Page 21 of Released from the Sin Bin

Jocelyn grabs a pad from her hockey gear lying on the floor and tosses it into her locker. “I hope you don’t screw up your entire life for him.”

“It’s a hockey team. I’ll be playing hockey.” Playing hockey and having a life with my boyfriend are the only things I really need.

“Did he convince you to do that?”

We lift our full bags over our shoulders and head out of the room.

“I haven’t told him yet. Talking about graduation makes him anxious.”

“If this is what you really want, you need to stand up for yourself,” Jocelyn preaches as we walk side by side down the long hallway. “You’re deciding your life around him, and he needs to start treating you better.”

“I’m going to talk to him, but I have to do it carefully. I don't want to start a fight.” I zip my jacket closed as we step out into the chilly air. It’s getting colder out, and soon winter will come to freeze the entire campus.

There’s not much time to relax before Luca and Jocelyn are separately convincing me to go to tonight's party at the Hockey House. The guys won their game tonight too, and both teams are looking to celebrate.

“Why are you so dressed up?” I eye Jocelyn’s sheath dress under the thin jacket she’s wearing. “It’s freezing out tonight.”

“I wanted to look nice.” She blushes. “And I kinda want to get laid.”

I laugh it off, but it means at some point I'm heading home alone.

“I heard from Chelsea that Carter is fantastic in bed,” she gushes as we walk into the already packed house. “Supposedly, he’s huge.” She raises her hands up to exaggerate the size of Carter’s big penis.

“Carter is an ass,” I grumble thinking about our last encounter and every one before that.

“He is, but he has a cute ass too.” She winks with a laugh.

Jocelyn is beautiful with long, caramel blonde wavy hair. We both have an athletic build, but she pulls it off better with soft curves versus my boxy straight frame. She could have any guy she wants, but all her focus is on hockey. I’ve never seen her with the same guy for more than a month, and she’s never talked about having any interest in a relationship.

“I want to have a fun night.” She grabs my arm, steering me to the kitchen. “Fun and dirty.”

“I’ll be your winger.” I find a group of big guys and give her a nice hip check into them.

She stumbles in her heeled boots and falls right into the biggest one.

“Sorry,” Jocelyn apologizes with an embarrassed laugh and pinches my bicep to keep us moving, but those guys are now staring at her ass. Mission accomplished.

It’s not long before one of them finds us and they’re flirting relentlessly, leaving me to wander around the house alone. Luca isn’t far from the front door, bouncing on his heels.

“Congrats on your win, Kingivson.” I lightly punch his arm.

“You too, Tomlin.” He grins back at me and goes back to scanning the crowd. He can barely keep his legs still, and his fingers tap against his thigh.

“That slapshot was sick.” I nudge him again to get his attention.

“Yeah, it was alright. How was your game?” He barely looks at me, still searching for Kandi.

“Looking for Kandi?”

His cheeks redden with the indents of his dimples.

“You’re going to get hurt.” I stand up from the wall to talk without his eyes wandering over the party.

“I don’t think you should give out relationship advice,” he scoffs.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” My entire body tenses, ready to go on defense and fight my way out of this.

“You know exactly what I mean, Willa.” His jaw ticks with a click of his tongue as he glares down at me. “Where’s Vic? Screwing someone else while you stand here waiting for him?”

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