Page 67 of Rinkmates

Twenty

LIORA

The living room is bursting with people.

I’m still dressed in my rehearsal clothes from earlier and since I didn’t want to show up alone, I asked Priya and Aiden if they’d like to join me. A little party never killed anybody, right?

“Holy cow, this apartment is amazing,” Aiden says, and I nod away.

“It is. The owner is not.” I’ve come to trust Aiden with my heart, so I told him about our fake dating, and he found it hilarious. I spot many unfamiliar faces mixed with Riley’s teammates. There are women fawning over the players, hanging on their every word, and I roll my eyes.

I notice heads turning our way. I hear a younger teammate say, “God, she’s beautiful!” before Jayce promptly elbows him in the ribs.

Heat rises to my cheeks at the attention.

Where is he?

I scan the room for Riley, and when I notice Ethan out on the balcony, I assume he’s with him but no, he’s nowhere to be seen. Then, Derek catches my eye, nodding in greeting ashe smoothly introduces himself to Priya, whose face flushes a charming shade of pink at the sight of him. What is it about Priya that attracts the most questionable men in town?

Another teammate approaches Aiden and he’s quickly handed a beer and pulled into a conversation. Since I’m basically standing there like the third wheel, watching my friends talking without being looked at once, I weave through the crowd, smiling and greeting people as I go, but the weird thing is, no one seems interested in talking to me.

They grin politely before turning back to their own conversations. I try it again and steer to Jayce and Colton. They stand in the kitchen behind the brewing chili, talking away while drinking beer. Something’s up.

“Hi,” says Jayce. Colton only nods my way until both revert to talking about whatever they talked about before. I sneer. What is this?

Fine. If they won’t talk to me, I’ll just have to find someone who will.

I spot the rookie standing alone and make a beeline for him. “Hey, can I ask you something?”

His green eyes widen and he quickly checks on his other teammates. Then I notice it. He’s looking for permission to talk to me! He shifts, his face turning red like a tomato, and to top it off, he has the audacity to turn around and leave! But I won’t let him get away like this. Oh no. I grab him by the collar, holding him back.

“Hey, what do you think you’re doing?”

He sighs and his shoulders slump. Turning around, he says, “Hi, er. What’s up?”

I cringe.What’s up?“Why isn’t anyone talking to me? Did I do something wrong?”

He shifts uncomfortably. “No, no, it’s just…um, actually, I can’t tell you.”

My eyebrows shoot to my hairline. “What? Why?”

He sighs again, driving a hand through his hair. “I—you know—I need to. Phew, is it getting hot in here? I think the balcony sounds great—”

“You stay here,” I say, my hand latching on his arm. “What is up?”

“I can’t tell you.”

“Why?”

“He’d kill me.”

He. Huh. It could only be a certain black-haired hunk then. “Thank you so much.”

“Oh please, no,” is all that I hear as I make my way through the apartment.

Sincehe—the ass of all asses—is not out on the balcony, or in the bathroom, because I knocked on it like a lunatic, I head straight for his room.

But once I touch his door handle, I stop.

---