20. Teagan

twenty

Britt's emergency wasn't an emergency after all. It was more of an I miss you and haven't seen you forever, now, get your ass over here and talk to me, kind of emergency.

I rush upstairs hoping to finish what we started before I got Britt's text message.

"I wouldn't go in there right now if I was you." I jump and spin around at the sound of Mark's voice behind me. How in the hell did he sneak up on me like that? When I don't say anything, he continues, "Selina is in there with them right now. She arrived right after you left, almost like she was replacing you or something."

Who the hell is Selina? My mind races with who she could possibly be and why she would be in Coulter's bedroom with Fin and Royal.

"Fin asked me to be the lookout in case you came back. I was supposed to warn them when you returned, but I think it's finally time you found out the truth about your boyfriends."

"They"re not my boyfriends," I deny. Not wanting Mark to know about our true relationship.

"Boyfriends, fuck buddies. Does it really matter what you call them?" The sneer on his face has me taking a step toward the staircase. His eyes follow my movement. "There's no point in trying to run from the truth. I think it's about time you found out what kind of guys you"re dealing with here. Don't you think?"

I don't want to hear anything this asshole has to say. He's been nothing but a jerk to me the whole time I've been on the team. But a part of me needs to hear what he has to say. I know I'm not really girlfriend material. At least that's the excuse all my ex-boyfriends gave me. I'm too competitive.

"Look, I know you don't trust me, but guys talk, and, well, they've been talking about you and, you know, your body. They say you're a sex freak, and it takes all of them to satisfy you. They said you're different than Selina. Selina was a good girl who only crossed the line once with Royal."

I can't move. I know Mark never wanted me on the team, but why would he say such hurtful things to me and risk Royal, Fin, and Coulter"s wrath if they weren't true? They would kick him off the team for lying.

"I can tell you're having a hard time accepting what I'm saying to you as truthful, so why don't I tell you all about Selina." Mark takes my arm and guides me to a hidden nook next to the stairwell, just out of sight from Coulter's bedroom.

"Last year, all three of them fell for the same girl, coach Greg's younger step niece. She wasn't even eighteen yet, but that didn't matter to them. They were all used to getting whatever and whoever they wanted, and nothing was going to stop them from having Selina. It almost cost us the championship."

He's lying. They would never fight over the same girl unless she didn't want all three of them. Royal's words come back to haunt me: If we do this, Teagan, there's no going back. You're ours to do with what we want. No crying that we forced you to take all three of us at the same time. Do you understand? Is that what they did? They forced themselves on a na?ve young woman.

"Rumor has it they agreed to wait until Selina turned eighteen, then they were going to suggest they all share her. Well, I guess Royal couldn't wait long enough and decided he wanted her before her birthday."

Mark's story doesn't make sense. Royal would never break his promise, especially to Fin and Coulter. I'll ask them myself.

I take a step toward the hallway.

"If you leave now, you're going to miss the best part." Mark grabs my wrist, squeezing it tightly.

"Why should I believe you." I pull my wrist out of his grasp and take a step back.

"As I said, you don't have any reason to believe me, but know this: if your little boyfriends cared anything about you, they wouldn't have told the whole team how you begged for them to come all over you in the shower."

Heat rises in my face, but I recover quickly. "I don't know what you're talking about." I jut my chin out, refusing to let the tears of betrayal fall from my eyes.

"Keep telling yourself that, Princess. You're the laughingstock of the team. Hell, probably the whole league by now. I can see the headlines now, Daughter of legendary hockey player Teddy Hayes fucked her way to a starting position."

Refusing to let him see how much his words affect me, I raise my chin up a little bit more. "Go on with your story," I say, my eye twitching as I wait for the rest.

"Good girl." I hold back a flinch. His praise makes my skin crawl, unlike when Royal, Fin, and Coulter praise me.

"Royal and Selina had a brief relationship before her family sent her away to boarding school. It looks like she is back to claim her men." He nods his head toward Coulter's door.

I peek around the pillar blocking our view, and standing less than fifty feet away, walking out of Coulter's bedroom, are Coulter, Fin, and Royal with a young woman I can only assume is Selina.

She's breathtaking with her long black hair, curvy figure, and shy smile. Of course, they would all fall for someone like her, someone they could protect and cherish, not someone who wants to prove herself as an equal in a male-dominated world.

She is the only one facing our direction; Fin, Royal, and Coulter are all facing away from where Mark and I are partially hidden. Even if she did spot us, she wouldn't know I was the girl who was a poor substitute for her.

A small part of me still hopes that Mark is wrong. That hope dies when they each embrace her in a hug. I can't stop the tears now as they flow freely down my face. How stupid of me to ever think I could have more than just sex with Fin, Coulter, and Royal.

I step backward behind the pillar, not wanting the guys to see me watching their reunion with Selina.

"Do you believe me now?" Mark's smug tone breaks through my thoughts. How I would love to slap that smirk off his face. "See you around, Princess." The acid in his voice takes me off guard. I've never had anyone hate me as much as his words seem to say.

I wait in the nook for what feels like hours, silently crying over three guys who obviously don't feel anything for me, until I realize this was never about them and finding love. No, my journey was about me and my dream of playing on the men's hockey team.

Drying my tears on the sleeve of my shirt, I notice the little white marks on my skin from the day of the hazing, and I realize I don't need Royal, Fin, Coulter, or anyone else to make me feel whole. I'm a Hayes, damn it. This is my destiny, and I'm not going to let anyone come in my way.

I peer around the pillar, making sure the coast is clear, before I go to my bedroom and grab my gear for tonight's game. It's time to show everyone exactly how good of a hockey player Teagan Hayes is.