Chapter 4

CHAPTER 4

MADDOX

A WEEK LATER

I hated college. Go on and tell me I'm being an ungrateful asshole. Whatever.

It was a lot for me to deal with and pushed my limited patience to the brink. Between the eager—and downright nosy—students in the dorm, meeting with my advisor, and actual classes, I was in a perpetual state of pissed.

And I was totally unsurprised. This was the reason I'd held off from applying after graduating from high school. I wasn't sure I could handle being in class again. Not the actual classwork, since no matter the subject, I always scored high marks. It was the in-person thing that always threw me. Especially in courses where the teacher paired people up for projects. Working with, and depending on, someone else to help me with my coursework was a no-go. The dreaded ‘T' word. Teamwork. It was bad enough I had to deal with others when I played hockey. At least there, I had distance. Goalkeeping is its own thing.

But school? Ugh. The whole structure of college was stupid, anyway. Outdated. I was already deep into coding and programming. I worked online, part time, setting up websites, and making decent money. In fact, I probably didn't even need a computer science degree at this point. But still, if hockey didn't work out, I needed a plan, so I wasn't totally screwed. No way I'd ever be in a vulnerable position again. And getting a degree seemed like the logical thing to do.

My core classes were fine. But it was here, in my elective, Economics 201, where I was prepared to be bored out of my mind. It was either economics or a social sciences class. Which, of course, involved group work. Hard no. Programming, algorithms, calculus—those were my classes and it was all about individual achievement. No way was I depending on anyone but myself for my grades.

This elective, however, proved to be popular with a lot of students, probably for the same reason. There were at least sixty or so students in attendance. As usual, I sat at the back, in the last seat of the last row, on my phone, playing solitaire. Shut up. The game calmed me.

A door slammed, and I looked up to find a familiar figure entering the room. Aw, shit. Kayden was in the same class as me? Just fucking great. I'm sure my scowl could crack my face in half at this point.

Kyden was so huge he nearly hit the top of the doorframe. But he didn't walk so much as tumble into the room, tripping over something, and nearly face-planting into a row of students. The difference between his coordination on the ice and off it was startling. And concerning.

Kayden looked up, and when he spotted me, he jolted.

Oh my God. Please stay away.

He made his way to the front row, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Good. Perfect. One less annoyance for me to deal with.

But when Kayden sat down, and even though the rows were staggered, the people behind him couldn't see around. I bit back a chuckle as one classmate, then another, tapped on Kayden's shoulder to talk to him.

Unfortunately, my laughter was short-lived.

Kayden got up, red-faced, and headed up the stairs to the back of the room. Then I realized that there was only one other seat left up here, and it was right beside me.

Doing my best to look busy, I kept my eyes focused on my phone and absently tugged on my silver earring with my free hand. I didn't watch Kayden sit down, but I felt the ground underneath me vibrate when he did. When his knee hit mine, I nearly jumped out of my chair.

"Sorry," Kayden muttered.

I grunted and shifted away, my feet resting in the aisle. When I looked up, I noticed a few raised eyebrows from other students.

"What?" I snapped.

No one bothered me after that.

Kayden shifted, and the loud creak of his chair had me biting back another chuckle. Fuck, twice in one day. It was a miracle.

He was sitting way too close for comfort, but what could I do? At least Kayden didn't smell bad. I caught the scent of something woodsy, spicy. Anything was better than hockey sweat, and if I could survive that shit, I could survive anything.

"Damn," he whispered.

I glanced over and noticed that he had his laptop open, but the telltale buzz meant he was out of power. He shut his computer, and pulled out his phone, typing away.

A middle-aged man in a rumpled brown suit stepped into the class and walked up to the podium, tapping it once.

"I'm Professor Thomas H. Clarke and this is Economics 201. If you're registered for 101, 301, or 401, guess what? You're in the wrong class," he paused.

Five, no six students got up and quickly left the room.

"Now, our first lecture today is about common theories of macro?—"

Boring.

I continued to play solitaire on my phone and half-listened to the teacher. Kayden was typing relentlessly. It sounded like he was either taking word-for-word notes or was texting someone a really long fucking message. Given that he kept muttering and swearing under his breath about ‘talking too fast,' I assumed it was the former.

"You don't need to note every damn thing he says," I bit out.

"Uh, yeah, I do."

Weird, but okay.

After what seemed like an hour (it was six and a half minutes), Professor Monotone started asking the class questions. Pretty sure Kayden was taking notes on that, too.

"…And to see how much everyone was paying attention, we're going to have a pop quiz," he continued. "Open your email. You have fifteen minutes to complete."

"Shit," Kayden exclaimed.

Why was he so torn up about a stupid quiz? I pulled out my laptop, filled out the answers in under five minutes, then got back to my game. By the time the class ended, thirty minutes and another boring lecture later, I was dying for a smoke and some kind of mental stimulation. Any kind.

Thankfully, Kayden grabbed his stuff and lumbered off without saying a word. I thought for sure he'd try to talk to me again. But apparently, he'd learned his lesson the first time.

What can I say? I was a really good fucking teacher.

Kayden

I was never going to pass Economics 201. The professor talked too fast, I didn't understand half the concepts he rattled on about, and most of all, I was distracted by the warning from my advisor. Panic was setting in.

If I lost my scholarship. If I lost, if I lost…

I wouldn't. I couldn't. I needed to stay calm.

I'd already been granted extended time for my assignments. But I wasn't expecting that quiz today and it totally threw me off. Pretty sure I failed that. Not a great start.

How did I forget to charge my laptop? And why the fuck didn't I remember to bring my charger? I had reading and spelling apps on my phone, and normally they worked great. But when my laptop died and my app froze, I was fucked.

On the positive side, I had tutors lined up. Hopefully, between that and extra time for tests, I'd be okay. As long as I didn't have to sit beside Maddox again. He finished the quiz in half the time it took me. When I glanced over, I noticed he had his schedule open, and a computer programming class was next. The guy was probably a coding genius or something. Or a hacker. I could see that. He had that ‘ I'm angry with the world and I live in a dark basement ,' vibe.

I rushed back to my dorm, grabbed my laptop charger, and headed for my next class. Halfway across the campus, I spotted Dane and Jackson and headed over to say hi. It turned out, my hunch about the two of them was right. And Dane confirmed it that night in town, when me and Jace had dinner with them.

"Jackson and I are dating," Dane admitted as we sat on the outdoor patio. "We were together back in high school, but I wasn't ready to come out. But we're only telling a few of our close friends. I'm not ready to tell everyone. You guys know, obvi, and Coach. I'm still not sure about when I'm going to tell the rest of the team."

I was happy for them, but I understood.

Jace was bi and had gone through the same thing last year. He hadn't told the rest of the team either, only me, Dane, and Coach. I got it. There was enough pressure on us between hockey and classes. And fuck knows a lot of people weren't accepting. Not in the hockey world, and not in the world in general.

"I guess this means we'll see you at every home game?" I teased Jackson. "Are you gonna bring Wayne too?"

Wayne was Dane's leopard gecko and not my kind of pet. I preferred dogs. But Wayne was cute, if you liked scaly reptiles. And the other players thought he was cool, so he became our unofficial second mascot.

"I don't think the cold is good for him," Jackson replied, his eyes bright. "But I'll try to make every game. Or as many as my schedule allows. Unless I'm in a regatta."

Dane turned to his boyfriend and the heated look that passed between them had me suddenly envious. What would it be like for someone to want me like that?

"…Do you want to come?"

I stared at Dane and Jackson, totally lost at this point.

"What?" I said, shaking out of my daydream and back to the present.

Dane laughed. "I said, Jackson and I are going to grab some lunch at the Blackbird Café. Do you want to come with?"

"Sure."

After I'd scarfed down a chicken Caesar wrap and chips, I said goodbye to my friends and headed for my next class.

Halfway through my community development course, I got an email from Coach Banning about our team schedule. Our first away game with an overnight stay was taking place in Rochester in two weeks. Which meant traveling the night before. Last year, I got lucky and roomed with Dane for our road trips. I was hoping for the same this year. But it turned out, hope wasn't enough.

And when I saw the name of the person I was rooming with? Let's just say that my earlier panic hit an all-time high.