Page 27 of Blocked Score

“No, you didn’t,” Sebastian says, kneeling down to pick up one of Hudson’s boxes. “In fact, you told yourself and all of us that you were going to cry like a baby all day long.”

Tuck takes a deep breath. “It’s okay. I’ll be okay. Hud’ll let me sleep over at his and Summer’s place now and then, for old time’s sake.”

“No, I won’t,” Hudson grouses as he pads down the stairs, carrying his desk.

We’ve rented a small moving truck for the couple blocks’ journey to a tiny rowhouse that Hudson and Summer will be living in for this semester.

While I’m not as dramatic as Tuck, I feel a twinge of bittersweetness myself.

We’ll still be seeing Hudson at practice all the time, and I have no doubt we’ll still be hanging out regularly, but him moving out does feel like a premature foreshadowing of the end of an era that’s barreling toward us with graduation this May.

It’s an unseasonably warm day today. Okay, warm is a major overstatement. It’s more like an unseasonablynot quite freeze-your-balls-off coldday. But with no wind whipping through the air and the sun out in a clear blue sky, it’s at least comfortable enough for us to all take a break on the porch together after filling the truck before we drive over.

“So, any idea who’s gonna take my room yet?” Hudson asks, leaning against the carved wooden railing that lines the wide porch.

I shrug. “Nope. Jamie and Carter don’t want it. They like where they’re at now.”

Rhys cracks a beer since he’s not driving the truck and settles into a rocking chair underneath one of the front windows. “Seems like every single semester since Hudson moved in, one of us has gotten into a relationship. Wonder if him moving will break the streak.”

“I won’t be keeping it up, you can count on that,” Sebastian says, taking off his black-framed glasses and puffing on one of the lenses to buff out a smudge. “I enjoy my freedom too much. I enjoy it about every other night, in fact,” he adds with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

Tuck shakes his head. “That’s how I felt for a long time, kid. One day, you’ll trade it all for the right girl.”

Sebastian shrugs, hooking his glasses back over his ears underneath his thick, raven-black hair. “One day? Maybe. But not anytime soon.”

Hudson nods toward me, a rare grin tilting his lips. “What about our captain?”

I huff a laugh. “Yeah, right. I gotta readjust to the game after nine months off for an injury and steer the team to the Frozen Four win that none of us can accept graduating without.” I feel the unspoken assent from the other guys as intensity seeps into their gazes and they nod in agreement. “I’m not even gonna be hooking up until after the season.”

Suddenly, my eyes feel drawn to someone walking down the sidewalk a block away from the house. My gaze ticks to the figure—and it feels like a bolt of lightning slams into me.

Instantly, it’s like time stops. The breath catches in my chest. My eyelids can’t even blink.

My brain doesn’t accept what I’m seeing at first. It’s just too out of step with what I expect from reality, and I’m bowled overby the kind of dumb disbelief you might feel if you saw a tree pull itself out of the ground and walk away.

I gather enough control over my body to close my eyes. I press my eyelids firmly shut for two long seconds, and then I reopen them, my gaze trained the couple extra steps down the sidewalk where I know the figure will be.

It’s her.

There’s no mistaking it.

The fine hairs on the back of my neck pull straight up. An electric shiver rolls through my body.

The outlines of the ink engraved below my left armpit burn.

For the first time in a year and a half, I’m looking at Scarlett Astor.

“Who’s that? You know her?” Tuck’s voice is the first thing I hear through the indistinct buzzing in my ears.

I sense more than see Sebastian take a step toward the porch railing, leaning on it, his gaze pointed in the same direction as mine. “Haven’t noticedheraround before,” he says. The hint of interest laced through his voice is enough to bring a bitter taste to my mouth.

My eyes tick away from Scarlett to Sebastian. There’s a perked look on his face that matches the tone of his voice. My stomach twists unpleasantly, and an involuntary scowl pulls on my face while my jaw ticks.

Tuck’s neck is swiveling between me and Scarlett while she’s still in view. “What’s the deal between you two, Captain?”

“Deal?” My throat is sandpaper dry. “There’s no deal.”

“I’ve seen her around,” Rhys says casually. “She goes out with this guy on the basketball team.”

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