Page 30 of Weak Side

I could see that he was still smirking as he pulled his BU hat backward. I wanted to continue acting irritated with him, but a weird part of me wanted to stay in this moment because, for the first time in weeks, I felt weirdly comfortable around him.

“I’ll buy you new ones.”

I opened the door with a hidden smile on my face, fully prepared to watch this girl beg for her clothes back, but I choked when I saw that it wasn’t a girl at all. Instead, it was Chad.

My smile fell, and it was hard not to notice the way I suddenly felt a change in my attitude. “Chad.”

His black-rimmed glasses hid the crease of disappointment that I was certain was grooved in between his eyes. The blue of his eyes turned to ice as he watched my cheeks fall. “What? You’re not happy to see me?”

I shook my head, a fake smile rushing to my mouth. “Of course I am. I just wasn’t expecting you.”

My hand fell from the door as Theo pulled it farther open, standing entirely too close to me. “Hey. I’m Theo.”

I stepped to the side, away from what felt like a fire brewing, and glanced at my roommate. I was struck by how tense he seemed. All his humor from just a few moments ago was completely gone. He wore a blank expression as he stared at Chad, eyeing him with something I’d never seen before.

Chad looked up at Theo briefly and dismissed him a moment later. “Yeah, I know who you are.” His attention was back on me, and I suddenly felt caught in a trap.

Theo’s jaw wiggled back and forth, and I caught his quick glance in my direction before he brushed past Chad, letting the door almost slam in his face. Chad put his foot out and began stepping inside my room before we were stopped in the doorway by the sound of Theo’s authoritative voice commanding the hallway.

“You know what… I know who you are too,” he said, pulling his black bag up on his shoulder a little higher. A guy with broad shoulders stopped a few feet ahead of Theo but kept his back to us all, clearly listening to the conversation.That isn’t obvious at all.

Chad didn’t move from the doorway before he chuckled, “I doubt that.”

Theo’s white teeth clamped onto his bottom lip, and I gulped. I wasn’t sure what was going through his mind, but my entire body tensed from his expression. I was looking at the Theo that was on the ice, no doubt. Self-assured with an edge of a threat backing his words.

Theo’s teeth disappeared as he shook his head. “No, no.” He squinted. “I’m pretty sure I saw you at a party last Friday. Yeah? Weren’t you at Chi Alpha Sigma?”

Chi Alpha Sigma? That was also known as the party house for the football players. I’d gone with Taytum our freshman year. Chad stared at Theo a second too long, and I broke the stand-off. “Chad…at a party with a bunch of jocks?” A laugh left me.There is no way.

My boyfriend chuckled as he quickly glanced at me before putting his attention back on Theo. There was zero amusement on Theo’s face, though. Chad smirked, agreeing with me. “Yeah, I could definitely find a better way to spend my time than at a frat party with a bunch of you jocks. You must be mistaking me for someone else, man.”

The guy that had stopped by Theo turned around and elbowed him. “We’re gonna be late.”

Theo didn’t pull his stare from Chad, though. Instead, he said, “I hope I am mistaken…”—he glanced at me for a fleeting second—“for her sake.”

I kept my expression steady as I stared back at Theo. I could have formed into a statue right there with the look of concern covering his features before he turned around and disappeared down the stairs.

Chad scoffed before pushing me back into my room and shutting the door with force. “That’s why I hate jocks. What is it with them and their need to try and act like the bigger man in the room?” He took one look at my room and shuddered. “I do not miss dorm rooms. They’re so…small.”

I stayed close to the door, hearing Theo’s words over and over again in my head to the point that I couldn’t hear a single word coming from Chad’s. “Is that where you were last Friday?” I asked, ignoring everything that was coming from his mouth.

Chad’s eyebrows raised as he took a seat on my bed. “What? No. Of course not. We’ve been together for how long? You should know that I’d never be caught dead at one of those parties.”

It was true. The visual of Chad surrounded by a ton of hunky jocks was almost comical, but the way Theo looked at me was making my stomach twist with unease.

“Where were you, then?” I tried to ask the question without sounding skeptical, but by the look of annoyance on Chad’s face, it was obvious that I didn’t succeed.

“Are you really going to let some stupid hockey player twist things between us?” My mouth opened, but Chad stood up and crowded my space. “Look at me.” His hands gripped my cheeks a little harder than usual. “Don’t you trust me?”

“Ye–yeah,” I answered, peering up into his gaze that resembled the boy I fell for in my sophomore year of high school. The only problem? He wasn’t that same boy anymore, and the safety and comfort I used to feel with his hands on me had turned to something else entirely, and I wasn’t sure how to escape it.

15

Theo

Lena:You owe me.

I quickly texted my older sister back as I pulled my shirt over my head, watching the locker room clear quicker than normal. We had a game tomorrow night, so everyone was ready to head home and catch some z’s before our match against Crown Point University. The Hawks were good, but so were we.

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