Page 84 of The Friend Zone

Bay considers my words. “You’re probably right on both counts.”

I take her hand, pulling her just a little closer. My heart is pounding worse than after a grueling shift on the ice, but if I want to get her back, I have to risk everything. “Bay, I already said this, but I’m going to say it again. I’m sorry. I fucked up big time. That text was the biggest mistake I’ve ever made and so was letting you believe that I cheated on you.”

She looks as vulnerable as I feel right now. “If we weren’t together, technically it wasn’t cheating.”

“Fuck that,” I bite out. “It would have been cheating. I was fooling myself about that too. I knew from the beginning that you aren’t a no strings attached kind of woman. Turns out I’m not a hookup only kind of guy either. Not when I care about the woman I’m with.”

Her voice comes out in a whisper. “You cared about me?”

I smile, despite the terror about what I’m about to do. “I did from the second we kissed at the rush fair. I was just too stupid to see it. I was too stupid to understand that I was falling for you, Bay. Maybe because I had never been in love before, fuck knows. But the point is that I love you and I hope I didn’t fuck things up beyond repair.”

CHAPTER 18

JUGS

JAGGER

Bay opens her mouth to say something, but I charge on.

“Before you say anything, I want you to know that I didn’t just fuck up with how I handled things. I should have trusted you and told you everything the second Topher blackmailed me. But I’m done letting him keep me away from you. You’re the only one who can keep us apart, Bay, if you decide you can’t forgive me. I’m not saying this to put pressure on you, Nova. I’m saying it because I understand how much I fucked up, but I promise that I learned a huge lesson. If you decide I deserve a chance, I’m going to do everything in my power to be the man you deserve.”

“Jagger, I?—”

I squeeze her hand, determined to continue before I lose every ounce of courage I have.

Gamma House Basement

Three years ago

“Welcome to the Gamma House, pledges!” Travis, the Gamma Delta Tau president and captain of the hockey team, greets us. “If you’re here tonight, you’ve been successful in pledging our prestigious fraternity. Tonight, you’ll be initiated into the ranks of Gamma Delta Tau. Before this night, you were boys, when the sun will rise tomorrow, you’ll wake up as men and brothers. Of course, if you pass the task we selected for you to prove that the blood of all the Gamma brothers before you flows in your veins.”

I’m a legacy. My father and his father before him were members of Gamma Delta Tau. My old man warned me that this would happen, so I’m not too surprised.

He also warned me about what Travis says next.

“Let me remind you that your initiation will have to remain a secret, even from the rest of your brothers. The only one who will know what you had to do is the one selected as your big brother, who will accompany you during the task and will be equally sworn to secrecy. You will also be filmed but fear not. The footage of your challenge will be sent to our central chapter and kept in their database until you graduate. That’s to ensure your loyalty to our brotherhood. After graduation, those videos will be destroyed. They will also be destroyed if you fail to complete your challenge and are not welcomed in the ranks of Gamma Delta Tau as a result. Any questions?”

The seven of us respond with a cacophony of “No, sir.”

I look at the two guys on either side of me. I know them both from the hockey team. One is a center, Topher Mumford. I’ve met him before on the ice during high school. We’re both from Connecticut and our prep schools faced each other often during the state championship. He’s a bit of a douche, but things might feel different if we’re on the same team rather than on opposing sides.

The other one is Cash Hanbury, a goalie who, despite being a freshman, might get a starting spot defending our goal. The other two guys I know from the team are Blaze, a right winger who loves to fight on the ice, and Cole Marshal, another defenseman who has been out on my same line.

The seniors selected as big brothers begin taking their assigned pledges out of the room. The president and another senior, Jake, walk out, leaving me and Mumford in the basement.

“Take a seat on that couch, guys,” Travis says before leaving. “We’ll be back in a second. There’s just some stuff we need to take care of.”

We do as we’re told.

“Nervous?” Mumford asks me.

I shrug, faking more confidence than I feel. “Nah, what’s the worse they can do to us? They can’t haze us, right?”

Mumford laughs. “In theory. But my old man warned me that they’re going to find a way to push us to our limits. After all, Gamma Delta Tau is the most prestigious fraternity on campus.”

I ignore the uneasy feeling in the pit of my stomach. Topher Mumford has always been a shit stirrer every time our teams played against each other in high school. He’s probably trying to mess with me just for fun.

“I wasn’t going to share, but since we’re gonna be teammates and brothers,” he says lowering his voice in a conspiratorial way. “I have something to help us through it and take the edge off.”

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