𝐑 𝐎 𝐌 𝐀 𝐍' 𝐒   𝐏 𝐎 𝐕

"King, you're in."

Mouth guard in and helmet down. Coach pats me on the back as I jump over the box and make my way onto the ice for the rest of the game. I slap Wren's hand as he comes off the ice and into the box to swap with me before I get into position.

Atlas nods at me and the faceoff begins as the ref throws the puck into the air. Atlas scrapes it off the opposing side before racing down the ice. I body check one of the opposing players into the plexiglass and the rink is a mix of players skating and violently being slammed into the sides.

While this is happening, Atlas swings and scores a hat trick. The crowd cheers loud and chants his name as he revels in the glory of the hat trick, doing a lap around the ice.

Coach shouts to him to stop gloating, and I shake my head before we get back into position once more. With not long left in the game, we power through and by the end are the winners. We head back into the locker room to shower and change for the party at the hockey house.

"I saw Lia in the stands with Tavia," Isaiah comments as I strip off and I shrug my shoulders.

"Yeah? She mentioned she might come," I say nonchalantly, knowing he's digging for information. Whether for himself or Tavia, I'm not sure. "Think she's coming to the party too."

"You two getting along now?" Miles asks as I hop into the shower. Thankful for the curtain to hide my expressions, I start to lather up.

"I mean, we still fight like cats and dogs, and it still leads to sex to release the tension," I admit.

"Seriously? That's all you're going to give us?" Isaiah asks, and I roll my eyes.

"We've been getting along better. Miles was there for Thanksgiving. I think we started to understand each other a little better knowing why I do Biochem and vice versa." I get out of the shower and wrap a towel around my waist.

"New Year? I think Lia falling under there scared you both," Miles states as we all get changed.

"A little. I mean, don't get me wrong. We still argue and piss each other off, but someone falling into the pond like that and knowing she could have got trapped under there makes you realize some things." I close my locker before throwing my gym bag over my shoulder.

"I'd like to say three years in...I told you so." Miles points to me and I throw a used jockstrap at him, which he dodges.

I push open the door to the locker room, which leads into the hallway, and we dodge the girls. "Yeah, yeah."

"What about Cara? Didn't see her in the stands," Isaiah asks Miles.

"Lia mentioned she was going to come to the party, think she had something to do." I add. "What's happening with you two?"

Miles mutters. "Good question."

Isaiah and I share a look before heading outside. Tavia and Hollywood stand near our cars, as Tavia usually catches a ride to the party and now so is Hollywood. Octavia wraps her arms around Isaiah as soon as he's within reach.

"Can you two do that later?" Miles asks, interrupting their kiss, and Isaiah flips him off. "There's a lady here. I'm sure she doesn't want to see that." Miles points to Lia and I scoff.

"Lady? Sure," I sarcastically comment as I throw my gym bag into the truck.

"Fuck you, I'm very ladylike." Lia crosses her arms and glares at me.

"That's cute you think that." I tilt my head and she purses her lips in annoyance. "Enjoy the game?"

"I still prefer football." She smirks, and I roll my eyes. "Are we going?"

We all nod our heads before we head into our own cars. Miles jumps in with Tavia and Isaiah saying he can't deal with Hollywood and mine's constant arguing. Starting up the engine, I pull out of the parking lot before asking Lia. "So, what did you really think of the game?"

"You played well, and that's coming from someone who doesn't understand the sport, so don't get cocky." She points at me, and I chuckle. "How long is left until frozen four?"

"A few months and that's if we make it into the frozen four," I sigh and I can feel her eyes burning into my head.

"This will inflate your ego, but you guys have a great win rate. I'm sure you'll make it." She smiles over at me, and I smile back.

"Thanks, I just don't want to get in over my head," I admit, as I pull up outside the hockey house since it's not far from the arena.

"You're not, I believe in you," She states, turning in her seat to face me and I place the car in park before throwing my arm around the back of her seat. She leans over and kisses my cheek before whispering in my ear. "Come on, the sooner we head inside, the sooner we can leave and have a repeat of last night."

She winks at me before hopping out of the truck. I shake my head before getting out of the car and throwing my arm over her shoulder as we head inside.

❈❈❈

"Have you seen Hollywood?"

My question to Tavia gets her to shake her head in response, and my brows furrow as I look around. As soon as we got inside, she went to find Cara and I made the rounds. I haven't seen her since and I was hoping we could head back to hers.

Thanking Tavia I make my way around the place, checking for her but come up short. Walking to the kitchen, I grab another drink, and my eyes scan the room before landing on a brunette in the outside garden area, hiding behind a shrub. Putting my drink down, I make my way outside and over to her.

"What are you doing?" I ask her and her head whips around before she grabs my shirt covered arm and tugs me down. Hitting the floor with an oomph, I glare at her, and she shushes me before pointing in a direction. Looking over, I see Cara and Miles in a secluded area talking. A more than friendly talk considering his arms are wrapped around her waist. "This counts as stalking, you know."

Rosalie glares at me. "Not when it's your friends."

"Pretty sure the definition is the same," I comment. "How long have you been out here for? I was looking for you."

"Ten minutes?" She sheepishly smiles, and I raise my eyebrow. "What? I saw them come out together and I know Cara wanted to talk to him about everything, so I followed them. Don't look at me like that!"

"Like what? A crazy person? Because you kind of are one right now," I chuckle, before sitting down properly and she does the same before facing me. "What's happening, anyway? Miles seems secretive, which is unusual for him. But then again, when it comes to Cara, he hides his emotions away."

"They both want to give it another chance. I think him coming to the gallery that night put things into perspective for them both. But they have to talk about the elephant in the room before they do," Rosalie explains, and I nod my head in understanding. Knowing she is talking about the harsh words exchanged between them when they broke up.

"You know if they get back together, it's going to be one of those friendship groups," I say, and she looks confused. "The one where everyone is involved in some way, shape or form. Isaiah and Octavia are dating. Cara and Miles could be again and we're sleeping together."

"You're right. I hate those. So sorry to break it to you, but we're done here," She pats my shoulder jokingly as she goes to stand up and I pull her back down as she lands on my lap with small chuckles coming from her.

"What was that?" I ask, tickling her and she does her best to not make any noise, so we don't get caught.

"I hate you," She breathes out as she catches her breath once more.

"Those words used to have a lot more hatred in them," I point out and she nods her head before looking in my eyes.

"Yeah, I guess they did. Not anymore though, you're not half bad." She shrugs before leaning in to kiss me. We pull back and my eyes float over her shoulder.

I nod my head in that direction. "Look."

She turns in my lap and looks, seeing Cara and Miles kissing before pulling back and Cara throws her arms around him. Lia throws her head back groaning.

"We're now one of those friendship groups."

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

𝐀 𝐔 𝐓 𝐇 𝐎 𝐑   𝐍 𝐎 𝐓 𝐄

「 How long do you think their niceness will last for?

I actually love how this story has progressed, when I was writing there was a lot of confidence issues with this story, mostly because the way I have done it is very different to my others, it's a bigger slow burn and you'll see towards the end how it is different from my other books. But as I upload chapter after chapter, I can see how it's progressing.

My biggest goal is to try and get PO to 500k reads before it finishes. Which is really unrealistic since there are twelve chapters left and i'm just on over 230k but let's shoot for the stars. 」