Page 37 of The Trophy

Cole’s blue eyes find mine as he nods in response. “Yeah, sorta. Just a little tired lately. Studying for midterms is killing me, but I need to keep my grades up to fulfill the requirements of my scholarship. It’s just hard with two practices a day. And now Coach wants to see us tomorrow morning at the crack of dawn. We used to have a day off after a game, but not with Coach Harrison.”

I feel his pain. “Yeah, I can only imagine. I’m on a scholarship too and juggling the course load with a job is hard. And that was before, when I had a long distance relationship.”

There’s a beat of silence as I grab the handle to the patio door.

Cole looks at me as if he was debating whether he should say what’s on his mind or not.

All I can think is that Cole Marshall is one seriously hot looking guy. Almost as tall as Cash, with blond hair, piercing blue eyes and features that would easily allow him to be on any magazine or even a Hollywood blockbuster.

I know Bay adores him and the adoration is mutual. I just wish my sister was with him rather than Topher.

I asked her once, before her and the Gamma president were ever an item. Bay informed me that Cole has as much of a player reputation as Luca does. I guess she wasn’t wrong since every time I see him, Cole has at least one girl on his arm, often two. Never the same girl.

“Bay told me that you and your high school sweetheart broke up. That’s why she bought you those dates at the charity auction, right?” he asks.

I nod, waiting to see where this is going.

“How is that going? You’re here with Blaze tonight, if I’m not mistaken?”

There’s another stretch of silence while I debate how much I should tell him.

“I’m seeing them,” I blurt out. “All three of them, but you already know that, right?”

Because, fuck it. He was in that locker room yesterday morning, so he knows about the dare.

Something passes in Cole’s eyes and he nods slowly. “Yeah. The entire team knows…” he hesitates, probably wondering if I have any inkling about what’s going on.

I put him out of his misery. “Yeah, I heard. I also heard that I’m some kind of fucked up trophy that decides who’s your new team captain.”

Cole isn’t an asshole, he has the decency to blush. “Fuck. If you heard about it, that means someone didn’t abide to that stupid Gamma bro-code about keeping all dares secret.”

The way fraternities and sororities often operate with dares, secrets and ridiculous codes of conduct, is another reason why I wasn’t interested in pledging Zeta Theta Beta.

“Not exactly,” I inform him. “Cash, Blaze and Luca came to me earlier to tell me what happened.”

He considers my words. “Smart. I’m glad they did. I wouldn’t have put it past Topher to come and tell you himself out of spite. Make you believe that the guys were running their mouths about you in the locker room or some shit like that. I guarantee you that they weren’t. They were naive enough to start arguing about who was going to get to take you out first in front of everyone and when Topher caught wind that they all liked you…”

“I know,” I exhale.

“Are you going to go along with it and choose?”

I don’t know how much I want to tell him. “I wish it was that easy.”

Cole’s expression softens. “Look, for what it’s worth, they’re all great guys. I’ve been playing hockey with Cash and Blaze since we were freshmen and I would trust them with my life. As for Luca, I haven’t known him for very long, but I think he’s a fucking solid guy. He has real leadership skills and he cares about others, he isn’t afraid to stick his neck out to help someone when it matters.”

I know that about Luca. “Did you hear the story of the maitre at the Country Club?” I ask, thinking he must be referring to Laura, the lady he flew home on his private jet to reunite her with her ailing grandmother.

“Huh? What are you talking about?” Cole asks.

I tell him the story. “I had a totally different idea of how he would be before I realized that the way the press portrays him is wildly inaccurate.”

Cole nods. “That sounds exactly like something Luca would do. But I wasn’t talking about that.”

My curiosity is piqued. “What are you talking about then?”

“Didn’t Bay tell you?”

I shake my head.

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