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“Um, well, how should I pull that off since I’m always with the team?”
“When you’re not on the ice, you watch her.”
“No disrespect, but that sounds kind of like a stalking charge and my mama ain’t–.”
“You think I give a fuck about that?”
There’s a hierarchy in the Valencia Suns, and all freshmen are at the bottom of it. We call them grunts. They have to do their thing on their ice and they have to prove their mettle as part of the team as well.
Most of the starters are upperclassmen and we all adopt one newbie as our personal errand boys. According to the university bylaws that might be classified as hazing, but we like to call it team building.
While I used Keith to drive me and Violet around on our first date, my actual personal grunt is Deuce. He’s a good kid from Colorado Springs who shits, eats and breathes hockey and is eager to please, so I have him keeping an eye on Violet for me. Now that people know that we’re together, and especially after what happened at the Gamma house, I feel more protective of her than ever.
“So, is it okay if she knows I’m there, like if she sees me?” Deuce asks nervously.
“No, it’s not okay,” I tell him, as if it’s the stupidest question he’s ever asked. “Keep your distance, grunt.”
“What I think Neo’s trying to say, Deuce, is that he doesn’t need you to follow her around like some kind of deviant. Just ask around about her. She’s new to the school and doesn’t know many people,” Bass tells him. “Cap just wants to make sure no one, you know, fucks with her.”
Bass is unofficially in charge of all the new players on the team. Nobody assigned him the job, he just enjoys it and the grunts believe he’s their ally because he comes off nicer than me…until he isn’t.
“This is where she’ll be.”
I text him the address of Kennedy’s apartment.
“Okay.”
It’s obvious that Deuce is uncomfortable with his assignment. No doubt he has a conscience or some such shit, but what he’ll soon learn is that I don’t share that same burden of having a moral compass. I pretty much do what I want on this campus without impunity and I don’t care that I can.
Now that I’ve touched her, tasted her, and Violet is officially mine — there’s an inexplicable pull that I feel toward her - a pull that’s as strong as the gravitational force between the earth and the sun.
Some might even call it obsessive.
She’s all I think about.
It’s scary though, because she makes me feel things that are out of my character. I feel the need to spill my guts. Share all my secrets. Talk about emotions. Even talk about Jake. She may be one of the few people on this campus to see a part of me I rarely share with the world. And if that ain’t some scary shit, I don’t know what is.
A few weeks ago, my only purpose in life was winning hockey games. I am living the life Jake was supposed to have. We’re so close to a championship, I can see it. And I’m so close to a pro offer I can taste it.
But now Violet has completely turned all of that upside down. And I can’t fuck that up, which is why I’m going to protect what the two of us call our own little private “love bubble” at all costs.
“Wear this,” I tell Deuce, handing him a black baseball cap, free of VCU branding. “You see anyone unusual approach her, you let me know, especially those Gamma dicks or Bender.”
Deuce nods solemnly, the wrinkles on his forehead deepening. He’s struggling to hold my gaze, his eyes constantly darting around the locker room. It’s a typical reaction from someone who’s been given a task that doesn’t quite align with their established worldview. Again, I ignore.
Bass gives me one of his cautionary looks. The kind that tells me I’m walking a fine line between being captain of this team and a straight up psychopath, so I try softening my approach.
“It’s just surveillance,” I reassure Deuce, although I’m not entirely sure I’m telling the truth myself. “She won’t even know you’re there.”
Deuce takes the hat, swallowing hard. “You’re sure this is alright, guys? I don’t want to get kicked out of the program.”
Before Bass can answer that, I raise an eyebrow at Deuce and shrug. “Do you trust me?”
He hesitates for a moment before nodding, the tension in his jaw loosening slightly. “Yeah, Cap, I do.”
“Then do what you’re told and all will be well.”
As he walks out, pulling the cap low over his eyes, I can’t help but question my sanity at this point, and so does Bass.
