Page 29 of Well That Happened

“No.” I cover my face. “But it got close. Closer than it should have.”

“And you’re not happy about this because…?”

“Because I have to live there,” I say. “It could get messy—the whole roommates thing.” And because of Hunter’s lecture…and because I’m pretty sure I have a growing crush on Grayson too.

She types something into her browser like I haven’t just revealed the beginning of my moral collapse.

“Okay, well I need faces. And stats. If I’m going to keep up with your spiral, I need a visual bracket.”

“Oh my God.”

She smirks. “You’re living in a romance novel. I’m just trying to cast the adaptation.”

A second later she’s on the university’s hockey site. “Here we go.Roster. Photos. Heights.Bless.”

I groan and sip my lukewarm coffee like it can drown my shame.

“Grayson Cole,” Lexi reads, scrolling. “Goalie. Age twenty-one. Six-foot-two. From Ontario. Probably doesn’t speak unless spoken to. Looks like he broods recreationally.”

“He does,” I mutter. “It’s… a lot.”

“He’s Tall, Dark & Doesn’t Talk. Got it.” She types something into a note labeledRilee’s Hockey Dilemma.“Or Emo Goalie Supreme, if you prefer.”

I bury my face in my hands.

“Next up—Hunter Maddox. Forward. Captain. Age twenty-three. Six-two. From Michigan. Scowls in his headshot like the camera owed him money.”

“He’s also the reason I’ve been on edge since moving in.”

“Oh, we know this one.” She grins. “This is Grumpy DILF Energy.”

I snort coffee up my nose. “Please stop assigning labels to the men I have to eat cereal next to.”

“I’m not assigning, I’m observing,” she says, all innocence. “Like a hot boy anthropologist.”

I can’t help laughing.

“And finally,” she says with a flourish, “Caleb Ward. Defenseman. Age twenty-two. Six foot one. Local boy. Looks like sunshine and orgasms.”

“Lexi.”

“What? I’m just saying—he’s got that ‘I make breakfast and eat you out’ energy.”

I put my head on the table. “There is somethingwrongwith me.”

“You kissed one guy, want to jump another, and have a soft-core crush on the third. Honestly? Iconic.”

“It’s not iconic. It’spsychotic.”

Lexi closes the laptop gently. “Okay. Real talk. Which one do you actually like?”

I exhale. “I don’t know. Caleb feels… real. Safe. Like someone I could actually build something with.”

“But?”

“But I can’t stop thinking about Hunter.” My voice goes quiet. “Even when he’s being a dick. Especially when he’s being a dick.”

Lexi raises a brow. “And Grayson?”

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