Page 15 of Play Maker

“Fucking right we will,” Silas bit out and stormed down the hallway.

“Don’t forget about the party!” Finn called out.

Silas replied with the tried-and-true ‘fuck off’ hand gesture.

“I’ll talk to him,” Finn assured us and took off after Silas.

“You don’t make a lot of friends, do you?” Jace snarked.

I stepped towards him, but he didn’t back up. Not one freaking inch. This close, I noticed that his eyes were more hazel than brown, with specks of green, and surrounded by lashes that were almost too thick to be real. And since when did I give a shit about anyone’s eyes? Jesus Christ, I was hallucinating from dehydration or something. I needed carbs, preferably in the form of pizza and beer, and I needed them now.

“I might be blunt, but at least I don’t treat people like shit,” I bit out.

“What the fuck are you talking about?”

“Don’t play innocent with me,” I snapped. “You’re Mr. Popularity here at Sutton, but students here don’t really know you, do they?”

“Are you sure you didn’t hit your head in the game today?” Jace bit back, his cheeks flushed. “Because you’re not making any goddamn sense.”

“I don’t have time to stand here and argue with a two-faced narcissist,” I hissed.

“Well, you sure as fuck have to play with him and, FYI, I’m talking about you,” Jace sneered. “I’m anythingbuttwo-faced and look who’s talking about narcissism? You’re too good for anyone here at Sutton, including the team. You’ve been here since September, and you’ve barely made any effort to get to know your teammates. The fuck is that? Maybe if you pulled that elite hockey stick out of your ass, and learned how to use it properly, you’d have a chance at being a decent personandplayer.”

“You want to talk about decent? How about?—”

“Hey!”

Jace and I turned to find Coach Banning standing outside his door, arms crossed, scowl in full effect.

“What the hell, guys? I can hear you from my office!” he bellowed. “What did we just talk about?”

And I thought we were loud.

“Sorry, Coach,” we replied at the same time.

“Sorry is an empty word in this case. Remember what I said. We work together or we don’t work at all.”

Banning turned on his heel and went back into his office. When he slammed the door, I jumped. Hey, in the narrow hallway, the sound was really fucking loud. I had to get out of here. I needed food and I needed a drink. Several drinks.

“Scared?” Jace quipped. “Going to call Mommy and Daddy so they can yell at the coach for you?”

“You think you’re so clever,” I sneered. “But you don’t know shit.”

I stalked off, and didn’t look back. If I did, I’d probably either heave my guts out or walk back and punch Jace in the face. Either way, I couldn’t afford to go there. And I didn’t know how the hell I was going to do this. My parents would be laughing their asses off if they could see me now. The ‘I told you so’s would never end. Calling them? I’d rather practice with Jaceevery day than do that. Was transferring schools a mistake? In my gut, I knew the answer was no, but the nagging self-doubt kept creeping up.

Then I thought about my freshman year at Langston. Everyone seemed friendly but that’s just because of my family history with the school. I didn’t make any real friends there. Just people who invited me to stuff, and who wanted an invite in return. Or an introduction to my parents, and their circle. That’s how the one percent operated.

I never fit in there. And I wasn’t going back.

CHAPTER 7

JACE

LATER THAT NIGHT

Not even the oblivion of a shitload of beer and vodka shots could erase Axel Lund or today from my head. And, of course, hehadto show up to the goddamn party. I thought for sure he’d slink back to the dorm and stay there, but nope, he was here, sitting in the corner with Colin and Ethan, surrounded by several beautiful girls all vying for his attention.

Not that I was doing badly myself. I’d already made out with Hailey, one of my classmates. She wanted to go back to my room and fuck, but I wasn’t feeling it. We’d had sex a few times and it was fun, but she was always hinting at more. No way did I want to give her the impression that I was looking for a relationship. Then her friend Tyson flirted with me and suggested all three of us go back to his room, together. He was a sexy guy with pouty lips and a confident air, but I wasn’t interested in a threesome either.

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