Face Offs & Cheap Shots (CU Hockey 2)

“How do you say inebriated?” I ask. But it must not come out right.

Rossi laughs at me. “Not like that, buddy.”

Ugh. Why am I so … that word?

Oh, yeah. He called her baby.

I’m not jealous, I remind myself. At all. Nope.

Because jealousy would require me to feel something more than contempt and white-hot lust for Beck.

And damn there’s still a whole lot of lust.

Even knowing he’s been fooling around with me while he’s got some real-life baby doesn’t stop my dick from reacting to the thought of him.

It does stop me from acting on it though.

“Come on, big guy,” Rossi says, swiping us into the building.

“Buddy … big guy … Stop being so conscending.”

“You mean condescending?”

“That’s what I said.”

He helps me across the foyer and into the elevator before pressing the button for our floor. The ground jerking upward under my feet helps anchor my mind back to the present.

“Want to talk about what’s going on with you?” Rossi asks.

“Nope.”

“Is it Beck?”

“What?” I round on him, and his eyebrows jump up in surprise.

“Because he’ll be voted captain.”

“Fuck captain.” I don’t mean that. “And fuck Beck.” That one I kinda do mean.

The elevator stops at our floor and Rossi steps out, but I don’t make a move to leave. “Jacobs?”

“I’m going to give him a piece of my mind.”

I punch the number for the floor above ours, and Rossi watches me as the doors slide closed.

Clearly, Beck thinks he can do whatever he wants and not face any consequences. And why shouldn’t he think that when that’s exactly how life works for Beck?

I get to his floor, and it’s only now I consider that maybe I’m too drunk to do this. But fuck it. When he left with her and blew me off in a text, I’d planned to pick up some chick and bring her back here and show Beck how completely I don’t give a shit about him and his woman.

Except the dull pain in my chest stopped me from even trying.

I rub the heel of my palm into my sternum and follow the hall right to the end until I get to Beck’s door. It’s quiet, and even though it’s not that late, I’m surprised they’re not fucking. If I’ve learned anything about Beck, that guy is insatiable. Then again, there’s every possibility they’re not even in there.

Maybe he took her to some nice hotel.

Asshole hasn’t taken me to some nice hotel.

I grit my teeth and start to hammer my fist against the door. The loud noise echoes along the hall, but no one immediately answers.

I’m about to knock the door down when there’s noise on the other side. The lock clicks.

I prepare myself against what I’m assuming will be a shirtless Beck, but the sweet little blonde answers instead.

She has big eyes and a Bambi face, and I swear I could crush her without even trying. Her pajamas are matching and satin, and I swear they probably cost more than all the clothing I own combined.

She came prepared for a sleepover, then?

I want to tell her. I so badly want to tell her that her precious Teddy has been fucking around behind her back and with me. A guy. But the poor girl looks like a kitten, and while I kinda hate her for my shitty night, she looks too naïve to drag into all this.

“Where’s Beck?” I grit out.

Even her confusion is adorable. “He was here when I fell asleep …”

Of course he was.

The girl gets this coy look on her face as she slowly checks me out, and it’s so completely unexpected I don’t react at first.

“Are you one of Teddy’s hockey friends?”

Teddy. What a ridiculous pet name. “Yes. And you can tell that dickhead I’m looking for him.”

“What the fuck’s going on, Jacobs?”

I spin to find Cohen glaring at me from his doorway. “What does it look like? Where’s Beck?”

“Jesus, are you drunk?”

“Does that answer my question?”

Cohen starts to laugh. “Is this about the captain thing? You practically handed it to him, man.”

“No, this is about—”

“Everyone, calm down!”

Finally.

Beck walks down the hall, arms held out like he’s got everything under control. “Call off the hounds, I’m here.”

“About fucking ti—”

“Teddy, where were you?”

Great. And now she’s talking for me. “Yeah, Teddy. Where did you head off to?”

His eyes lock on mine, and instead of the anger I’m expecting, I’m hit with the weirdest urge to step forward and stake my claim. Fuck Cohen, fuck the campers, fuck baby.

I’m not finished with him.

But like hell am I giving in to that.

“Went for a walk.” Beck licks his bottom lip. “Didn’t expect to come back and find Armageddon.”

Cohen waves a hand at me. “Jacobs is drunk and causing a scene.”

“I’m not causing a scene.”

“Right,” Beck says. “Because everyone usually hangs out in the hall at midnight.”

“It’s your fault.”