Page 7 of What Are the Chances
Though not for the reason my friends had assumed.
Levi shifted from foot to foot, like he was full of nervous energy. With a groan, I returned the barbell to the rack and sat up. He clearly had something else he wanted to say.
“Spit it out, Holloway.”
Not one to backdown from confrontation, Levi got right to it.
“Your passing has been stiff and your skating isn’t as smooth as normal.”
I swallowed. “Did Coach say that?”
“No. But I’m sure he’s noticed. As your captain, I wanted to reach out first.” Levi’s tone softened, so did his expression. “But as your best friend, I’m suggesting you loosen the reins a little. Have a night out. Meet a girl. Get your rocks off. Whatever you need to do. Just take a load off for a beat.”
I laid back down, snickering as I did. “You’ve had a girlfriend for all of two months and suddenly you’re the expert at dating advice?”
Levi tightened his hands on the barbell, preventing me from picking it up. “Firstly, three and a half months. And secondly, if I was struggling on the ice I’d expect you to call me out on it.”
My chest heaved up and down as I exhaled slowly. He was probably right. I’d been pretty tense about hockey this season. My entire life really.
Levi was a natural. He could slack off on the ice or miss practices entirely and still kill it in game time. And while I was good too, my success came from hard work. From staying out that bit later than every other kid. Or waking up a bit earlier. Or getting in extra ice time.
Hockey had always come first to me. I’d missed out on things because of it. I’dlostthings because of it. This close to my life goal, my priorities weren’t going to change now.
CHAPTER FIVE
Will fucking Caufield
RILEY
I had my back to the door when I heard it open. Voices floated into the room. I could make out Grace’s accent straight away.
“Hello?” she called out.
“Just a second.”
I powered down my laptop then stepped around the partition that gave the therapy bed privacy.
“Hey,” I greeted. “Right on time. I was just–”
My words lodged in my throat. Not because of Grace, or her beautiful friend with auburn hair, or even Tripp O’Connor – but because of Will fucking Caulfield.
He stopped in his tracks at the same moment I choked on my words. It’d been almost three years since I’d seen Will Caufield, at least in person. I couldn’t avoid the pictures of him plastered around campus, or the videos of him and his teammates on the Phil-U socials, but I generally did my best to dodge social scenes that related to the hockey team. Particularly this player.
I hid my shaky hands on my hips, attempting to steady them.
He couldn’t be Grace’s boyfriend, could he? I mean, of course he could. She was beautiful and nice, the type of girl a guy like him ended up with. But man, the universe had to be irrevocably messing with me.
Tripp snickered. “Oh shit.”
Will not so subtly shoved Tripp’s shoulder.
Grace picked up on the tension. “Is something wrong?”
Tripp danced his hand between Will and me. “Yeah. These two used to fuck.”
At least time hadn’t changed him. Tripp O’Connor seemed exactly how I remembered. Tall, fair-haired. A comedian still apparently.
I finally found my voice. “Date is probably a better word,” I supplied.
