Page 36 of Weak Side

A smirk crawled over my face as I pushed off from the doorframe of the kitchen and headed straight for her. A bob of a swallow worked its way down her slender neck, and she pulled her gaze away from me to talk with one of her friends. I stood, stunned, but only for a split second, as Claire tried to walk past me. I laughed before I gripped her arm and pulled her toward me.

“That’s not very nice. You’re not even going to say hi to your roommate?”

The sharp sting of her blue eyes was full of annoyance, so I dropped her arm. “Hi,” she said, shooting me a fake smile. She started to walk into the kitchen again, but I slipped in front of her.

“That’s it? Just a hi? You act like we don’t sleep in the same room.” I shook my head with obvious disapproval. “What’s wrong, Bryant? Fighting with your boyfriend or something?” The sound of her teeth grinding against one another gave me a clue that she was truly angry about something.What did I do now?“Don’t tell me. You’re mad that I put your underwear in your drawer. Didn’t you get my note? I swear I didn't go through it.” I most definitely wanted to, though.

“Theo,” she hissed, bringing her face a little closer to my chest. “Knock it off.”

“Knock what off?” I asked, hearing the way my voice skirted very closely to something flirty.What am I doing?

“Here ya go!” A drink was placed in between my chest and Claire’s face.

“Thanks, Rose.” Claire tenderly smelled the brim of her cup, and her nose wrinkled.

She and her friend, Rose, cheered their cups silently, and something involuntarily forced my hand to snatch Claire’s drink before it touched her lips. She huffed and shot me a dirty look, wondering what I was doing.I’m wondering the same.I turned to Rose and peered down at her disapprovingly. “Did you pour this? Or did someone hand it to you?”

Rose’s cheeks turned a little pink, but I was used to that when talking to a female. They were either too eager for my attention or struggled to get words out.Except Claire, though.“I poured it myself.”

My hand left Claire’s cup swiftly, and I was surprised at my random act of chivalry. It wasn’t that I was a bad guy, but ask me if I’d done that to any other girl before. The answer was no. “Okay, carry on.”

I stepped away from Claire and her friend and walked toward Aasher and a few other teammates. I was the center of the conversation as I slid up in the middle of their explanation to Rush over the stats of the game.

We were tied 2-2 and down to the last few seconds of the third period until I caught a pass from Aasher, allowing me to tuck the puck under the goalie’s leg as he stretched to block the shot. He was a little too slow, though and I gained the point for my team. Moments after the goal horn blared, the buzzer signified the end of the game, and the entire arena rattled with excitement. The adrenaline from those last few moments took a while to wear off, and Aasher’s voice grew louder the more he talked.

It didn’t take him long to notice my silence, though. I made sure to keep my attention away from Claire and Rose, but I still felt unsettled.

“What’s wrong?”

I shrugged, turning my head slightly so no one else could hear me. “I don’t know. I just had an out-of-body experience.”

“What?”

I shook my head, not wanting to examine my behavior. I tipped my head back and took a bigger swig of beer than usual and trained my eyes to the left side of the room—the side I knew Claire wasn’t on. A puck bunny caught my eye, and she winked at me, and surprisingly, I winked back.Wait, what am I doing?I didn’t fuck around with girls after a game, and I already swore off puck bunnies for the rest of the season.

Focus. Focus. Focus.That was my mantra. Focus on the game, focus on the after interviews, score a one-on-one with Tom Gardini, and land my dream team in the NHL. I wasn’t sure where my head was tonight, but I didn’t like that it was skirting in areas it shouldn’t have been.

“You gettin’ laid tonight?” Emory’s gruff voice came out of nowhere, and I shrugged.

“I don’t know. Maybe.”

“Shit, shedidcome?” I knew who Aasher was referring to, so I didn’t even look in the direction he was staring off into.

“Bryant? Yeah, I guess.”

There was a rumbly snicker that came from Emory, and I glared over at him, not in the mood for games. “What?”

His brows shot up, and he shook his head innocently. “Oh, nothing.”

Why am I acting like this?

I nodded to the blonde who was still staring at me, and she started over in my direction. At the very last second, I turned and skimmed my gaze over to where I had last seen Claire. She was still standing with her friend Rose, and they were chatting about something that clearly was very exciting to Claire because there was a twinkle in her eye. I wasn’t sure why I was so concerned with her being here. Maybe I liked her being in a separate part of my mind. She was my roommate, and that was it. I didn’t want her to start imposing on other areas of my life, but I wasn’t sure why.

“Hey.” The blonde slid up beside me, and my breath was heavy as I exhaled. She blocked my view from Claire, and I was thankful. Apparently, I needed a fucking distraction tonight, which—again—was very unlike me. “Good game.”

“Thanks,” I said, pulling her in close. “Were you in the stands?”

The blonde began chatting very frantically about some of the things that had happened in the game, and I would have been impressed with her knowledge of hockey terminology, but instead, I checked out of the conversation and scanned the rest of the party. I half-chuckled as I watched Ford take Taytum away from one of the football players to spin her around to some country song that he undoubtedly put on. Emory rolled his eyes, and when Ford caught his eye, he threw his hands up in innocence. I kept scanning the crowd and paused a moment later when I caught the side angle of a dark-haired guy that made my blood run cold.

---