Page 11 of Ice Bet

“You still got beef with Sully?” Efrain probed. “I thought you two moved on from that after the first go around during preseason.”

We had words. That was it.

Efrain sighed. “This won’t be good for the team. You’ve gotta let that shit go.”

Something snapped inside my body as muffled, girly laughter crept under our door from the hall. Oh, he was making her laugh now?

“You want to know what isn’t good for the team?” I kept my tone level, but I was irritated. “The little competition going on between some of the players over who can be the first to fuck Riley.”

“What?” Berkley’s head snapped so loud I heard a crack.

“There’s an ice bet going around, and guess who’s at the center of it?”

“He didn’t.” Ford gasped dramatically.

Oh. He did.

“An ice bet? That’s the oldest trick in the book and the stupidest idea anyone on this team has had, and that’s saying something because Ford was looking into getting a real fucking wolf for our mascot.” Efrain said.

“Blasphemy,” Ford cursed under his breath, and we all gave him our attention—something he enjoyed. “Both the fact that it’s illegal to own a wolf and the fact that half the team is trying to fuck Riley. What are they thinking?”

A rush of air flew from Berkley’s mouth.“Coach will lose his shit if he finds out.”

“And half the players will lose their spot on the team, meaning we can say goodbye to the Frozen Four.” I sighed with agitation. The more I thought about it, the more anger that surfaced. “That’s not all.”

“There’s more?” Efrain asked.

I rolled my lips. “Remember when Coach pulled me into his office the other day? He basically deemed me as Riley’s babysitter. He wants me to watch out for her. Treat her like I would if she were my sister.”In other words, keep the team’s hands off her.

There was a beat of silence as each of my friends downloaded the information I had given them. Ford snapped his fingers at Efrain and Berkley. “It’s time to intervene, boys.”

“What does that mean?” Berkley was leery. We all were.

Efrain stole the glass of whiskey out of Ford's hand and handed it off to me so I could pour it down the sink.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa! Why did you do that?” Ford asked.

I raised an eyebrow. “We have conditioning at seven in the morning.”

He pouted, but it didn’t last long. “Let’s go see what little Miss Riley’s plans are for the night. I can assure you it won’t be spending time with an asshole like Sully.” Before we followed after him, he ruined his act of righteousness with a cocky remark. “Plus, if that girl is sleeping with anyone, it’s going to be me.”

My jaw flexed.

“I’m kidding. Chill,dad.”

6

RILEY

“So how have you been, Ry?”

I knew one of them would follow, but to my surprise, it was Sully instead of Aasher.

What was I thinking? Stomping over there in my pajamas and yelling at them? I had tried to ignore them, but the louder they became, the more irritated I grew. I couldn’t focus on the syllabus posted in my business ethics class, and one too many huffs later, Sutton was pulling me off the couch. “Come on, let’s go see what all the ruckus is.”

Then Aasher justhadto make a comment about my attire. It fueled my irritation even further. What a jerk.

I slowly turned around with Sutton by my side and found Sully resting against the wall with his arms crossed over his chest. He waited patiently for my answer, and he could have fooled me, because instead of looking smug, like the rest of his teammates, he truly seemed curious.

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