Page 62 of Between the Blue
“Oh, great. Thank you,” Luke says, giving me a smile and nod. “I’ll grab it after practice.”
At the same moment, Ragnar Lindt stops on a dime right between Ronan and Luke, sending Luke off balance. “Jesus, Rags. Watch it, killer, would ya?” Luke mutters, taking another sip of his water.
Rags?
“Does anyone here go by their actual name?” I blurt, the words just slipping out with the way my brain’s on overdrive right now.
Every player in front of me pauses. And every one of them– except Ben– locks their gaze on me. After a moment of awkward silence, they all burst out in chuckles. “You know,” Ragnar says, “I guess we don’t.”
Great.
I did not study nicknames.
I try to keep my eye from twitching.
“You’re our new photographer?” Ronan asks, bringing me back to reality.
“And social media manager.” I hold up my camera. “I’m Addie.”
“Sweet,” Ronan and Luke say, nearly in sync. At the same moment, Rhett reappears, startling me as he hops over the bench wall out of nowhere and onto the ice.
“Super sweet,” he agrees with them. “Welcome to the Storm, Addie.”
“Thanks,” I say, a smile pulling at my lips.
Rhett skates around the boys, slinging his arm around Ben’s neck. “Doesn’t she seem sweet, Jamesy?”
And even though the way Rhett asks it is completely playful, it’s the person he asks it to that has a rock settling in my throat.
Ben’s jaw shifts to the side as he finally raises his gaze to look at me for the first time since practice began. He traces his bottom lip slowly with his tongue, making my face grow hotter the second.
“As cherries.”
Rhett lets out a chuckle as I feel my cheeks flush. He clearly has no idea of my and Ben’s little not-so-funny inside joke. He smacks Ben’s chest, removing his arm from around him and turning his attention to me.
“Hey, don’t let this guy scare you off,” he tells me, then leans closer, jokingly holding up his hand as if that will block Ben from hearing his next words. “We can’t all be prettyandhave sparkling personalities.”
I tilt my head at Rhett, trying to suppress a laugh. I can’t help but glance back at Ben, whose eyes are rolling. And I have to admit, Rhettispretty. In that smooth, sweet, boy-next-door, golden retriever kind of way.
But there’s just something about Ben.
He’s…rough pretty. Dark pretty. Rip your heart out pretty. Pretty in a way that scares you. Pretty in a way that makes you question everything.
If any such thing exists.
And it honestly surprises me that there aren’t as many women fans drooling over him as there are Rhett.
Though, of course, I’m only saying that because they wouldn’t really know him.
“Don’t worry,” I tell Rhett. “He couldn’t scare me off if he tried.”
“Attagirl,” he grins, tapping the wall in front of me before skating off to join the rest of the team back on the ice, leaving me and Ben entirely alone now.
A beat of silence passes before I finally have to speak up.
“Hey.”
Ben doesn’t acknowledge me, lifting his water bottle up instead and downing what looks to be the remainder of it before dropping it back into the carrier.
