Page 63 of Dark Tangled Truths
“I drew the short straw so...” Axel smiles and gestures to the living space we’ve entered. “I get to give the tour.”
The house is three stories with a living area, a quiet room for studying, a kitchen, and dining room. The refrigerator is maintained by the campus food services. There’s always food available and usually some premade foods to heat up. We’ll see the other meal options on the tour tomorrow.
There are a couple rooms on the first floor. Both are upperclassmen who act as resident advisors for the house. When we head upstairs, Axel shows us his room that he usually shares with a sophomore.
“My roommate has a girlfriend who has an apartment off campus. He’s going to stay with her this week.” Axel glances at Jackson. “You’ll be rooming with me, so you’ll be getting a bed.”
“Are there singles?” I ask. I’m not sure how I’ll deal sharing a space with another player. Yes, I share Evan, but that’s with my friends.
“Yeah, a few.” Axel nods toward the third floor. “Every bedroom has its own bathroom. You’re responsible for keeping it clean. There’s a laundry on every floor. Use them. We don’t need the house to smell like someone’s feet.”
There are a few chuckles as Axel leads us back to the living space that has multiple sets of seating areas kind of like a hotel lobby.
We take a seat and Axel discusses the sleeping arrangements. I’m with Ivan, who grins at me. He reminds me of Cam. A few times he interrupted with suggestions for parties, frats, and girls.
“Get your rest tonight. Tomorrow is going to be grueling. You’re all professionals or you wouldn’t be here, so act like it. Every step of this is an audition for a spot on the team. You’ve already made it to this part. You just have to prove you’ll fit in with where Coach wants to take us next year.” Axel stands, and so do the other players.
We grab our things and follow our host. Ivan glances over his shoulder at me as I follow him up the stairs to his room. He shows me where to drop my stuff and gestures to the made bed.
“They doubled up our roommates in a spare room so we could host and you wouldn’t have to sleep on the floor.” Ivan smirks and sits in his office chair.
“Nice.” The bed is what I would expect in a dorm room. Extra-long twin. Basic mattress.
“Coach was surprised you were still an option.” Ivan isn’t at all subtle, which I can appreciate. “You got mental problems?”
I chuckle, not willing to give this guy anything. “Doesn’t everyone?”
He smiles as he tosses a ball up and catches it. “No, really. Last we heard, you were off to the USHL.”
“Yeah, got in an accident on my motorcycle.” I rub my leg but it doesn’t ache as bad as it did. “Dad realized I wasn’t godlike and might actually be mortal and decided he wanted me to stay home.”
He catches the ball and looks at me in horror. “Fuck, parents suck.”
I consider how Dad hasn’t made any changes to our living arrangement after finding out about me and Evan. Yet. He even talked Heather out of leaving. Though that might have been more for him. “He’s not that bad.”
I don’t know if they’ll decide to move Evan from the room next to mine. They have a whole week to fuck with my life while I’m gone. The guys will tell me if they do. I don’t know if Evan will try to stay in touch. We left things so fucking broken.
My dad was okay about the Chase thing, but it doesn’t make what she did any easier. The things I’ve told her were shared in confidentiality. She knew that. But I basically hung her out to dry, pushed her until she’d spilled everything.
“We’re going out tomorrow night. There’s a frat party. Some of the guys on the team are members. Delta Psi Lambda, you heard of them?” Ivan stretches and drops the ball on his desk before getting up.
I smirk, thinking of Cam’s declarations at the end of summer. “My friend wants to join them.”
“He into hockey?”
I nod. “He’s my teammate.”
Ivan smiles. “He should try out too.”
“Maybe. I don’t think he wants the stress of playing D1 sports in school.”
“It’s not all bad. The puck bunnies are worth it.” Ivan looks me over. “The girls are going to love you.”
“I have a girlfriend.” I run my hand through my hair. What we are right now isn’t up for debate. She’s mine. We need to figure out our shit, but there’s no way I’d let her move on to someone new.
“High school love never lasts, man.”
CHAPTER 21
