Page 60 of Blocked Score

“No spoilers, bro,” I tell him.

“I’d never spoil a show as good asLie to My Heart. You know me better than that, Captain.”

If I ever admitted how glad I am that Tuck and Sebastian leave to give Scarlett and me alone time to watch the show, they’d be ragging on me for the rest of my life.

But I am glad. I like this to just be something Scarlett and I do together. Just our thing.

I find myself hoping that this show has lots of episodes.

We finish the episode Scarlett fell asleep during and then watch the next three before Scarlett concedes with a groan that she needs to start working on an essay for her English class.

I’m scrounging in the kitchen for a snack when I hear Sebastian walk up behind me. A residual pang of the protectiveness I felt seeing him shirtless next to Scarlett pulls in my chest.

I feel the square above my nose crinkle as my brows draw together of their own accord.

I turn to Sebastian, crossing my arms in front of me. “Sebastian, we should talk.”

Sebastian pours himself a glass of orange juice, unfazed. “Yeah, go ahead.”

“We have a female roommate now.”

He quirks an eyebrow at me. “Uh. Yeah. I’m aware.”

“So, we shouldn’t make her uncomfortable. By that I mean, we should wear shirts around the house. And not walk around naked. And definitely not flirt with her, or even say anything that might be misconstrued as flirting. And definitely, we shouldn’t even think about hooking up with her. I’m not saying you are, but just in case. We need to make sure we’re treating her like one of us, so she feels at home, but at the same time respectfully, soshe isn’t uncomfortable. So, like, if you have a thing for her, it wouldn’t be cool to act on it, you know?”

Holy shit, I’m totally rambling. The words are just flying out of my mouth, each one of them dripping with my own insecurities.

Sebastian’s expression is blank for a couple seconds as he looks at me. Then, he throws his head back and laughs.

Peals of laughter continue to flow from his open mouth as he leans against the kitchen island, like I’ve just told the most hilarious joke imaginable.

“Oh, man,” Sebastian says, taking a deep breath to steady himself and wiping a tear of laughter from the corner of his eye. “I mean, I like Scarlett. She’s hot, and she’s a cool girl. But you?” His eyes take my measure, and he laughs again. “You’re screwed.”

He shakes his head wryly while he clasps my shoulder walking past. “Don’t worry, bro. I’ll keep my shirt on.”

29

LANE

“You realize if Coach saw you, he’d shove that bun up your ass, right?” I say to Tuck while he hands over three dollars in exchange for a hot dog from the vendor in the arena hallway.

Tuck rolls his eyes as he slathers the hot dog with ketchup, mustard, and relish. “Hey, I ate the fuckin’ whole grain pasta, and I’m still hungry. I can’t perform on the ice with my stomach rumbling.”

Lately, Coach has been insisting that on game day, instead of having lunch before we show up at the rink, we all eat a nutritionally maxed-out meal that team staff prepares for us at the arena before we get changed.

“You could have seconds of the pasta,” I offer as an alternative solution to Tuck stuffing his face with the unhealthiest food you can imagine before we hit the ice.

“Yeah, and I could stick my dick in an electric socket.”

Tuck opens his mouth wide for the Coach-unapproved cheat meal, but he stops when his gaze catches on something down the hall.

“Damn,” he drawls. I follow his eyes and notice Olivia, Summer, and Scarlett approaching. “I’d like to put this hot dog down and eat you instead,” he says to Olivia.

Olivia rolls her eyes and gives him a light, playful kick in the shin. “Easy, tiger.”

“Hey, Lane,” Summer says to me, beaming her usual smile. “Hudson around?”

I nod backward. “Yeah, he’s in the catering room.”

---