Page 27 of Ice Cold Rival

The sudden urge to deck Sellers caught me by surprise. My hands tightened on the strap of my bag, and I reined in the violent response.

He was right. Kenziedidhave fantastic curves. I just hated him talking about her like he was next in line. It was a little too close to Kane’s words from yesterday, which I still had to tell her about.

I’d never cared before. The women I’d been with knew the score, and I had no problem if they wanted to pursue Sellers after our time together. Or if he pursued them. None of my business.

He grabbed his bag and headed in my direction. “When do I get to meet her for real?”

Never. The thought surprised me, but it was stupid. The whole point of the exercise was to convince the world at large she’d tamed the wild bachelor. “She’s coming over today. Eva drove down for a duck family reunion, so I figured there wasn’t a better way to announce the news to the campus at large.”

His brows went up. “How many people are going to be there?”

I did a mental count. When I’d left, Marco was cleaning the kitchen while Stephen “supervised,” Cole and Avery were watching their ninja show with Henry and Sunny, and Mase was pouting in the basement because his duck had chosen the group over him.

Eva had dropped off Henry while I was getting ready then left to get coffee at Wildcat, so she’d be there too.

“With me, six people, two ducks, and one potential vampire.”

“Dude, you live in a clown car.”

I laughed because he wasn’t wrong. Our house used to be only for the four of us, but since Gavin had snagged Eva, we’d been slowly collecting more and more people. Of course, I hadn’t warned Kenzie the house would be full, but she’d be fine. We walked out of the arena and crossed to our cars.

The parking lot was empty except for my BMW and Sellers’ truck. Normally, we’d have morning skate today to prep for our game this evening, but our first match wasn’t until next week.

I should probably be enjoying my morning off like everyone else since Coach ordered us to take the day to rest, but I wasn’t great at following orders. This year, I planned to do everything I could to ensure Boston wanted me after I graduated. Including making my mark as captain.

Sellers threw his bag in the back and leaned against his open door. “I know I’m giving you shit, but I’m happy if you’re happy.”

“So are you coming over?”

“Can’t do it. Mase is still pissed at me for the frozen underwear prank.”

“I warned you not to pick on a guy who could snap you in half.”

Sellers was almost my size, but Mase was in a different category. Given enough leverage he could probably snapmein half. Teasing Mase required a certain amount of finesse.

He shrugged and sent me a grin. “I like to live dangerously. I’ll have to formally meet your girl another time.”

I nodded, throwing my bag in the trunk. “Thanks for coming out here with me.”

“No problem, man. See you tomorrow.” He climbed into his car and drove off with a wave.

The sun beat down on my shoulders, but I wasn’t in a hurry to head home. The house was bursting with people. I loved Eva like the sister I never had, and watching Marco and Stephen banter never got old, but over the summer, they’d all been gone.

Gavin and Eva had moved out, Cole spent most of his time with Avery, and Mase rarely left the basement. I’d gotten so fed up with the quiet of being alone I’d started talking to the damn duck. Then Kenzie had dropped into my lap.

I’d proposed the fake relationship out of desperation, but Kenzie turned out to be an excellent choice. She fed my need for attention with grace and humor. In fact, she’d texted me more in the last week than all my other friends combined. Only Sunny had demanded an equal amount of time.

I almost wished she were coming over todayonlyto see me.

A breeze dried the sweat on my face, bringing the smell of warm pine straw, and I sighed. Sellers had a point. I was standing here daydreaming instead of sitting my cushy, air-conditioned car.

Kenzie would be over in an hour, and I still needed to tell everyone, especially Mase. Not that he’d necessarily show his face, but sometimes he surprised me. Either way, he didn’t like being ambushed, so I tried to respect his needs.

On the short drive home, I debated if it would be better or worse for Kenzie to meet Eva all on her own or with an entire house full of people around her. The others would help distract Eva from using her mind powers to figure out we were faking, but Eva alone is a lot. Add in a bunch of other people and Kenzie might run screaming back to her normal life.

I cursed when I got to the house because Eva had parked in my driveway spot. Cole, Stephen, and Marco were taking up the close street spots, so I had to park in front of Mrs. Lipnicki’s house. The only woman who couldn’t stand me.

As soon as my lock beeped, she appeared on her porch with narrowed eyes. “Something wrong with the street by your house?”

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