Page 101 of Wicked Serve

“I like your shoes,” I call to the girl, who startles, nearly dropping her map of campus. I shrug at Nik, who pulls me against his chest, hands over my ribs. He nuzzles my ear, murmuring something about me being the super-hot one here, and that distracts me enough that I nearly miss what Victoria is saying.

“—a certain rugged charm.”

“Last night, you couldn’t get enough of my ruggedness, Yoon,” Aaron replies.

My eyebrows fly up to my hair. Damn, Aaron. It takes a lot to make Victoria blush, but that does it. She glares at him. He just grins, clearly unrepentant. Hockey players and their egos. He’s the one in sandals and tube socks, despite the fact it’s February.

And yet, if Nik’s reports are anything to go by, he’s been having a monster season. As long as he keeps delivering shutouts, I suppose he can wear whatever he wants. And it’s not like I have to look at it; I’m lucky to be dating the guy with an actual sense of fashion. I could drool at the way Nik’s shoulders look in the tight, long-sleeved gray shirt he’s wearing.

“Izzy and I are going to get breakfast,” Victoria declares. “I’ll take that twenty now.”

I pull my legs to my chest as I settle into a booth in the corner of the Purple Kettle. I take a sip of my whipped cream–topped cherry mocha, wiggling happily. Pumpkin spice might be the ultimate seasonal drink, but the Valentine’s Day possibilities aren’t too shabby, either.

I didn’t put up much of a protest when Victoria stole me away, although I could tell that Nik was sad that we didn’t get to finish our run. We haven’t had that much time alone lately. I’ll have to make it up to him when we celebrate Valentine’s Day next week. Despite how packed the semester has been so far, I have a plan in the works.

“So?” Victoria says, bouncing eagerly on her side of the booth. “Show me the tattoo.”

“And flash the entire café?”

“It’s not up that high, is it?”

“It’s just under my bra line.” I pull up my shirt, turning so she can see my rib cage. The black ink stands out starkly against my fair skin, identical to my brothers’ tattoos. I look at it fondly before letting the shirt fall. Apparently, Nik told Cooper something about how I can’t help but compare myself to him and James and Sebastian. He might’ve been overstepping, but I couldn’t bring myself to be annoyed about it, not when it led to them gifting me this tattoo.

It’s silly, since it’s just a couple lines of ink, but it means more than they know. I can still feel Sebastian’s tight hug on the street in downtown Port Washington, Cooper promising that I’m always going to be part of the family, and James adding in over the phone that it has nothing to do with sports, and everything to do with love.

I wish that Nik had the same support from his family. One cousin isn’t enough.

“It looks amazing!” Victoria exclaims. “Was it painful?”

“I cried.”

“Oh no.”

“It was... yeah. Worth it, but ouch.” I scrunch my nose. “What’s up with you? I feel like I haven’t seen you at all outside of Shah’s class.”

“I know, right? Organic chemistry has been killing me.”

“Ugh, science.” I shudder. Organic chemistry sounds terrible. Right up there with the complicated poli-sci classes Nik is taking.

“No, no, it’s yay, science.” She takes a sip of her matching mocha. “How about you?”

I fiddle with my headband. “I’ve been doing wedding stuff in all my free time.”

“And getting it on with your sexy Russian?”

“Like you and Aaron haven’t done worse.”

“Fair.” She drums her silver-polished nails against her mug. “Are you sure you don’t want to come to spring league?”

“I’m too busy.”

“Is that really why?”

“Yes.” I pull the lid off my yogurt parfait and give it a stir. “It’s not— I just really want to do a good job on the wedding. It’s a lot to keep track of, especially with school. And the break has been good.”

“Everyone misses you. And no one likes the way Alexis handled what happened.”

“I know. You’ve said.” I swallow a spoonful of yogurt. “She didn’t kick me off the team, Torie.”

---