Page 25 of Off The Rush
“It’s getting late, and I don’t want you going home. I live right next door. Would you like to stay the night? I promise I won’t try anything,” Alec asks, drawing my attention back to him
I hesitate for a moment, considering the potential complications of spending the night at Alec’s place. I made a rule exactly for this situation but I still want to stay.
“Okay,” I agree softly, giving him a small smile. “Sure, I’ll stay.”
“Great,” he says, relief evident in his voice.
As the party winds down, Tessa pulls me aside to say goodbye. “Looks like I’m catching a ride with my new friend here,” she smirks. “Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do, Em.”
“Ha, that doesn’t really narrow it down, does it?” I tease, hugging her tightly before she leaves with Alec’s friend.
Alec leads me back to his house with Luka. It’s a tense, quiet walk. Luka mumbles goodnight before heading to his room.
Alec takes me to his room, offering me an oversized hockey t-shirt to sleep in. I quickly change in the bathroom and join him in his bed, leaving a cautious gap between us.
“Thanks for letting me stay,” I murmur, pulling the covers up to my chin.
“Of course,” he replies, his voice softened by the darkness. “I just want you to be safe.”
We lay there for a while and slowly, almost imperceptibly, we inch closer together until the gap is gone, and I find myself laying my head on Alec’s chest. His heartbeat is steady beneath my ear, a soothing rhythm that lulls me toward sleep.
“Goodnight, Emma,” Alec whispers, his breath warm against my forehead.
“Goodnight, Alec,” I reply, allowing myself to drift off to sleep in his arms.
Chapter 11
The scent of sweat and damp towels fills the air as I walk into the locker room, my hockey bag slung over my shoulder. JD’s already here, sitting on a bench in his goalie gear with a moody expression on his face. He doesn’t even glance up at Alec, who’s chatting animatedly with some other guys about last night’s party.
JD left without Alec and me today which never happens. He’s been avoiding Alec since the party last night when he left early. I saw him this morning but as soon as Alec joined us, he went up to his room.
“Hey, what’s up with you?” I ask as I sit down next to JD. He barely acknowledges me, his eyes focused on strapping his goalie pads onto his legs.
“Nothing,” he mutters, but I can tell something’s bothering him.
“Come on, man. You can talk to me,” I press gently, trying to get him to open up. JD looks at me, his brown eyes clouded with frustration.
“Fine. Is Emma the girl you were talking about, Luka? The one you said you like, that’s dating Alec?” JD asks quietly, his voice tense.
I glance over at Alec, who’s still oblivious to our conversation, before lowering my voice. “Yeah, she is. Why?”
JD clenches his jaw, clearly upset. “She’s the girl I met in class, the one I’ve been into lately.”
My eyes widen in shock, and I can’t help but glare at Alec. How did he manage to get the girl both JD and I are obsessed with? We never met her and then suddenly they’re dating and she’s off limits. And now JD and I are stuck in this weird love triangle – or square if you count Alec.
“Damn,” I say under my breath. “I didn’t know it was her, man. I’m sorry.”
“Me too,” JD sighs, looking more deflated than angry now.
As I watch Alec laughing with the other guys, I can’t help but wonder how things got so complicated. All three of us falling for the same girl? It seems like something out of a cheesy romance novel, but here we are, living it.
“Hey, let’s just focus on practice for now,” I suggest, trying to push thoughts of Emma and this whole mess from my mind. “We can figure this out later, right?”
JD nods, his eyes determined. “Yeah, let’s kick some ass on the ice.”
I grin, glad that at least for now, we can put our feelings aside and focus on what we do best – playing hockey. But as I lace up my skates and head toward the ice, I know that this situation with Emma is far from over. And as much as I want to ignore it, I can’t help but worry about what it’ll do to our friendship soon.
“Alright, let’s go!” Coach barks, signaling the start of practice. I take a deep breath and push off the edge, my skates gliding smoothly over the ice. The cold air bites at my face as I try to focus on the drills, but thoughts of Emma keep creeping in. Her wavy brown hair framing her beautiful green eyes, her passionate determination when she talks about music, getting to teach her about hockey… Damn, this isn’t going to be easy.
