Page 28 of A Little Complicated

“I’m sorry, am I not allowed to use the rink?” I ask. “From what I understood, no one had it scheduled—”

“Hey, Lia!” a familiar voice calls.

I lift my chin in greeting when I recognize who it belongs to. “Hey, Reeves.”

“You know her?” the original asshole asks. He’s blonde and tan and basically a live-action Ken doll with a side of misogyny as he glances at me again, his eyes dancing with…what? Condescension? Amusement? Interest?

Not in this lifetime, asshole.

“Yeah, this is Lia, Archer’s girl,” Reeves clarifies.

The asshole’s brows jump. “The freshman?”

“Yeah,” Reeves confirms, then addresses me again. “Did you have fun at the party last night?”

“Uh…” I gulp. “Sure, it was great. Thanks again for including me.”

“Hey, I’llincludeyou in whatever you want,” he quips. “Sorry Mav bailed before you had a chance to win, though.”

“Hey, when you gotta pee, you gotta pee, right?” I lie.

Another chuckle rumbles through his chest. “Yeah, I guess so.” His gaze skims over me, but it isn’t laced with interest like his teammate’s, only simple curiosity as he takes in my gear. “Mav didn’t mention you play hockey.”

“‘Cause Mav’s ashamed I’m better at it than him,” I point out dryly.

“Is that right?” a low voice questions. Maverick appears from the tunnel with Griffin and Everett beside him.

Whoops.

We haven’t spoken since last night. Technically, we haven’t really spoken since he broke my heart, but hey. What else is new? Shifting my attention from how attractive the bastard looks in his gear, I focus on the boys beside him instead.

My smile spreads. “Hey, my two favorite hockey boys!”

“Hey, Lia,” Griffin returns.

Mav clutches at his chest. “I’m offended.”

“Sure you are,” I mutter.

His friends ignore him and skate toward me, pulling me into a hug.

“Hey. Missed you,” Everett says.

“Ditto.” I squeeze him back.

“You've been here for a while now?” Everett’s attention flicks to the hair clinging to my sweaty forehead, and I wipe it away with my glove.

“Yeah. A couple hours now. Gotta brush up on my skills before my first practice with the Lady Hawks.”

“You’re gonna kill it,” Griff says beside us.

“I hope so. Especially since the blonde over there thinks I can onlyplayhockey and not actuallyplayhockey. Ya know what I mean?”

Griffin glances over his shoulder at the slew of their teammates behind us. “Yeah, that’s Trevor Cameron. You’ll have to excuse him.”

“He’s almost as much of a dick as Reeves is,” Everett adds.

“Reeves is nice,” I argue.

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