I say.

  “Okay, but maybe I should drive,” she suggests. I know she hates driving, which means she must think I’m still drunk. Truth is, I’m not quite sure either.

  “Okay, but first we need to find my keys.” I wince.

  I’ve reached maximum capacity on shocking Rebel because she doesn’t flinch or wince, so we get down to business looking for my purse. I find one flip-flop by the slip and slide in the backyard and eventually we find my purse under a guy sleeping on the couch. He isn’t too happy about us moving him but he passes right back out, so it’s fine.

  I pass Rebel my keys and she drives my car back to her place.

  “We need to talk about what happened,” she says.

  “I honestly don’t remember. The last thing I remember was going on the slip and slide with Cole and having fun with Elle,” I recount, leaving out the part that I woke up naked in Cole’s bed.

  “So where did you sleep?” Rebel asks.

  Why did she have to ask that exact question? What do I say? There is no way I can lie to Rebel.

  “I- it was so much fun last night. Like, I don’t remember having that much fun… ever. Like, not even in high school when we went to the woods and did those bonfires,” I say, clearly talking out of my ass.

  “Holland, you barely had a beer at those things and left after an hour so you could go home and study. That wouldn’t be an example of fun,” she reminds me. “Now stop deflecting and tell me where you slept last night.”

  My face scrunches. Damn, she knows me too well.

  “You slept in Cole’s roo
m. Didn’t you?” she asks.

  I squint. “Maybe just a little.”

  “There is no such thing as just a little,” she says.

  “Fine.” I throw my hands up in the air and they land on my thighs. “I slept in Cole’s room and woke up naked in his bed, but I don’t think we did anything. We slept on top of the covers and he was sprawled on the other side of the bed. I think we just fell asleep,” I say.

  “Was there. . .you know. . . evidence?” she asks.

  “Of what?” I ask. “It wasn’t a crime scene,” I say quickly but then her meaning sinks in. Oh.

  “Condoms or something,” she elaborates.

  “Um. . .no condoms, no.”

  “Well, did you have jizz on you?” she asks, throwing out her hands at her sides. Seriously? This is getting weird.

  “Between the grass stains and mud, I can’t really tell. I think I have dirt in my ass crack.”

  “TMI.” She holds up her hand. “I wanted you and Cole to get along. He means a lot to Wolfe and you mean a lot to me. We want to be able to spend time with our best friends as a group and meaningless sex can ruin things.”

  “I know,” I say. “Things won’t be weird.”

  “Good,” she says and she side-eyes me. “I didn’t really want to bring it up, but the weekend is almost over and. . .”

  “What’s going on?” I ask.

  “Wolfe’s uncle from Cape Cod wants to take a trip to Europe, and he asked if Wolfe and I could come down there to run his garage and his bed and breakfast. He’s hiring me to run the B and B and Wolfe is working at the garage. The pay is great and he asked Wolfe if we could bring another two friends along to help. We have to work certain hours and keep the place clean and cook, but we get free room and board. Doesn’t it sound like so much fun?” she screeches.

  My head pulses.

  “Um, I start my internship in just over a week,” I answer.

  “I know, but I thought. . .I mean it’s only two weeks starting the second week of July. I mean, everyone deserves a vacation. Can’t you ask the doctor if you can take two weeks off? You’ll be there all summer. You work so hard and never take a break. This is a cost-free vacation. Please say yes. Please,” she begs. Rebel never asks me for anything. She is a selfless friend and this clearly means a lot to her, but I have a lot riding on this internship.

  “I need a shower and clean clothes, before I can think straight.”

  “Sorry. You’re right,” Rebel says and she pulls into her driveway.

  Rebel parks my car, and I get out holding my purse and wearing one flip-flop.

  We walk into the kitchen where Blossom is sitting, holding a cup of coffee and reading a magazine.

  She jumps when she sees me.

  “Keep your opinions on lockdown,” I warn.

  Blossom laughs but bites her lip to hide it. “Rough night?”

  “I don’t remember,” I say.

  “Damn, I’ve had those.” She winces. “Go get cleaned up and I’ll make you breakfast. The works.”

  “Thanks,” I say.

  I head upstairs and use the shower. I rack my brain trying to remember anything from last night, but it’s no use because I draw blanks. Even though I can imagine enjoying a night of sex with Cole. I do remember piggybacking him on the slip and slide and remembering the feel of his muscles under my fingertips gets my blood pumping.

  After my shower I put on the T-shirt and shorts Rebel left for me and head downstairs. Blossom has a table of pancakes, eggs, and sausages all lined up. My stomach grumbles at the sight.

  Rebel comes downstairs after she showered in Blossom’s room. We both eat like our life depends on it.

  “So about Cape Cod,” she says again.

  “I just don’t know,” I answer.

  “We could make good money and it would be so much fun.” Her voice is pleading, which is very unlike her. She really wants this. Hell I do need a break from my life.

  “Let me see if I can get a hold of the doctor I’m interning with. He has to agree to let me go,” I say. Who am I?

  “Yay,” Rebel cheers. “We are all going to have so much fun together.”

  “I’m guessing the other person you asked is Cole?” I raise my brows.

  She nods. “Is that okay?”

  Hell no, that would be mega awkward and I’d want to jump his bones, but I don’t say that out loud because it’s an awful idea and could be a potential cause of tension for Rebel and Wolfe, which I don’t want to cause.

  “Okay. Let me see what I can do and I’ll let you know,” I say because time on the beach to be free and not think sounds like heaven.

  We finish eating our breakfast and I thank Blossom and hug Rebel.

  As I leave her house, I wonder if I should contact Cole and see what he remembers. Nah! That’s a terrible idea. I don’t want the prick to think I’m hitting on him.

  Six

  Cole

  Granny Mae drives us straight from the airport to the country club. Not because she doesn’t want me tasting her home-cooked food but because it is her social hangout.

  “You must be famished,” she says as I sit across from her on the terrace. “Are you eating enough? With all the sports you play, it’s important to consume enough calories.”

  “I’m eating well. You know we take turns making dinner,” I say of me and my roommates, Declan and Wolfe. Well, maybe not so much Declan. Since he’s been MIA a lot.

  “Has Wolfe moved out?” she asks.

  “Not yet. He’s going to visit his uncle in the Cape for a couple of weeks and then it’s the official move to New York,” I explain.

  The waitress stops by our table and I order eggs Benedict. So does Granny Mae.

  “Good for him,” she says, since Wolfe was drafted and is now a center player for the Rangers.

  “Yeah,” I sigh.

  “You don’t seem happy,” she says her lips turning down.

  “Oh, I’m happy for him. It just sucks that he won’t be on the team or living with me and Dec. The two of us are going to turn that house into a pigsty,” I say.

  “You could always ask your father to send you a cleaning crew. And I’m sure the new chef he has would be delighted to deliver your meals. That way I wouldn’t have to worry how you’re getting by,” she suggests, taking a sip of her sweet tea.

  The waitress brings our order and my mouth waters.

  “I don’t want his help. I’ve been getting by just fine without him. Besides if I take the help, he’ll want me to work for him this summer, and it’s the last thing I want,” I murmur.

  “Would it be so bad working there? That company is your inheritance,” she reminds me.

  “You know I have no interest in running it. I just wish he could accept that I want to be a hockey player.”

  “That company is your family legacy,” she says frowning.

  “I don’t want to have anything to do with it. Dad needs to respect my wishes,” I respond. “Yeah, well good luck with that. I don’t know how your mother gave up on her legal career to be his side piece. I always hated that she did that.”

  “Because he only cares about what’s good for the company. Family be dammed,” I growl and then feel bad, even though my anger is not directed at Granny Mae. It’s my father that rattles my chains.

  “Your daddy loved your mother. It was her choice to give things up for him. We can’t judge her for that,” she points out. I know that’s true, but I also know how manipulative dad can be.

  “He’s just not going to control me,” I state.

  “Fair enough.” She nods. “Now tell me about your summer plans.”

  “Wolfe invited me to the Cape with him, I’m just not sure I want to go,” I say and I take a large bite of my eggs Benedict followed by a large gulp of sweet tea. “This is the stuff.”

  “Why aren’t you sure about going to Cape Cod? That sounds fun.” Her brows draw together and that crease appears. The one that tells me she is worried about my choices.<
br />
  “I would need to work at his uncle’s inn,” I say, because I am a spoiled asshole who hasn’t worked a day in his life. Unless one would consider what I do for hockey as work. I don’t.

  “That sounds nice and it’s good experience. Learn the value of a dollar before you decide to walk away from your family business.”

  “I’m thinking on it. I probably will go because I have nothing better to do,” I sigh.

  Granny Mae eats her food quietly, which makes me feel uncomfortable because she is never quiet. She is always talking or inquiring. It’s just who she is. I can’t say I mind because she is the only person I have real talks with.

  She eyes me, swallows her food, and watches me carefully as she uses her napkin to pat the corners of her mouth.

  “Why are you so quiet?” I ask.

  “I’m not quiet. I’m hungry,” she says. “It’s not polite to speak on a mouthful. Besides, you’re the one who’s being quiet.”

  I laugh.

  “Tell me something about your life. How is Wolfe and the new girlfriend?”

  “Not so new. They’re in love,” I say, blowing out a breath like it’s preposterous.

  “What?” she asks. “You don’t think they’re in love?” Her right brow curls.

  “Oh no, I definitely think they’re in love. I just don’t get it,” I explain and then I go back to eating, but Granny Mae just watches me so I say, “Your eggs will get cold.”

  She giggles. “Not in this sweltering heat. We should’ve taken a table indoors.”

  She’s right about that.

  “I can tell something is bothering you. You have this heaviness in your shoulders,” she says. “It isn’t Amber, is it? Because if it is, I may just give your father a call.” Her tone is rising and I hear her fierce need to protect me surfacing.

  “It’s not Amber,” I assure her.