Page 142 of Most Valuable Players
“Hey, Ginny.” Liam approaches with his hands in his pockets. “Are you going over to Adam’s… I mean, your brother’s after this?”
“Uhh.” I look to Reagan and Dakota, who both nod eagerly. “I think so.”
“Cool, I’ll see you there.”
I watch him walk off and then look to Reagan. “I think I’m going to need more lip gloss.”
She digs into her purse and hands it to me. “Keep it. You may need to reapply many times.”
17
HEATH
Iget a ride back to the apartment with Maverick. I’m riding shotgun while Taryn and Adam sit in the backseat sucking face.
“Is that Liam’s truck?” Adam asks as Mav parks and we get out.
“Yeah, I think so,” I answer, looking over the silver F-150. There’s like a million of these trucks and they all look the same, but this one has a Valley University Hockey license plate.
His brows draw together, and he has a weird look on his face as he passes it. Adam isn’t one to care who comes over—it’s one area he’s actually chill about. He’s got the whole, “everyone’s welcome” mentality when it comes to the apartment.
“Something wrong with Liam being here?”
“He asked for permission to ask out my sister.” He makes a little grunt of annoyance and Taryn smiles and pats his arm.
“Ginny?”
Now I’m the one getting the weird look from Adam. “I only have one sister, dude.”
“Right.”
I hang back, trailing the guys up to our apartment. I pull out my phone and text Ginny.
Me: Where’d you go? You coming by? Halo rematch?
I cringea little at my borderline needy message, slide my phone back into my pocket, and force myself to chill the fuck out.
After grabbing a beer, I look for Ginny. I don’t see her or Dakota and Reagan. The three of them are inseparable these days. I check my phone, but she hasn’t texted back.
Liam is outside and I head toward him.
“What’s up, Liam?” I tip my chin up in acknowledgment to the other guys on the team standing with him.
“Hey, Payne. Nice assist tonight.”
“Thanks.”
I spot Dakota walking out the back door to the deck first. Ginny and Reagan follow.
They go to the opposite side, stopping to talk to Taryn and Adam.
“Heard you asked Scott for permission to ask out Ginny?” I go for a teasing tone, but don’t quite hit the mark.
Liam nods. “She seems like a cool chick. You two are friends, right? Any advice?”
Back the fuck off. Find someone else. Anyone else.
But that’s not really fair. Ginnyisa cool chick and Liam is a decent guy and hockey player.
