Page 15 of Cross-Check

Without thinking about it, I head toward him.

“Shouldn’t you be in class or at the gym, hotshot?” I tease.

Kellan looks up from the computer in his lap and smiles when he sees me. I don’t know if anyone has ever been as excited to see me as he is, and it makes my heart race.

Sure, I’ve dated in the past, but those guys were all tools. I never dated someone I like as much as I’ve grown to like Kellan.

“Hey, what are you up to?” He has this light tone to his voice that has butterflies stirring in my belly.

“I just got out of class. Can I sit?” I ask.

Kellan moves his bag. “Of course.”

I sit down next to him. “What are you doing?”

“I was just getting some schoolwork done before I head to practice.”

“Do you want me to leave you to it?” I put my hands on the ground to push myself up when his hand touches my wrist.

“No, stay. I would rather spend time with you. I can do this later.”

Turning my head, I try to hide my smile, but I feel my cheeks heat anyway.

His hand moves down until he’s holding mine, and he starts playing with my fingers, running his over my rings. “How was class?”

“Boring, honestly,” I say, making him laugh.

“Yeah, freshman year kind of sucks when you have to take all the required classes.”

“Right? I feel like I learned most of this in high school. Call me crazy, but I shouldn’t have to pay for that.”

“Nah, you aren’t crazy,” he says with a smile on his face.

“How’s hockey going?” I ask, changing the subject.

A look I can’t quite name crosses his face. “It’s going better than it was.”

“Good. I hate the idea of you playing when you aren’t feeling it.”

“Are you worried about me, beautiful?”

I roll my eyes. “You wish.”

“Maybe I do.” He winks before looking down at my ring. “So what’s the story with this ring?”

I look down at my hand and see he’s looking at the one on my thumb. “Oh, one of my old friends made it for me. It’s actually made out of a spoon.”

His eyebrows wing up. “Out of a spoon?”

I nod. “Yeah, he buys spoons with kickass handles on them, then cuts them down and makes rings out of them.”

“Did you pick this one or did he?”

“I did. For my birthday one year, he offered to make me a ring, and he let me dig through his box of spoons. I found this one toward the bottom.”

The ring looks like a bunch of tiny delicate vines wrapped around my finger. I’ve never seen anything like it, and honestly don’t know if I ever will again.

“It’s awesome. I never would have thought about making jewelry out of silverware.”

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