Page 91 of The Trophy

I close my locker, finding Blaze right behind me. “Dude,” I greet him.

“Since you’re here early, I assume that Cash texted you too that he wanted to talk in private and away from the Gamma house?”

I nod. “Sure did. I already know what he wants.”

“Me too,” he grins. “Lake messaged me last night after he dropped her off back at her apartment.”

“Yeah,” I say. “She texted me too.”

Blaze rubs his chin, deep in thought. “Maybe we should start a group chat, what do you think?”

“I guess it makes sense if there’s stuff we all need to know.”

Blaze grabs his skates, sitting on the bench to lace up. “I just can’t believe he came around to the idea of not making Lake choose.”

The object of our conversation, walks into the locker room. “Why is it so hard to believe that?”

I chuckle at Cash’s expression. “No offense bro, but you were about to walk out of her room in LA. And we found ourselves trapped in that stupid dare because you couldn’t wait to mark your territory and call dibs on Lake.”

Cash reacts immediately. “Is that right? If I recall correctly, you were the one who had a big mouth and blabbered to Topher that we had all slept with Lakyn.”

He’s right, but I’m annoyed that he won’t admit that he has been difficult this whole time, so I refuse to concede. “Maybe. But that particular conversation would have never happened if you hadn’t started arguing about who should take Lake out first.”

“Guys,” Blaze intervenes. “What does it matter now? Cut it out before our teammates start showing up. I’m not ashamed of our relationship with Lake, but I’d prefer not to advertise it too much. The team will figure it out eventually, but we’ll cross that bridge when it happens. The important thing, is to stop bickering where we can be overheard.”

He’s one hundred percent right. “That’s fair,” I relent. “But do you know what’s funny? That you’re acting as peacemaker between me and Cash, when on the ice you make fights happen.”

Blaze takes offense. “That isn’t true. Sure, I join a fight or two here and there, but my main job is to be a deterrent so you guys are protected. I need to get physical very rarely, to make sure our opponents know that there are consequences if they play dirty. These days, I just need to look at the other players to remind them what they risk if they fuck up. So really, you could say that my job is to avoid fights.”

I’m about to argue with him, when Cash wraps his arm around his neck, putting him into a headlock. “Sure. Mother Theresa and Gandhi have nothing on you.”

My two teammates laugh, horsing around for a few moments, until they eventually settle back on the bench.

“Look,” Cash says looking at both of us. “I just wanted to say thank you.”

“For what?” I ask.

“For giving me time to wrap my head around this whole thing. At first I must admit that I didn’t think I could be with her if you two were in the picture.”

Blaze is faster than me asking the question that’s on the tip of my tongue. “What changed?”

Cash sighs, running a hand through his hair. “I realized that Lake has feelings for all three of us and she genuinely doesn’t have a favorite. That took the need to compete for her attention out of the equation and allowed me to get past all the shit that was keeping me from opening up to her completely.”

His words pique my interest. “I don’t mean to pry, dude, but what was keeping you from doing that?”

I almost expect him to tell me to mind my own business, but he doesn’t.

“It’s no secret that I don’t come from money like you and Blaze,” he says. “My situation at home can get pretty complicated…”

He tells us about his parents and how his father’s untimely death left his mom in a precarious financial situation and with two babies.

“Did you really think that Lakyn wouldn’t understand?” I ask.

Cash shrugs. “I hoped she would, but my ex didn’t and we had been together since we were high school freshmen. I would have been nervous anyway, but the fact that Lake could have had one of you or both, didn’t make me feel better about my prospects.”

Blaze claps him on the shoulder. “I can see where you’re coming from. But Lakyn is fucking awesome. I think she couldn’t care less about money or status.”

I agree. “True. If that had been the case, she would have had Bay set her up with someone way sooner than that auction. Bay practically had to force her to go out with us.”

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