Page 20 of The Trophy

CASH

The second the head librarian tells us that Lakyn was helping Prince Luca to find the text books he needed to study for his midterms, I call bullshit.

Especially when she adds that he needed some Ancient Greek literature books.

Luca is majoring in astronomy and film. Now call me crazy, but what does Ancient Greek have to do with either of those disciplines? Plus everyone knows that the ancient literatures section is the not so secret hookup spot at the library, so I practically run there with Blaze hot on my heels.

“I don’t like this,” I mutter, headed to the back of the main room on the ground floor. “He thinks Lakyn is going to choose him just because he can offer her a driver, luxury hotel suites and dinners at the country club. But Lakyn isn’t pretentious like him. She couldn’t care less that he has money and a title. I knew Luca would play dirty,”

Blaze stops me in my tracks with a heavy hand on my shoulder. “Dude, calm the fuck down. You don’t know that he’s doing anything wrong.”

I roll my eyes. “Then why did he take Lakyn to the back, huh? We all know what people do by the old editions of The Odyssey.”

“Don’t jump to conclusions. Luca knows we’re coming. He took her to a quiet spot where we can talk, like we were planning.”

I shrug him off, causing a heavy book to fall on the floor with a deafening sound.

I’m about to pick it up, but that’s when I spot them. Luca has his arms around her, theirs noses touching as they stare into each other’s eyes.

“I miss you,” he says.

“I miss you too,”

I eat the distance that separates me from them in a couple of long strides.

“Hey Prince, knock it off. You aren’t the only one who missed Lakyn. I missed you too, baby.”

The moment I pull her into my arms, something in my chest settles. I give her a soft, shallow kiss and don’t even put too much heat in flipping Blaze off when he ribs me about being like a bull in a China shop. All that matters is that she kisses me back. That means that I still have a chance with her, even if I’m not rich like Luca or popular like Blaze.

I know we’re here to talk to her about our situation and fess up on how we made things worse by falling straight into Topher’s trap. I know she might tell us to fuck off and move on from all of us. Lakyn isn’t the type of girl who likes drama. That’s why I like her so much, she isn’t like your typical sorority girl or puck bunny. If anything, all the circus that surrounds us as star athletes on campus is a strike against us, rather than something in our favor.

So I deepen the kiss, aware that this could be the last time she lets me taste her sweet lips.

“Dude,” someone clears his throat and I regret not beating Luca here to get some alone time with Lake.

Some of us need a job to make ends meet, so I came straight from the gym where I work part time. My athletic scholarship takes care of tuition and I don’t even have to live in the dorms thanks to the fraternity most of the hockey team joins. But my mom helped me with all the other expenses and when she couldn’t work because of an injury, I had to step in. That makes my already full schedule even busier and I know a girlfriend is the last thing I need right now.

I kept telling that to myself after the auction date with Lakyn, but the heart wants what the heart wants and I know that if I walked away, I’d regret it.

Of course the problem might be taken care of if she sends us on our way after she learns about our wager.

“Guys,” Lakyn says, letting me lace my fingers through hers when we finally come up for air. “It’s nice to see you all, but this is a surprise. I thought we’d hang out tonight after the game.”

Blaze steps in, taking Lakyn’s other hand and pulling her away from me. “We know, pretty girl,” he smiles. “We just need a minute of your time, there’s something we need to talk to you about.”

I’m fucking terrified of how this could blow up in our faces. We should have refused to play this stupid game when Topher decided it would be fun if who between us got the girl also got the captain spot. I wish most of our teammates hadn’t thought it was a great idea, but Topher has always been persuasive, this is how he became frat president when he was just a sophomore.

There and then, I admit that I reacted out of pure anger and jealousy. I was already riled up after that crazy night in Lakyn’s room. I was angry after seeing her with my teammates, it didn’t matter that she wanted me just as much as she wanted them. I wanted Lakyn all to myself and I still do.

I don’t understand why Luca and Blaze are going along with Topher’s stupid games.

All I know is that being captain could help my chances to get noticed and drafted by a decent team. Playing in the NHL is the reason why I’m here. It was my dad’s dream for me—a dream we shared—and I owe it to my mom to help her with my younger siblings.

So here we are, about to prove Lakyn right that we’re asshole jocks who only care about fighting and can’t take anything seriously.

“What do you want to talk about?” she asks.

Another noise coming from the direction of the study rooms we just passed to find Lakyn startles us.

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