All Chapters of The Hockey Star and His Roommate; She Has A Secret : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

AURELI wake up at seven with a kink in my neck and a weird, lingering sense of accomplishment that has nothing to do with hockey.I spent three hours sitting cross-legged on a hardwood floor, sorting sharp metal pins into color-coded piles while Wrenley fought a sewing machine.We didn’t talk much. I just handed her things when she held out a hand, and watched the tension slowly drain out of her shoulders. By three in the morning, she had actually fallen asleep leaning against the base of her bed, a half-finished swimsuit still completely mangled in her lap. I threw a blanket over her and left before she could wake up and yell at me for it.Now, standing in the kitchen making coffee, I’m waiting for the inevitable backlash. She’s going to be embarrassed that I saw her cry, which means she's going to come downstairs entirely armored up, ready to bite my head off just to prove she can.I hear her footsteps on the stairs, although I don’t turn around, just reach into the cupboard and pu

AUREL"She’s going to report her to the ethics committee."I say the words out loud, pacing the length of the living room, running a hand through my hair so hard it actually hurts. "An illegal housing arrangement. Exploiting a vulnerable transfer student. Those were her exact words, Finn. If Elise sends that email, the athletic board will launch a full investigation. Wrenley loses her spot on the team, she loses her scholarship, and she gets kicked out of school. All because she moved into my guest room."Finn is sitting on the arm of the sofa, meticulously peeling the label off a beer bottle he hasn't opened yet. He doesn't look panicked. Finn never looks panicked, which is usually annoying, but right now it’s the only thing keeping me from driving to Elise’s house and doing something stupid."She’s bluffing," Finn says calmly, dropping a strip of paper onto the coffee table."She’s not bluffing. You weren't in the hallway with her. She looked me dead in the eyes and told me to get W

AURELI run four miles, pushing the pace until my lungs burn and my legs feel like lead, but it doesn't do a damn thing to clear my head.Every time my sneakers hit the pavement, all I hear is the sound of Wrenley’s voice in the kitchen. ‘He wants to take me to dinner on Tuesday.’I should have stayed out of it. I should have let her send the stupid text about food poisoning. Instead, I literally handed her over to Jerry, packaged with a polite exclamation point. And for what? To honor a deal I made when I thought she was just an annoying, grumpy transfer student?I cut across the quad and head straight for the athletic complex. The cold morning air bites through my sweat-drenched shirt, but I don't care. I have exactly one goal today. I need to get Finn's plan in motion. Once Wrenley’s housing arrangement is officially sanctioned by the university, Elise’s threat vanishes. I can dump her, deal with the fallout, and stop feeling like a prisoner in my own life.Then, maybe I can figure

AURELI park my car in the driveway and sit with the engine off for twenty minutes.The Pacific coast night air is freezing, pouring in through the cracked window, but I don't roll it up. I need the cold. I need it to scrub the cloying, heavy scent of Elise’s expensive floral perfume out of the leather seats, out of my clothes, and out of my lungs.My hands are still gripping the steering wheel so hard my knuckles ache.The dinner was an absolute masterclass in psychological warfare. Elise didn'tyell. She didn't bring up the gym. She didn't explicitly mention the ethics board or the threat she made to Wrenley’s scholarship. She didn't have to.She wore a dark silk dress, ordered a hundred-dollar bottle of wine on my tab, and smiled at me across the candlelight like she had just successfully purchased me at an auction.“I’m so glad we’re moving past that little hiccup,” she had said, casually cutting her steak. “I actually had a lovely chat with Tess Nguyen today after practice. Did y

WRENLEYThe locker room smells like chlorine, damp towels, and the suffocating tensionof thirty girls who know exactly where they stand in the food chain.I drop my swim bag onto the bench in front of my locker. It’s Saturday morning, six a.m., and my eyes feel like they have sand in them from staying up until four working on a swimsuit that was way to stretchy to be sown.I pull my hoodie over my head, preparing for the familiar, freezing shock of the pool, when the doors of the locker room swing open.And Elise walks in.She isn't wearing her normal North Bay swim parka but is parading about in a thick, dark navy varsity jacket with the Ice Bears hockey logo stitched into the chest that is definitely too big for her. She is carrying a tray of expensive iced coffees smiling like she just won the lottery."Morning, girls," she sings out, setting the tray down on the center bench. Her usual group of minions instantly swarms her, grabbing the coffees."Oh my god, is that Castell's jac