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

out, all of us heading to the exit. There's a bus waiting to take us to the hotel where, apparently, I’m going to be drinking with the guys.

Whew-whew! 

The shrill whistle pierces the air and grabs everyone’s attention. Prissy pulls her fingers out of her mouth. “Not so fast there, Blaze. You’re with me.”

I’m not the only one who’s standing here, stunned.

“Oh, damn, she’s calling your ass out,” Canuck whispers.

“I said don’t give me a reason to regret it. That's much easier if you’re with me. You can help me get stuff in town.”

“Aww, c’mon,” Gucci pleads. “He got in the game. He got a goal. He’s got more reason to celebrate than most guys here.”

“Fine, he can go back to the hotel. Where you guys can celebrate by studying and getting to bed.”

“Sucks to be you, Blaze,” Griz says.

“I gave it a shot.” Gucci shrugs and walks off.

“Poor Blaze is grounded, guys.” I’m not sure who says it. It’s hard to tell who’s talking when they’re walking away.

“Man, she’s got you completely Prissy-whipped,” Canuck calls over his shoulder, and the guys all laugh. The laughter gets quieter as they go out the doors. And I can’t hear it at all when they leave me behind. As the promise of a party shuffles away, getting ready to load their bags on the bus, I look down at Prissy and completely forget what I’m supposedly missing. Her eyes are on mine. I put my lips on hers and give her a kiss and realize, this is what I’ve been missing the whole time.

19

Dirty Little Secret Priscilla

The fluffy snowflakes whirl around. It’s like someone shook up a snow globe and plopped us in it. Blaze walking next to me, staying so close, it’s reassuring. Normally I’d never walk around alone in a strange city at night. The burden of those worries aren’t completely gone, but walking beside Blaze mutes them for a while.

“Where’d you learn to whistle like that?” Blaze asks.

“Must have been my years living as a deckhand on a pirate ship,” I joke.

“No, really.”

“I taught myself. My mom used to call me home that way when I was a kid. I always thought it was cool, so here we are.”

“Impressive.”

Blaze’s phone buzzes and dings with an explosion of texts. He reads the screen, shaking his head. All of a sudden, he stops and glances over his shoulder.

“Fucking guys.” He points over at the bus that I refused to let Blaze get on back at the arena. It was still idling in the parking lot when we left, getting crammed with gear and guys. Now it’s pulled up to the stoplight next to us on the road.

That bus might not be yellow, and the seats are definitely more comfortable, but it still reminds me of our old school field trips back in the day. With so many hockey guys pushed up next to the windows, fingers and faces are pressed into the glass as they point and yell things that we can’t hear.

His phone keeps buzzing harder than a vibrator with brand new D-cells. The annoying text message notification keeps assaulting the silence. Blaze flips off the whole bus, and there’s an uproar so loud we can hear it from the sidewalk. Mostly laughter. The driver pulls away through the green light, and guys move from window to window to extend how long Blaze can see them giving him the finger.

“Hopefully they don’t stay that crazy.” I start second guessing how I said I’d look the other way at a few beers and minor celebrations at the hotel.

“Awww, c’mon. They earned a break.” Blaze looks at me from the corner of his eye. He suddenly seems to remember he’s still holding his phone. The screen lights up before he shoves it in his pocket. I don’t mean to read his screen, but I don’t try not to either.

Canuck: Prissy-whipped!

There’s a long line of laughing emojis after. From the amount of texts he got, I’m guessing that phrase may stick around for a bit.

“Listen, if you’re going to do anymore whip cracking, don’t waste it on them.”

“Oh, how noble. Are you sacrificing yourself for the good of the team?” I roll my eyes.

A giant snowflake sticks to my cheek, and Blaze softly brushes if off. I want him to stop right here and grab me. I want him to kiss me in the middle of the sidewalk in the middle of the snow falling, exactly the scene I’d expect to see in a real snow globe.

He doesn’t do any of those things. Still, something stirs inside me. When it’s just me and him, it always feels this way, like an awakening.

“Fuck the team. I’m saying you can save all that sexy dominatrix shit for me. I think it’s hot.” His nostrils flare, and there’s a spark in his eyes. Blaze runs his hand over his beard. The dark blurs into the tattoos on the back of his hand.

I follow him around the corner, up a street full of bright signs promising every type of food. My stomach decides it’s hungry for all of them and growls.

“Hungry?” He looks at me, and I wrap my arms around my stomach. Where’s the mute button for that?

“I could eat.” I try to act like my belly didn’t just try to audition for the role of Tiger in a Katy Perry music video.

“Do you like wings? ‘Cause I know a place that will blow your mind. They’ve got every flavor you can imagine. You can even get chocolate chicken wings.”

“Ew.”

“Okay, skip those. There are normal flavors too. Come on, it’s not that far. Just over there.” He points across the street from the public park.

“Sure.” I shrug. I don’t care what we eat as long as it shuts up my stomach.

The restaurant doesn’t look like anything special, but Blaze is excited when we get seated and starts looking over the menu. He wasn’t lying. There are more flavors of chicken wings than