BLAZE: Enemies to Lovers College Hockey Romance by Eddie Cleveland (ebook reader macos .txt) 📕

“What, never wanted to fuck a bobble head?”

“Let’s go!” I turn on my heel and march inside. Blaze follows me in through the main doors, chuckling.

There’s no sign of our group anywhere. I should’ve asked the swim coach what floor they were going to. “I’ll go talk to them at the information desk. Can I trust you to behave that long?”

Blaze adjusts the duffel strap on his shoulder, unfazed by my tone. “Don’t bother. I know where we’re going.”

“I take it this isn’t the first time you’ve been selected to volunteer here?”

He walks over to the elevators and pushes the button. He won’t look me in the eyes, which is weird. Normally he’d be trying to get me flustered and smirking as he enjoyed the show. He’s off his game, and I don’t mind it one bit.

“Nah, but I've been here plenty,” he answers.

He gets us to the right floor, and we slip in seamlessly with the rest of the Westbury athletes. I’m not sure why Blaze is so quiet, but I’m grateful he is. Today might work out fine after all. I’m relieved I don’t have to call Coach Wilson and report Blaze missing. I almost feel like I might even be getting good at this job. Except for that whole sleeping with the guy I'm supposed to keep out of trouble thing.

“And, finally, this is the new physiotherapy equipment that Westbury’s generous donation helped us pay for.” The elderly man with silver hair and a dark-blue blazer who has been guiding our tour takes us for a closer look.

We all shuffle into the room and gather around. He’s well into explaining how they use the electronic pulse technology when I notice the exercise bikes on the far wall. They’re so small. Every patient of this hospital is a child. I know life isn’t fair, but that seems exceptionally cruel.

When the group starts to move, I take another look around. Where’s Blaze? My head swivels as I start scanning the room. Did he go to the bathroom? When did he drop off from the tour? Faint laughter from across the hallway catches my attention, and my eyes go from wide to rolling back in my head. Across the hall, Blaze is in another room. I can see him through the big glass windows. He’s over there laughing and flirting with a pretty woman in scrubs.

For the love of… seriously? The woman touches his shoulder and giggles. Blaze is eating it up. Sighing, I leave the group and head over to collect him.

“Yeah, sorry to interrupt.” I am not. “The tour is that way.” I poke my head in the room, but Blaze ignores me.

“Yep. We’re almost ready for them. We’re just getting set up in here.” It’s the woman who answers me.

Getting set up?

Before I can question any of this, children start to stream into the room, and I walk in just to stop blocking the door. Some of the children are wheeling IV drips around, others are being pushed in wheelchairs. There are children missing hair and others missing limbs. They all have one thing in common, the excitement on their little faces.

The rest of Westbury’s athletes line up around the front of the room. They open back packs and bags, pulling out all kinds of cool giveaways.

“Hey kids.” The woman who was flirting with Blaze talks over the murmurs and muffled voices. “You all know me, I’m doctor…”

“Jane!” The room reverberates with the voices of probably thirty children.

“That’s right.” She beams. So, maybe that smile isn’t one she just gives Blaze.

“Today we have some guests from the University of Westbury,” Dr. Jane continues. “Does anyone know what the Westbury teams call themselves?”

“Uhhh.”

“Tiger cats?” a little boy with very thick glasses and a conical hearing aids guesses.

“Unicorn princesses!”

“Super heroes?”

“Those are all great team names.” Jane smiles. “But the teams at Westbury are called the Warriors. And since they helped raise money for our new physiotherapy equipment, they wanted to come in and say hi to the people who use it. So, can you little warriors give a big clap for these Warriors?”

The room erupts as the kids clap and shout and some even sing and randomly dance.

“What’s in the bags?” A frail little girl in a wheelchair struggles with her words. She seems winded by just her question.

“You guys want to know what we’ve got in our bags?” A guy from the basketball team amps them up more.

“Yeah!” they cheer.

“I can’t hear you.” He cups his hand to his ear.

“Yeah!” The room almost vibrates with their voices.

“Well, I hope you’re ready for some of the slickest swag you’ve ever gotten because I’ve got some Westbury water bottles for all of you.” He starts handing them around the room.

“Water bottles? You call that slick swag? Come on.” The athlete with box braids and strong opinions on Blaze chimes in. “If you want something cool, how about you check out these keychains? What do you think of these?” She holds a handful over her head to more cheers.

“Keychains are lame,” her friend from the parking lot cuts in. “Now some Warriors flip-flops are way cooler than those.” She gets in on the Oprah-giving-away-cars action.

The room is crackling with excitement. You’d think it was Christmas. All the kids have growing piles of swag on their laps and in their arms.

“Awww, no.” Blaze dramatically looks inside his duffel bag. “Was I supposed to bring swag? I don’t have anything special, just these Warriors stickers.” He pulls out a handful. “I mean, sure they’re cool stickers. They say Warriors, and they got the logo, but they’re no flip-flops, right?”

He passes them around the room, and the kids quickly lose interest. Out of all their gifts, Blaze has the least impressive ones to hand out.

“Wait a minute…” He looks inside the bag again. “I don’t have any swag, but you know what I do have?”

“What?” the children yell back at him.

“I’ve got favorite animals to give away. Who here has a favorite animal?”

Every