Page 20 of For Crosby

“You’re so annoying,” I growled, wanting nothing more than to storm out of there like a spoiled child.

“Ladies seem to like me fine the way I am.”

“I bet you get gaga eyes from them,” Finlay added, clearly for my benefit.

He tilted his head to the side. “I get a lot of things from them.”

I grabbed my bag and stood. “And the hockey team.”

“Low blow,” he said, feigning hurt. “Even for you, Ice Queen.”

“It’s been great catching up, but I’m outta here.” I spun away from them and stormed off.

“She always that difficult?” he asked Finlay as I moved away from them.

“When she hates someone? Yes.”

Crosby

I walked into the locker room after our first win. Most of the guys had already showered and were in different stages of dress while I opted for more ice time to work on my shot. I may have scored two of the four goals, but I wasn’t satisfied with my form.

No one acknowledged me as I walked to my locker, removed my gloves and helmet, and stuffed them into my bag. It was weird. I was getting used to the silence that surrounded me. Used to the fact that this was like some crazy fraternity that didn’t want me. But the joke was on them. They were a means to an end for me. Nothing else.

I removed more of my gear, pulling off my shoulder pads and wincing at the pain emanating from my shoulder. As much as I wanted to slather on some pain-relieving gel, I wouldn’t let them see they’d hurt me. Fuck ’em.

I grabbed a towel from the pile by my locker and stripped off the rest of my clothes, stuffing them into the laundry pile the equipment manager took care of for us. I wrapped the towel around my waist and walked into the showers. Inside the stall, the warm water cascaded over my body. The sound of the droplets raining down and forming puddles at my feet soothed me, drowning out the noise in my head. I stood there for a long time letting the heat of the water ease the pain in my achy muscles. I’d still need to alternate between ice and heat when I got back to the dorm, though. I usually had to do that on game nights, but now practices were just as brutal.

One thing I did feel good about was my run-in with the ice queen. She appeared unscathed after her date with Jeremy. It wasn’t like I could come right out and tell her she was being used. Maybe they’d make a happy couple. Who the fuck knew…

Once the water turned cold and my balls were pruned to the size of walnuts, I switched off the shower and reached for my towel from the hook outside the stall. It wasn’t there. I stuck my head out and looked down on the tile floor hoping it had fallen. It hadn’t.

Fuck.

I stepped out of the shower and walked into the now deserted locker room. The pile of towels I sought had disappeared and so had everything in my locker. Everything but my skates and jock strap.

God dammit.

I closed my eyes and held back my anger. At least I tried to, but I was seeing a whole lot of red behind my closed eyelids. I dragged in a long breath before opening my eyes and scanning the lockers around me. None of them had anything in them but bottles of shampoo, deodorant, and razors. Nothing I could use to cover up.

Sons of bitches.

I covered my dick and glanced toward Coach’s office. He wanted to know how the guys had been treating me. Wanted to know if I felt like part of the team. As much as I wanted to rat them out and ask for something to wear home, I knew it would be stirring up shit I didn’t need.

So, I did the only thing I could. I grabbed the jock strap from my locker and slipped it on, making my way out of the arena. It would take a lot more than some lame hazing to get me to quit the team.

The sun had set hours before, but students still walked around. If the entire campus hadn’t already seen my goods, I may have been more embarrassed. Still, I wished I had a car—if only mine hadn’t been repossessed. At least I still had what the good Lord gave me. Two feet. Two very bare feet that would carry me across campus and back to my dorm in a fucking jockstrap.

The looks, catcalls, and cars honking would’ve been enough to make a weaker man crumble. But I’d been through hell. This was child’s play.

As I moved closer to the dorms, a horn honked beside me and I flipped the driver the bird.

“That the way you want to treat your savior?” a girl asked.

I peeked over.

The ice queen’s friend sat in the driver’s seat of an old pickup truck that had pulled up to the curb beside me. “Get in.”

I didn’t even think about it. I walked right to the passenger door and pulled it open. The vinyl bench seat gave me pause, knowing my ass cheeks would stick to it.

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