Page 26 of Pucking Bad Boys

Maybe I should feel sad, since she’s all I’ve ever known when it comes to love and relationships. But somehow I can’t find it in me to feel that way.

It’s like a huge weight has been lifted off my shoulders. For the first time in years, I walk away from my ex’s house feeling as light as a feather.

The summer was fun. I’ve given in to all my wildest urges, and I’ve been doing it in front of my ex.

It wasn’t out of vindictiveness, even though I’d be lying if I said that seeing her seething every time I took one of her teammates to my room wasn’t fun.

The truth is that I was single, and I had no one and nothing to hold me back for the first time. I had fun and made sure my partners did too. And since I know first-hand how shitty it feels to be on the receiving end of lies and betrayal, I was always upfront about what was on offer to any woman who came home with me.

It was fun, but it wasn’t really what I wanted. I would have ended my wild summer in a heartbeat if Talia had ever given me the time of day. Even for the chance to get to know her better as friends. I would have risked it all. But my best friend’s sister has always been polite but distant.

I exhale as I open my bedroom door on the top floor of the Gamma house.

Talia and I have never had a class together. Who knows? Maybe that will give us a chance to cross the line from acquaintances to friends.

I could ask her to study together. That would be a great way to spend time with her.

My mind is made up that I’ll try to make a plan to become Talia’s study buddy, and I’m so taken with that idea, already playing all the possible scenarios in my head, that I’m not paying attention to my surroundings.

The first thing that pulls me out of my own thoughts is a vague fishy smell the second I set foot in my room.

Hopefully Tucker didn’t let Baety have free roam of the house again. That duck is cute, but she’s a menace.

When my eyes land on the source of the fishy smell, I wish there was a duck on my bed.

“Gen,” I’m so shocked that it takes me a second to find any words. “What in the ever loving fuck are you doing in my bed? And is that sushi on your tits and your crotch?”

I blink a few times as if that could make the scene in front of me disappear.

Gen is naked against my pillows aside from two round sushi pieces covering her nipples, one on her belly button and what looks like a giant sushi roll in the shape of a cone covering her pussy.

She doesn’t let the bewildered expression on my face derail what she must have planned. “It’s our first day of classes. I thought it would be nice to bring my boyfriend some breakfast.”

I tighten my grip on the door handle with white-knuckle force. “I’m not your boyfriend. I’ve always hated sushi, and even if I hadn’t, raw fish is the last thing I would eat for breakfast. Now take your fish with you and go. I still need to shower, and if you make me late for class, I’ll be very pissed.”

“But Mack, I?—”

“You have thirty seconds to get dressed and get out. Or I’ll throw you out in the hallway buck naked.”

Thank fuck, she knows that I mean it.

Once she’s out of my sight, I open the windows to air my room.

Chapter 7

Class

BECKER

It takes me a second to find the Human Studies building. I begrudge the unsettled feeling in the pit of my stomach. It’s like aGroundhog Dayversion of freshman year. New school, new campus, new team.

The feeling of being in a hostile environment filled with judgement and new faces everywhere I turn should be a thing of the past, but it’s just my luck. Of all the schools I was accepted into, I had to choose the only one that went bankrupt.

And now here I am, unfashionably early for my first class of the year. But what was the alternative? I’d rather be early than look like a douche by showing up late.

It doesn’t help that I’m coming straight from practice and, like a total idiot, I forgot to pack a change of clothes. So after the shower, the only things I had were the Cove Knights t-shirt and sweatpants I was given as part of my gear after I passed my medical.

I could have driven home to get different clothes, but then I would have risked being late.