Hockey With Benefits

I drew up short when I went inside because it was bustling with people. People I didn’t expect to be here.

“Daniels!”

Aw, shit. That was Gavin and looking behind him, I was seeing a good portion of Alpha Mu guys with him. Atwater came over at that time, draping an arm around my shoulder as if I were there for him to rest his weight on. “Nah, man. Daniels is with us.” He motioned to my sweatshirt, or Cruz’s hoodie. “Check the shirt.”

Gavin smirked. “Yeah, right. She parties with us. How about it, Daniels? Alpha Mu against the hockey house. You joining?”

“She’s here, isn’t she?” Atwater’s tone was casual, but his body was rigid.

I glanced over, seeing Cruz at the counter, watching what was going on with us. His gaze flickered over the hoodie, but no expression crossed his face.

I needed to draw a boundary. There was no girlfriend/boyfriend ownership here, so I stepped out from under Atwater’s arm and motioned to Gavin. “I’ll go with Alpha Mu.”

“What?”

“YES! First victory.”

“Cru–” Atwater started to turn his way but caught himself. “–awp. Crap. Okay.” He pretended to leer at me. “Get used to losing, Daniels.”

“Little Daniels isn’t–”

I turned to glare at Gavin, who had stepped up next to me. “Stop calling me that.”

He frowned, his eye twitching a little. “Allen–”

“You’re not Zeke Allen. I’ve not known you since I was in kindergarten. Mara or Daniels, I don’t care, but Little Daniels is not your name for me.”

“Yeah. You put him in his place.” Barclay joined us, his vest on and holding his laser gun in hand.

“Stuff it, Barclay.”

Gavin just got a laugh in response, but turned to face me directly, his back to them. He lowered his head, lowering his voice too. “You okay?”

“Yeah, just you’re not Zeke. I don’t want to have to deal with his annoying ass when he’s not even here.”

Gavin’s head lifted back up and he nodded, a half-grin showing. “Makes sense. Daniels.”

“Thanks.” Looking around, I said, “I’m going to grab my stuff.”

“Make sure to tell them what team you’re on.”

“The losing team,” Atwater added.

They continued to rib each other as I went over to the counter. Cruz stepped up next to me as I was paying. “She’s on our team.”

I glanced at him, surprised because his tone was firm and authoritative. But he wasn’t looking at me, he was watching the doorway, and I saw Flynn Carrington coming in. Cruz didn’t give me a choice. He turned back to the girl, who had paused at his command. He motioned to the vest. “Change her team. She’s on ours.”

She looked my way. I gave a nod.

She made the switch and my vest lit up neon blue instead of green. Cruz took my gun, and I pulled the vest over my head as I followed him back to the group.

“What?” Gavin saw my vest. “She’s on our team.”

Atwater and Barclay both looked over, but didn’t hoot to rub it in. They were quiet, looking Carrington’s way before shifting, just slightly so they were standing between Cruz and the rest of the Alpha Mu guys.

“Daniels is with us.” Cruz was saying it like that was final.

He handed my gun to me, and as I took it, he touched my arm, urging me behind the rest of the hockey guys. I knew what he was doing, and I got it. He wasn’t even eyeing me, seeing if I was going to start balking at the possession he was laying claim to me, but I wasn’t going to. I saw the look Carrington gave me when he walked in, and the look had changed slightly at seeing Cruz handle me.

“You going to give me slack for this?” he did ask when we fanned out, putting more space between me and Carrington.

“No.”

His head turned to me. “Really?”

“I know what you’re doing. Thank you.”

He continued to eye me, but I ignored him, getting familiar with my laser gun.

“You know anything about laser tag?”

“I know enough not to shoot my teammates.”

The side of his mouth lifted up as the rest of the guys came over. They formed a huddle.

Labrowski took control, going over the rules first, which was basically that you needed to be hit twice before you were considered dead. And when you were, you had to lay where you died. You couldn’t return to your team’s base and tell them any information. The chips in the vest let us know when we got hit and what team was winning, etc.

That was it.

He ended with, “We cover each other as we fan out just like on the ice.” He looked at me. “You up for going high?”

I nodded. I actually preferred that, and well, that was the team meeting. We went to our end and started running inside. The guys worked well together, teams of three worked as they ‘cleared’ each corner. Cruz moved with me, and I wasn’t surprised that Barclay and Atwater were also with us. When we got as close to the middle as possible, they found a ledge, and all three of them formed half of a human ladder for me to climb up. I stepped up on Cruz’s shoulder and he hoisted me the last of the way, but I’d been on the dance team in high school. I knew how to tuck my body for being thrown in the air. When I got up, I looked over the edge and saw three guys coming their way.

I leaned over and made a motion to get their attention. They looked and I held up three fingers, pointing in the direction they were coming from. The guys immediately got into hiding spots. I went back over to the other side, laying as flat as I could and setting up my position like I was a sniper, my gun on the ground in front of me.

Pow! Pow! Pow!

“Got you–AGH!”

“You’re dead.”

There was cursing, and then the guys moved off to the side. I used to play this with Zeke and our group of friends. Kit and the other girls didn’t like it as much. They mostly went to flirt with the guys or try and rub up against them in the dark corners. Not me. I actually enjoyed this stuff, so I fully got into character.

I could see a farther corner up ahead, so as they came around it and paused before looking around the next turn, I could take them out. They wouldn’t know who shot them.

Two more Alpha Mu guys did just that, and I thumbed off rapid shots, getting hits so fast they couldn’t regroup fast enough. Both were dead.

Two more and I repeated the process, until one guy saw me and dove out of the way. I had to scurry, knowing he’d come for me right away, but as he took two steps my way, Cruz materialized out of the shadows and got his two hits in. The guy growled, but he fell where he was taken out.

Cruz moved back, hiding again, and there was a burst of sounds from the far left. Shouts and curses sounded out, but then out of nowhere, five Alpha Mu guys burst around the corner. I got two. The other three paused, not spotting me, but I couldn’t get to them. They were edging along the wall where I was hiding, but they weren’t looking up. One turned the first corner, and suddenly a barrage of shooting happened. Atwater and Barclay swept in. Cruz was coming up from behind.

Atwater was dead, but Cruz and Barclay were still good to go. They were making some hand gestures to each other, not speaking. Cruz looked up my way, motioning they were going to move ahead. I nodded to let him know I got the message. It was time to advance now.

They were soon around the corner. For the rest of the game, I picked off any Alpha Mu that got past them. I checked my vest to see how many remained for each team. We had eight guys left, and they had two. Gavin was dead. Carrington wasn’t. The other one still going was Leander.

I saw someone going through the maze, but they were too far away. They were going fast and were hunched over so their vest couldn’t get hit so easily. Smart.

Another burst of shots rang out and I looked at my vest.

Leander was dead, but he took Labrowski with him.

Carrington was left.

I was waiting when Cruz and Barclay came back. They looked up and I pointed where Flynn had gone.

They kept going. Three more hockey guys were on the other side of the maze going in the same direction. I kept waiting, expecting to hear a similar sound of shots any second, but it was just quiet.

Then, I felt a ping and rolled more out of instinct than at understanding what just happened.

Someone got me!

I kept moving back, hurrying along the edge of the room. I’d been out on a cut-out section, so I had more room to lay flat, but since I was moving back, it was narrower. There was less room, so I swung my gun around and I started shooting at my equal height. It wasn’t until I got to another corner, and moved in, that I was able to stop and scan my surroundings. Flynn had figured out I had a vantage point, and he’d jumped up too somewhere.

I waited, my breath quiet and even, but then looked at my vest.

He was still alive, but so was I. He hadn’t gotten his second hit in.

I was toward the end of our side, and I saw Cruz and the rest still alive, looking around, but they were waiting back. As Barclay moved around a corner, he was shot dead.

Middle!

He was in the middle, and that meant he couldn’t follow me. He was on a stationary position.

I waved, getting Cruz’s attention, and I motioned, giving him three positions. Right. Middle. Left. He nodded, following me, and I held two fingers up, indicating he was in the middle.

Cruz got it, patting two of his teammates and pointed, but to the other side. They helped him up. I almost started laughing, seeing Cruz trying to be inconspicuous so high up. It was small for me, so it was tiny for him. But when he motioned at me to move forward, I got his understanding. We were going to flank him, and I began edging out, but trying to keep pace with Cruz, who was moving surprisingly fast and stealth at the same time.

Flynn wasn’t looking my way. He was watching beneath him, so we got closer than I thought we could. He saw Cruz first and swung. Cruz began shooting. I joined in.

Ding, ding, ding!

We got him.

My vest lit up, declaring my team the winner.

“We’re done!” someone yelled from the back.

“Victory to the hockey gods!”

I watched as Flynn got down, and Cruz jumped right afterwards, coming over toward me. He held his arms up, and I slid down. Once he had me, I let go of the side and he eased me down to the floor. He didn’t say anything, neither did I, but Flynn was watching us. His head was tipped to the side, his laser gun raised next to his head too, and he had a slight frown on his face.

Cruz didn’t double down. He could’ve eased me ahead of him, a hand on the small of my back, but we both walked side by side.

“Yessss. Hockey rules.” Atwater was going around, fist bumping his teammates. He came to me, holding his fist up and I met it with mine. “Our secret sniper got half those guys for us.”

“We playing again?” Flynn had followed us to our end. Some of his Alpha Mu brothers were with him. Gavin was on the end, his gaze locked on me.

Cruz stepped farther away, moving so it looked like I was standing next to Atwater and not him.

If we played again, my secret was out. They’d be looking at the top for me.

“I’m down. Let’s switch places. You guys come in from the east.”

It was one of the Alpha Mu guys who spoke.

Labrowski jerked his chin up. “We’re down.” He hollered behind him, “We’re switching it up.”

I started trailing after them when Flynn spoke up again. “How about another trade?”

They came to a stop, looking where Flynn was looking. At me.

Labrowski’s eyebrows went up. “You want Mara?”

Flynn’s grin was sly, and his eyes flashed, darkening. “Be nice to have our own little sniper this time. How about it?” His gaze scanned over Labrowski, who was the team captain, but rested on Cruz.

This officially got not-fun.

If I chose the hockey team, I knew rumors would swirl around campus that Cruz and I were a thing. I didn’t want that. But if I chose Alpha Mu, I did not want to see what Carrington would do.

When all eyes went to me, I reached up and undid my vest. “How about I take off because I have a quiz tomorrow?”

“What?” Atwater grumbled. “Stay.”

A couple other guys tried getting me to stay, but I flashed a grin and waved my gun in the air. “It was fun, folks, but this college girl needs to go.”

I headed back through the maze, sidestepping around some of the Alpha Mu guys who were doing the switch. They saw the target was off me, but no one said anything. I headed over to the counter, handed it back, and laid my gun next to it.

The front desk clerk came over, beginning to sterilize it, but her eyes trailed behind me. “Hey.” She leaned forward and indicated where I had just come from. “You know Cruz Styles?”

“Yeah.”

She bit down on her lip, an almost shy look coming over her. “He single?” Her eyes came back to me, sharpening. “I mean, it didn’t seem like you and he were together, but if you are, hands off for me.”

My teeth clenched together. “As far as I know, he’s not attached.”

Her eyes lit up. “Could you put a word in for me? I’m, you know, down for whatever.” A sheepish grin showed. “I slipped him my number earlier, but he wasn’t making eye contact with me.”

“Yeah.” My mouth was so dry on that word. “Sure. I can let him know.”

“Thanks.” She was beaming now. “He’s so gorgeous. About wet my pants when the team came in.”

I gave her a thumbs-up.

Right.

When I got to the house, yelling was coming from inside the house. There were extra cars in front of the house, so I guessed they were having a few more friends over. I headed up, just getting into my apartment when there was a sudden burst of footsteps on the house stairs. They were coming up and coming fast.

I paused, waiting.

The hallway door opened, and it was Wade. He saw me, jerked his chin up as he raked a hand over his head. “Oh, good. Glad I caught you.”

I eased the door back but moved so I was in the doorway.

He motioned downstairs. “We’ve got another study group going on for class tomorrow. Friday was a bust. You wanna join?”

I considered it. I’d been planning on studying by myself until Cruz showed up, but if he was still playing laser tag… I shrugged. “Sure. Thanks for the invite.”

His smile widened. “Cool.”

He went down, and I shut the door.

I grabbed my stuff before checking my phone.

Me: Studying in the main house with others. If you want to still do S/S today, I’m down. Just let me know.

His text came through before I got to the first floor.

Cruz: I’ll come over later.

I didn’t respond because we were in uncharted seas now since laser tag. For the normal human, it might be all cool, but to me, I knew better. When you started easing up on the rules, more and more boundaries started lifting and soon we were close to texting like we were “checking in” with each other. If we were friends, totally fine. Normal. But what we were, rules were different.

Going in through the kitchen, I saw Skylar and Zoe.

Zoe had her back pressed against the counter, by the sink. Her hands were on Skylar’s elbows while Skylar’s were holding onto Zoe’s hips. They were kissing, and as I paused, Skylar pulled Zoe closer against her.

They kept going, clearly not knowing I was there.

I started edging backwards, but Skylar’s head lifted. “Oh!” Her eyes went wide.

“Sorry. I wasn’t sure of the protocol here.”

She started laughing.

Zoe eased back, but rested her side to Skylar’s front, who wrapped her arms around her. “Everyone is preoccupied. We’re not used to remembering you’re here too.”

“I get that.”

Skylar was taking in my bag. “You’re here for the study session?”

“They’re studying abnormal psych?”

“Yeah. They’re in the dining room.”

“Thanks.” I started to go past when Skylar called my name. “Yeah?”

Zoe squeezed Skylar’s hand, giving her a reassuring smile before heading past me.

Skylar straightened, now a little self-conscious. “Uh.” She ran a hand through her hair, smoothing it out before taking a deep breath. “I’m sorry I’ve not come up to talk about what happened last weekend.”

I shrugged. “It’s cool. I mean, I’m the one who got into it with your friend. I apologized, but I meant it.”

“No, I know. I was, well, I was surprised when you apologized. I was so mad about the eating disorder comment. Allie was being a bitch, but Allie’s been a bitch lately. A lot. No one knows why and Hawah told me later what all Allie was doing. I wanted to clear the air since they were my friends.”

“Uh, sure. Yeah. I’m sorry.”

Skylar stared at me for a little bit with a funny look before she blinked, clearing it. “I–uh–I heard that you had an altercation with a Kappa girl last semester.”

Oooh. I was seeing where she was going now.

Two fights. The apology was cool, but now she was wading in to see if I was a problem roommate.

“Look.” Okay. She needed to understand some things. “I’m shorter than other girls. I have good tits, some ass, and I’m petite. Guys like me. I also don’t come across as high-maintenance and I’m just keeping it real, but I like sex. Guys know that from looking at me. Girls see that and your friend was the last in a long line of girls trying to take me ‘down a notch’ or something. I’ve had some say they wanted to teach me ‘a lesson.’ I learned the sooner I stop it, and if I go overboard a bit, they actually shut the fuck up. In high school, I became friends with the bitchy girls. I did it on purpose so they wouldn’t fuck with me. Not that I’m proud of who I ran with back then. I’m a freshman. New place, new people, and new bullshit until people learn not to mess with me. I’d like to say it won’t happen again, but it’s just not true. It might. I don’t have a problem with food, so your friend didn’t trigger me, but just hearing the venom coming from her, no matter what she would’ve been saying, I probably would’ve still reacted. But I should’ve tried harder or in a better way because she’s your friend. If she’s here, or coming here, I can take off if you need?” I shifted back on my feet. “Ball’s in your court. You want me to leave?”

I don’t know if it was Skylar’s job to have this talk with me, but I wasn’t holding it against her. I wasn’t going to get all ‘how dare she’ because the truth was that she was being responsible. I’m new. She didn’t know me, and she had people here she loved. She was looking out for them too.

“I won’t go as far as moving out, but I can keep to myself. I can promise that.”

That funny look was on her face again until she shook it off, and a rueful grin showed next. “I can’t read you. Like, at all.”

“I don’t care.”

She laughed, abruptly. “You’re honest, that’s for sure.”

“Hey–hey!” Wade popped his head into the room, then stepped fully inside. “You’re here! I thought you changed your mind.” His eyebrows pulled down, and his gaze skirted from Skylar to me and back. “What’s going on?”

“I was–” Skylar started.

I heard the apology in her voice, and I stepped in, “I was asking if I should order food or not. Or do you guys already have some?” I checked the clock. I’d not eaten all day and it was nearing four. I moved past her, past him, and saw the same girls who had been talking with Wade the other day. They were spread out at the end of the table with a couple guys in the middle. They stopped talking when they saw me, and I went to the opposite end of the table, putting my bag down. They had snacks on the table. Some fruit. Couple bags of chips. The guys had beer and the girls had plastic cups with drinks, I was guessing mixed drinks or just juice.

I pulled my phone out. “I’m starving. Anyone else want pizza?”

In the kitchen, Skylar smothered a laugh.

The irony was not lost on me either.