Page 13 of Weak Side

“Why does that make sense?”

“Because you’re so uptight.” I smirked before grabbing my towel and body wash. Her eyes followed my every move, and I could tell she wanted to snap a snarky response back to me. “Tell me, does your boyfriend ever do anything other than dismiss you every chance he gets? Like, does he ever get you off? I’ve always heard dancers are hard to please. Is that true?”

There was a voice deep inside my head that was telling me to retreat, but the look on her face egged me on like no other. Her cheeks flared even brighter, and her perky breasts under her shirt were rising and falling quicker than before. I was blaming it on our lack of conversation during our first full week of rooming together and how we had all this built-up tension from pissing each other off. And admittedly, I enjoyed picking on her. It fed me like I was a starving animal. It was like payback for each night that she woke me up with her feminine body wash and the sound of her even breathing when she finally drifted into a peaceful sleep after sitting at her desk for what seemed like hours.

“Of course he does!” she snarked, looking away at the last second.

My head tilted on its own as I tried to read her. Her arms flew to her chest like armor, and I paused. “Does he, though?”

“It’s none of your business. What gives you the right to even ask such a thing? Typical jock.” She threw her hands up as she walked over to her dresser and pulled out a pair of leggings.Oh, she is mad. Did I strike a nerve?

Her hands went to the hem of her shirt, and she began to pull it up, showing off her toned belly.

“Whoa, what the fuck are you doing?” I asked, stunned. I spun around and put my back to her.

“Well, since I’m up because of you, I’m going to go work on my audition now instead of after work.”

So, sheisa dancer.“If you think your boyfriend is jealous now, wait until he finds out that you’re undressing in front of me.”

Silence stretched around us, and I knew what was going through her mind. Little Miss Night Owl now knew that I wasn’t asleep like she thought I was when her douche of a boyfriend would call her late at night.What was he even doing up that late anyway?Was I the only college student that enjoyed sleep? I mean, there was a time and place for staying up late and partying. During the week wasn’t one of them—not for athletes anyway. We were tired, man.

The tenseness in the room had lessened after a few seconds of my back being turned to her. I could hear her shuffling around, and a part of me began to feel bad that I had pushed her too far. Despite our rare interactions, I’ve actually concluded a good bit about my roommate from coincidental eavesdropping. Come on, it wasn’t like she wasoverlyquiet while on the phone. But Claire didn’t enjoy conflict. That much was made apparent. In a battle, I was certain she would be the first to throw the white flag. She did it every time she and her boyfriend were on the phone. I couldn’t hear what he had said to her, but my imagination didn’t need to work too hard.

The dude was insecure as fuck and pretty damn possessive for a guy that didn’t want his girlfriend to live with him.

I slowly turned around and saw that she was fully dressed now—well, as dressed as she was going to get. Her black leggings clung to her ass like a second skin, and the sports bra she had on showed entirely too much of her belly, but she quickly threw on a jacket and began putting her unbrushed, wavy hair into a bun.

“You never answered me, you know.”

She sighed loudly, as if I didn’t know that she was annoyed. “What are you talking about?”

“How long have you and your boyfriend been together?”

I stood by the door with my towel and body wash trapped in my tight grasp as I waited for her answer. Curiosity got the best of me. I mean, we did live with each other, and I was certain she knew more about me than I did her. I was the center of a lot of conversations. The closer it got to our first game, the more my name was shuffled around campus like I was body-surfing the crowds.

“Four years.” Her eyes softened around the edges when she answered me, and I wasn’t sure what to make of that.

Four years. Fuck.That was about three years and eleven months longer than any relationship I’d ever been in. I’d never been fully invested in long-term relationships or envious of my friends who had the security of a girl to take to prom or follow throughout college. My priorities were narrower than that—stellar student, loving son, good brother, and model hockey player. My ambitions revolved around the NHL, and that wasn’t because I wanted the fame that came with it. My need for hockey went much deeper than that, and if I could make my family proud and support them in the way that they supported me, I would know I had succeeded. But still, I couldn’t get her answer out of my head for the rest of the day.

“How’s the roomie?” Aasher tapped me on the shoulder with his stick as we skated around the rink, wasting time until practice started.

I flung the puck back and forth as I picked up speed. “Honestly, I don’t see her much, so it’s been fine.”

“What does she sleep in?” I stopped abruptly and glared at Landon.

“I don’t know.” I began skating faster and harder, clearly agitated. Of course I knew what she slept in. Her bare leg was usually peeking out from the covers each morning when I woke to run, but I didn’t see why it mattered.

“I heard she sleeps naked.”

My stick was out a moment later to knock him down, but Landon being Landon, missed it at the last second and threw his head back and laughed. “That’s the newest piece of gossip on the floor.”

I rolled my eyes. “Explains why every guy was loitering outside my door this morning. She doesn’t sleep naked, and even if she did, it’s not my business.”

“You cannot honestly tell me that you don’t find her attractive.” Aasher raised his brow, calling me on my bluff.

I shrugged, meeting at center ice for practice as everyone gathered. “Even if I did, it wouldn’t matter.”

Our helmets were on, and we lingered as we waited for Coach to get on the ice to begin calling drills. There was a grunt from Emory as he joined in on the conversation that just about every one of my teammates was checked into. I was captain, so even if they didn’t want to admit it, they all gravitated toward me. “Could you imagine fucking your roomie and then her walking in on the many favors you receive before games? Yikes. You can’t live with someone you fuck unless you’re together-together. You know?”

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