Page 24 of Caught Stealing

Holden

The house is in complete chaos when I get home from practice over Thanksgiving break, and for once in my life, I’m not the reason for it.

There are at least fifteen people jam-packed on the first floor of our three-story townhouse, and I can tell there are more spilling out onto the deck in the backyard for beer pong—even if it is late November in Chicago. Add in the music thumping through the floor, my guess is there’s a good amount of people in the rec room we have downstairs too.

What the hell?

It takes me a few minutes to find someone who actually lives here, and I’m not surprised when my eyes finally land on Braxton manning the beer pong table out back.

“What’s happening here?” I ask slowly while he aims for a cup.

“We’ve finally started winning,” he says with a shrug, as if it’s enough to answer all my questions. “I only invited a few guys from the team over for a few beers to celebrate, so if you’re pissed, don’t look at me. It’s not my fault it turned into this.”

Thisbeing one step below a full-blown kegger in the middle of our townhouse.

“Of course not,” I mutter as I continue taking in the scene before me.

Most of the people I vaguely recognize from other frat or sorority parties I’ve attended the past few years, and true to his word, there are a bunch of Braxton’s teammates back inside the house. But when I glance through the window, I don’t see the two other hockey players I live with. And while that’s notnotnormal, I’m a bit surprised by it.

“Where’s Oak?” I ask, still looking around for my best friend.

Braxton shrugs for what might be the eighth time since I walked into the backyard. “Beats me. But with our game tomorrow, I’d assume he’ll be home soon.”

And he’s gonna be thrilled when he sees the state the house is in. Ever the golden boy.

“And Cam?”

“Fuckin’…” is all Braxton says before catching the pong ball his opponent throws a little long.

“Theo?”

“Downstairs with some of the baseball guys.” His attention shifts to me after he throws again, and this time the ball bounces off the rim of one cup before bouncing into the one beside it. “And you’re right here, annoying the shit out of me with all your goddamn questions.”

Well, all right then.

I’ve never been much of a Braxton fan, but he’s Oak and Cam’s teammate, so I shut my mouth and deal. Except moments like this make it really fucking hard.

“Just wanting to make sure you cleared it with the other people living here before throwing a house party.”

Braxton doesn’t so much as bat an eye when he replies, “Not like you don’t do the same thing.”

I’ll be the first to admit I’m the usual perpetrator when it comes to parties at the house. The main difference is, I tend to let the rest of the people who live here know when a party is being thrown, rather than everyone being greeted by a sight like this when they get home.

So ifIknow better, there’s no reason Braxton shouldn’t either.

“As long as everyone knows,” I say dryly, which is as close to biting my tongue as I can get.

“And now you do.” His attention shifts back to the game at hand. “So, if you don’t mind, you’re kind of ruining my vibe.”

He just pulled two cups on the last throw while I’ve been standing here, though I’m not about to point it out. I’ve got no reason to keep talking to the asshole as it is.

Ducking back inside, I grab a beer from the fridge and pull out my phone, two ideas battling in my head as to what to do. In the end though, I decide what’s done is done, and there’s no use trying to end this prematurely—especially when my roommates don’t say shit when I have people over. Besides, the last thing I want is Braxton retaliating when I decide to bring in a keg and my fifty closest friends.

So I do the only logical thing at this point.

I open the football team’s group text and extend the invite—making sure to text Kason again separately.

I haven’t had much time outside of practice with him since our date last week. A date that was downright abysmal, filled with far too much awkwardness—mostly on his end—to consider a success. Especially when the most fun I had all night was seeing the look on Phoenix’s face the moment I showed up at the door with his glove covering my dick to pick Kason up in the first place.

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