Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 59092 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 295(@200wpm)___ 236(@250wpm)___ 197(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59092 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 295(@200wpm)___ 236(@250wpm)___ 197(@300wpm)
Dad notes the fear in my eyes. “I’m sorry, honey. I wasn’t thinking. It’s been so long since everything happened.” He places his hand over mine and holds it there. “You don’t have to come. It’s all right. Come to another game.”
I broke my dad’s rules with Kellan, and that ended horribly for me. Because of him, I no longer have the desire to date another athlete ever again. One rotten apple was enough to spoil the rest. So, why do I keep thinking about Preston?
“No, I can do this. The game is a big deal for you.”
He shakes his head. “It’s another year, a different season, same game. Nothing ever changes.”
“But this is your first season as the head coach of a college team.”
Until last season, my dad was an assistant coach at Strickland University.
“I was thinking we could grab a pizza from Gio’s before I have to get back to work.”
“But practice is over,” I point out.
“Coaching never ends, honey. I have a few hours of tapes to run through.”
I frown. “You work too much.”
He smiles. “Wanna eat with your old man before you head back to your dorm?”
“Sounds good. But only if we can get pepperoni.”
He holds out his hand for me to slap like I’m one of the guys. “Deal.”
Chapter Two
PRESTON
After my encounter in the locker room with Bex Bryant, I can’t get her out of my head. But she’s my coach’s daughter and completely off-limits. So I have to push the image of her in a pair of tight spandex shorts out of mind. I have to forget about how good she looked in a basketball jersey.
I walk across campus with a few of my teammates, who I’ve known since we were babies.
Tucker Kane yells to a group of sorority girls and whistles at them.
“Didn’t you hook up with them last year?” I ask him.
He runs his fingers through his spiky blond hair, confusion scrolling across his face. “I don’t know. Did we?”
I laugh as Tucker speaks for both him and Trent. Compared to the Kane twins, the rest of us look like saints. They move on from girls faster than it takes to lace a pair of skates.
“I didn’t,” Drake Donovan chimes. “There’s no reason we can’t share, Prez,” he says with a wink.
My closest friends call me Prez. Jamie started it when we were younger, and the mysterious ‘z’ that’s not in my name somehow became my nickname. Almost no one calls me Preston, and no one who wants to live calls me Peter.
“Hard pass,” I tell Drake. “I don’t want Trent or Tucker’s sloppy seconds.”
Drake is the son of Carter Donovan. He’s one of the best goaltenders in the division. At six-foot-seven, Drake has a few inches on me. He’s built like his dad, a giant whose muscular body blocks the net.
Jamie laughs. “You better look for girls on another campus then.”
Our parents grew up together in foster care and raised us like brothers. My uncle Jameson is the reason I’m named after Spider-Man. He won a bet with my parents, and I got stuck being Peter Preston Parker. All of us grew up with skates on our feet and on the ice together, knowing what it’s like to have famous parents. It’s also what bonds us.
“Did Coach Bryant’s daughter look different to you?” I ask Jamie. “I didn’t recognize her at first.”
He shoves a hand through his short, brown hair. “That girl was Coach’s daughter? No way.”
I nod. “Yeah, that was Bex Bryant.”
“Damn,” Drake says. “What happened to her? The last time I saw her, she looked like a little girl.”
Trent scratches the light stubble along his jaw. “She has tits now. Nice ones.” He pauses for a second. “Why? You like her?”
I don’t respond at first.
Do I like her?
I shrug. “She’s hot. I’d fuck her.”
“She has nice legs,” Drake says.
“Nice tits,” Jamie comments with a lazy grin.
“But she’s Coach’s daughter,” I shoot back. “He would flip his shit if I went anywhere near her.”
“Right, right,” Trent says.
“You don’t want to get on his bad side,” Drake interjects. “We need all the playing time we can get this year if we want to get into the NHL.”
No girl is worth jeopardizing my future. Contrary to belief, I can’t make a pro team just because my dad had talent. I have to prove I can hack it, too. I have big shoes to fill, as do the rest of my friends.
“And let’s not forget about The Queen,” Trent adds. “She’s been looking for dirt on us. Don’t give her any, Prez.”
“She’s got it out for Tucker, not me.”
“Correction,” Tucker says with his hand raised. “She has it out for all of us. Or did you forget that when she put all of us on blast last week after the party at Delta Sig?”