Page 46 of The Puckable Playbook

Not this again. I shouldn’t have told Adam what I think of Mr. Super Editor Douchebag because the asshole keeps bringing it up. “Listen, I’m fine.”

His gaze bores into the side of my face, but I don’t give him the satisfaction of looking up at him because‘I’m fine’is an utter lie. It’s Adam’s fault. He texted the team group chat almost a week ago with a pic of Clark and Len at the coffee shop. Before she even got home, I knew she’d gone on her first date with Clark. I also knew that he’d made fun of her for what she looked like at the game.

Adam putting Clark on blast in the group chat was like hanging up a wanted poster with his face on it. The team and I are watching him very closely.

Len endeared herself to my teammates when she was such a good sport at the last game alongside my parents. They took to her immediately. Like big brothers, response after response to Adam’s callout were all colorful ways to say they’d kick his ass.

We don’t play around when it comes to one of our own.

“You should talk to her.”

“I can’t butt into her life like that.” No one on the team knows that I’m her dating coach. I practically pushed her to get the guy. Hell, I’m the one who told her to ask him out, to flirt. Truthfully, I wasn’t sure she had it in her. I thought she’d figure this guy out before it got this far.

Now, how am I supposed to tell her she’s making a huge mistake?

Coach blows the final whistle, and I follow the guys into the locker room after slapping their hands one by one. When Coach goes into the office, I pull a freshie aside and tell him he needs to be more aggressive. He skates like a dream in practice, but he’s tentative during games, and he’s not getting many minutes because of it. If he wants to play more, he needs to impress Coach when it counts.

He nods, slapping my shoulder. When I turn, Adam’s in a hushed conversation with Jonesy, a sophomore. He sees me heading back over, and he turns Jonesy’s shoulders to face me.

“Oh, hey,” Jonesy says, shifting on his feet.

Adam smirks, shucking off his gear before leaving for the showers.

“’Sup?” I ask, getting my bag out of the locker.

“A few of the guys and I were wondering about Len…”

“What about her?” I shut the door a bit too hard.

He stares at it, and Adam’s voice comes wafting toward us from God knows where, like he’s narrating this from some unseen place. “Say it.”

Jonesy sighs. “A few of us were wondering if she’s available?”

“Excuse me?”

He wipes his hands down the pads at his thighs. “We weren’t sure if you were interested. She was sitting with your family in the stands and she’s your roommate, yet she’s dating this other guy. We don’t want to step on toes, but we could give her some other options to get this douche away from her.”

I blink, suddenly wishing I was suited up because I’d check this guy into the lockers for even thinking about Len that way. “You want to date her?”

“She’s got this sexy librarian thing going on.”

I look around, noticing some of the other guys are peering our way. I swear to God, they’re like vultures. “She’s off-limits,” I snap before I even realize what I’m saying.

He brings his hands up in front of his chest. “Okay. We’re cool. We just wanted to know.”

He walks away, and I stare at the ground. Len would kill me if she knew I did that. Jonesy will put the word out that she’s mine, and it’ll only take a few minutes for this to travel through the whole team. If they were protective over her before, they’ll be doubly so now.

She’s off-limits.

I don’t know what came over me. I grab my bag and turn toward the exit, my mind a whir of so many things. I had nogrounds to claim her at all, but for some reason, it feels more than right.

Fuck. How did this happen?I meander in the direction of Knightley, not sure what to do about Len. As observant as she is, she’ll know the guys are acting differently toward her. A couple of days ago, she mentioned they were extremely nice to her, initiating conversation and greeting her in the hallway. One of them might even say something about this to her now.

Shit.

I march up Knightley’s steps, stomach flipping. Fishing out my key, I place it in the lock and twist once I get to our suite but realize it’s already open. I enter and hear a giggle. For a moment, I smile, thinking Len is up to something, but when I close the door behind me and walk down the hall, she jumps up from the couch and smooths her shirt.

The tool is with her, and the smile drops off my face.

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