Page 28 of The Trophy

She happily obliges and closes the distance between them, offering him her lips to kiss.

I don’t miss the way the corner of Topher’s lips lifts as he looks at me from over the top of Bay’s head.

“Did you take care of my chili?” she asks.

“Yeah, but I didn’t know what else to do and I turned off the stove after we browned the meat. Lake and I worked together but she said she had no idea of the quantities of tomatoes and chilies you add.”

His educated guess is correct. My chili isn’t even half as spicy as Bay’s.

“That’s fine, thank you for taking care of it. I can take it from here. I’m glad that you and Lake worked well together.”

Topher smiles at both of us. If I hadn’t been here, struggling to get free from his hold, I would totally believe that he’s genuine. That’s why Bay falls for his act.

“We’re a team. Aren’t we, Lake?” There’s a challenging glint in his eyes when he calls me Lake, as if he was daring me to tell him to stop.

I grumble an assent, disgusted by the way he pulls Bay closer and sets his hands on her ass.

“That’s great,” my sister beams. “I like it when you guys get along.”

Topher nods. “Absolutely. I promised I would make more of an effort with Lake, didn’t I?” his smile doesn’t reach his eyes when he says that. “After all, one day we’ll be family.”

CHAPTER 6

TENSION

BLAZE

Idon my lucky gloves just as Coach comes into the locker room.

My teammates are in various stages of getting dressed for our home game against USC.

“All right, ladies,” Coach scowls, looking around the locker room. “There’s no reason why we shouldn’t be able to wipe the ice with these guys. Let’s score early as much as possible, so we’ll give our second and third lines plenty of ice time in the last period.”

I nod, knowing the importance of taking a break, even though if it was up to me, I’d be on the ice for every play.

“I have the utmost faith in the skills of every player in this room,” Coach Harrison continues. “But remember, we win or we lose as a team.”

His eyes land on Topher and the two men hold each other’s gazes for a long moment.

“YES, COACH!” Topher yells. “KNIGHTS, KNIGHTS, KNIGHTS!”

Soon the entire team is chanting with him, myself included.

After the last few days, my trust in my teammate and frat president has taken a serious hit, but I’ll always put my team first and be a professional when it’s crunch time.

“All right guys,” I say, when Coach walks out of the locker room, giving us our ten minute warning. “Let’s kick some USC ass tonight.”

“And then we party!” Topher hollers.

There’ a chorus of approval to that statement and we start making our way out of the locker room.

“So, who’s taking our little hot librarian to tonight’s party?” Topher’s hand lands on my shoulder as I’m about to exit the locker room.

“We’re going as a group,” I answer, shrugging him off. Or at least I hope so, Lakyn looked pretty pissed off last time we saw her at the library.

“Oooh kinky,” the motherfucker hoots.

“Shut the fuck up,” Cash protests. “Blaze didn’t mean it the way you think.”

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