For Crosby Read online

  Without another word, he glared at me, purposely bumping into me on his way down the stairs.

  Their footsteps echoed in their wake as I stood alone in an empty stairwell hating Mr. Hockey more now than I had that night.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Sabrina

  “Can you tell me why I’m here?” I asked from a chair in the dean’s waiting room.

  The dean’s secretary, typing at her computer, didn’t bother to look at me. “Dean Edwards will be with you shortly.”

  I pulled in an aggravated breath. I’d finished class and was heading back to the dorm. I needed an afternoon power nap like no one’s business. But then her call came, requesting I stop in to speak with the dean as soon as I could. So, there I sat, wondering why the hell he wanted to see me.

  The minutes crept by as I skimmed through the feed on my phone. As usual, lots was happening on campus. From sorority and fraternity fundraising events to fans in the football stadium, Alabama was a cool place to be. But I missed people like my best friend Trish back in my small Florida town. Thanks to social media I could catch up on what she’d been doing since we rarely had time to speak with our busy schedules. I skimmed through more pictures, memes, and ads. Naked pictures of an arrogant hockey player were no longer plastered in my newsfeed. Had the novelty worn off or had the people who’d posted them been ordered to take them down?

  Dean Edwards’ door opened. He stood with a kind smile in his charcoal three-piece suit looking at me like he already knew me, though I’d never spoken to him before. “Miss Marshall?”

  I snatched up my bag and wrapped the strap across me as I stood, following him into his office.

  He gestured to one of two leather chairs facing his oversized mahogany desk. “Have a seat.” I did as he rounded his desk and sat across from me. “So, I’m sure you’re wondering why I asked you here.”

  I nodded.

  He leaned forward, folding his hands on the desk. “Well, as you know, we had quite the scene on campus this past weekend.”

  I tilted my head, knowing the time and place to use my blonde hair to my advantage. “I’m sorry?”

  “The young man and the tree.”

  “Oh. Yeah. That was horrible.”

  “Any idea who did it?” he asked offhandedly, as if asking how I liked my coffee.

  Was I going to implicate the entire hockey team for Mr. Hockey? For all I knew, he’d done more than he said and deserved it. “Do you?” I asked.

  He shook his head. “That’s why you’re here, Miss Marshall. You were an eyewitness.”

  My stomach clenched, but I tried with everything I had to steel my features. “Said who?”

  He swiveled the screen of his desktop monitor. A black and white surveillance video played. The view was a clear shot of the tree and a very naked Mr. Hockey. Oh, and me trying to untie him. Shit. “If you know I was there, why don’t you know who did it?”

  He turned the screen away from me. “The assailants wore masks.”

  “Well, if you don’t know, how would I? I wasn’t there when they tied him up. I just found him.”

  “You tried to help the young man. Surely, he said something.”

  I shook my head. “Did you ask him?”

  “He’s not talking.”

  My head snapped back. That didn’t sound like Mr. Hockey. “I’m surprised he doesn’t want whoever did it to be punished.”

  “Me too. Which leads me to believe they were people he knew.” He sat back in his chair and crossed his arms. “Everyone knows I take campus hazing very seriously, Miss Marshall. This university comes down hard on anyone found partaking in it. So, I’m not letting this go. The guilty parties need to be punished.”

  I agreed completely. However, if Mr. Hockey didn’t tell him, it wasn’t my place to. He might’ve been an asshole, but for whatever reason, he didn’t want the dean to know. “I’m sorry I can’t help you, Dean Edwards.”

  His eyes assessed mine for a long uncomfortable moment. Could he tell I was hiding something? Could he see Mr. Hockey told me who did it? Was he waiting me out? He blinked a few times before standing from his desk. “Well, thanks for stopping by.”

  I jumped to my feet, elated to be dismissed.

  “Please let me know if you remember anything. Even if you think it’s minor, it could help.”

  I nodded as I turned to walk away.

  “Oh, and Miss Marshall?”

  I spun back around.

  “Do you make a habit of leaving people tied to trees in the middle of the night?”

  My body tensed. “Excuse me?”

  “I just can’t figure why you didn’t call for help.”

  What was he implying? Did he think I had something to do with it? Did he think I was a horrible person? Was I? “I’ll let you know if I remember anything.” I turned on shaky legs and made my way out of his office before he could say another word.

  I stepped outside into the cool November day wondering if I’d done the right thing. Students rushed by me, hurrying to their next classes as the dean’s words rattled around in my head. I may not have been studying to be a brain surgeon, but I knew a threat when I heard one.

  * * *

  I walked up the sidewalk of a house on the outskirts of campus, cursing every slow step I took and wondering if I should turn back around.

  “Hot damn,” a deep voice called from the open front door.

  I stared into the eyes of Grady, hating that I’d been forced to be there. “Is anyone else home?” I purposely looked behind him, hoping someone would be around to protect me from the big oaf.

  A smile slid across his face. “Nope. Just you and me, babe. I knew it was only a matter of time before you came begging me for it.”

  My entire face scrunched in disgust. “Hell has definitely not frozen over yet.”

  Grady’s footsteps resounded down the front steps until he stood towering in front of me. “Why you such a hater, girl?”

  I stared up at him. He was a huge guy, but his face had slimmed down since last year. I hadn’t noticed at lunch when he was shoving Mr. Hockey’s naked body in my face. “I didn’t come here to be hit on.”

  “Do you know how many girls would love to be on the receiving end of my attention?”

  I pretended to think about it, using my fingertips as a calculator. “None?”

  His head dropped back on a groan. “You’re impossible.”

  “You’re single-minded.”

  “Have you looked in a mirror? You’re gorgeous. You can’t blame a guy for trying.”

  I cocked my head, staring at his pathetic attempt at a goatee. Could I ignore all his lame advances in order to get his help? Could I see the good in Grady that Caden tried to assure us lingered underneath the surface?

  “Come on,” he backed down. “You must really need something if you came here to see me.”

  “I do.”

  He swept out his arm toward the two-story house behind him. “Lead the way. Just ignore the smell. I live with four other dudes. You know how it is.”

  “Let’s sit on the steps. This won’t take long.”

  “Said who?”

  I brushed by him and headed toward the front steps. “You can’t help yourself, can you?”

  “It’s a gift.”

  I shook my head, stifling my unwarranted amusement as I sat down on the top step.

  He sat down beside me, the side of his big body pressing against mine. “Now, what can I do for you?”

  “I heard you’re studying pre-law.”

  “I am. Are you into smart guys?”

  “I’m into guys who can have an entire conversation without hitting on me.”

  “I make no promises.”

  I rolled my eyes.

  “Okay, fine. Why do you wanna know what I’m studying? You having some legal troubles?”

  I drew in a deep breath as I chose my words wisely. “The dean thinks I know something, and I think he just threatened me because of it.”

  His head shot back. “That’s a pretty big accusation. Are you sure?”

  I shook my head. “No. That’s why I’m here.”

  “So, let me ask you something. Do you know what he thinks you know?”

  I nodded. “But it didn’t come from a reliable source.”

  “Then why not tell him that?”

  “Because if I do, it could get quite a few people in trouble, and possibly expelled.”

  He nodded his understanding.

  “I need to know what my rights are.”

  “Babe, I’m not even in law school yet. I only know pretty basic laws. But my uncle’s got a law firm in Montgomery. Would you mind if I checked with him?”

  “No, that would be awesome.”

  He pulled his phone from his pocket and handed it to me. “Let me get your number. I’ll call you tonight when I hear back from him. He’s in the courtroom all day.”

  I leveled him with serious eyes as I took his phone. “If I start getting pictures of your package, I will come and kill you.”

  He smirked. “Don’t be so sure. I’ve been told it’s one of Alabama’s most prized landmarks.”

  “You’re sick, you know that, right?” I said, placing a quick call to my phone from his so he had my number.

  “It’s another gift.”

  This time I laughed. The guy wasn’t half bad, as long as he kept his mouth shut.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Crosby

  “What the hell does that mean?” I growled into the phone as I stood in the empty hallway outside the locker room in nothing but a towel.

  “It means your parents’ assets will remain frozen until they’re disseminated to those they stole from,” their lawyer explained. “This is just the beginning of a long legal process.”

  “I get that, but what about me? What about my trust funds? There has to be something available.”

  “Crosby. You’re at Alabama because there are no more trust funds. I thought you understood that? Seems the dean and your coach are the few people your parents didn’t steal from. They did you a real solid by getting you in there.”

  I could feel my anger pulsating through my body. My muscles tensed and my heartbeat pounded in my temples. “Despite what you think, I’m not some dumb jock. I do understand what’s happening. I just don’t understand why I can’t have the money in my name.”

  “Because your parents were the account custodians. The money isn’t actually yours.”

  I dropped my head against the concrete wall behind me.

  “Remember why you’re in Alabama, Crosby. Fly under the radar and make it to the pros. Then no one can touch the money you make.”

  I disconnected the call feeling worse than I had before.

  No one had been straight with me. Everyone had been feeding me bullshit since my parents were sent to prison. ‘Don’t worry, Crosby, we’ll appeal the ruling.’ ‘Don’t worry, Crosby, you have your trust funds.’ ‘Don’t worry, Crosby. We’ll keep your mom out of it.’ ‘Don’t worry, Crosby, you’ll be okay.’ And since then, I haven’t been okay. Not even close. My parents didn’t have a chance in hell of winning their appeal. And my trust funds weren’t fucking mine. My entire life had been turned upside down and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it. Not a damn thing but play hockey and go to school as if I was actually going to be okay someday.

  But the truth was I had no one. Everyone who’d been in my life when the money was there quickly disappeared when it was gone. That or they’d been the same people my father embezzled from.

  My father was a mean son of a bitch who was the sole heir to my grandfather’s investment company. When my grandfather died, it was just my father running things. The only reason people came around him was because of his money. No one could’ve imagined the greedy bastard was making himself richer by skimming off other people’s investment earnings. With no money, he was a broke son-of-a-bitch who brought his wife down with him.

  Now they were spending the rest of their lives in jail.

  I’d thought about it relentlessly. About the signs. About their hushed conversations. And still, I couldn’t be sure he’d always been crooked. All I knew was we’d been rich. I never questioned it. At sixteen, I had my own Lamborghini. You don’t question a damn thing when life is that good. You question everything once it goes south. And you realize your wealth was due to everyone else’s loss.

  Sabrina

  I rounded the corner in the hockey arena, on a mission to find Mr. Hockey. My footsteps faltered when I found him standing outside the locker room in nothing but a towel hanging low on his hips. His eyes were closed and his head rested against the wall behind him. His cell phone was clutched in his hand at his side.

  Seeing him in darkness was one thing. But seeing him in broad freaking daylight was something else entirely. The vibrancy of the colorful sleeves of tattoos wrapped around his arms were a stark contrast to his ink free chest. The same bare chest, with chiseled abs, that left little to the imagination yet so much to be desired. And as much as I hated to admit it, knowing what hung under that towel did a number on my determined mind.

  I shook my head, clearing away the unwelcome thoughts. “Why didn’t you rat them out?”

  His head flew off the wall, visibly startled by my presence. “What?”

  I lifted my chin toward the locker room doorway as I passed by it before stopping in front of him. “Why didn’t you rat them out?”

  His face scrunched in confusion. “How do you know I didn’t?”

  “Well, for one, I got called into the dean’s office.”

  “Why?”

  “He has video footage from—”

  He stepped off the wall and grabbed my arm so quickly, I had no time to resist. He pulled me away from the locker room and stopped us in the corner, practically caging me in.

  “That night,” I finished, wrenching my arm free from his grip. “It looked like it came from a nearby building.”

  “I know.”

  “You know? Then why didn’t you let their asses fry?”

  His eyes jumped around, his mouth opening then closing just as quickly.

  “Dean Edwards all but threatened me to come up with something,” I continued. “He thinks I know who did it.”

  “You do.”

  “So do you.”

  He crossed his arms. And I hated that, as angry as I was, I couldn’t stop from noticing the way his biceps bulged.

  Focus, Sabrina. Focus.

  “I’m not about to pretend this makes sense. But if this touches me, I have no problem telling him what I know.” I spun away from him and took off down the hallway.

  “But you didn’t,” he called.

  I stopped and glanced over my shoulder at him standing there in his towel. “Because you didn’t. I assumed there was a reason.”

  His lips twisted as he seemed to ponder my words.

  I didn’t wait for his response. If I had, I had a feeling I would have been waiting for a long freaking time. I turned and left him standing alone in that empty hallway.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  Sabrina

  You know that feeling you get when you sense someone staring at you? Well that’s the feeling I got as soon as I sat down in my communications class the following day. My eyes cut to the right and sure enough Jeremy, the tall guy beside me, stared at me.

  “You have a minute to talk after class?” he asked.

  I nodded, knowing we only ever spoke about upcoming tests or assignments. I hoped like hell he wasn’t looking for a tutor.

  After class I tucked my book and laptop into my messenger bag, wondering if he planned to speak to me there or outside the building.

  “So,” he said once the other students exited the classroom.

  “So.”

  “I wanted to talk to you.”

  “Yup. I got that when you said you wanted to talk to me after class.”

  He laughed, and it was a damn sexy laugh. It complemented his tall, dark, and athletic build. “Keep them on their toes my grandmother always told me,” he said.

  He had a sexy laugh and he was quoting his freaking granny. This was getting interesting.

  He stood from his seat and leaned back against his desk. “I was wondering if you’re seeing anyone.”

  I grabbed my bag and stood. “Not currently.”

  His smile broadened. “Could I take you out tomorrow night?”

  Straightforward and no games. I liked that in a guy. “Tomorrow night?”

  “Unless you’re busy.”

  “I’m not busy.”

  He smiled. “Does seven work?”

  “Sure.”

  He pulled out his phone and handed it to me. “Let me get your number in case my practice runs late.”

  I punched my number into his contacts. “What do you play?”

  “Oh, I thought you knew. Hockey.”

  A humorless laugh shot out of me. What was it with me and hockey players? I’d been surrounded by football players since last year when Finlay started dating Caden, now suddenly the hockey players were coming out of the woodwork. The universe was definitely toying with me. I handed him back his phone. “I’m in Carver Hall. Text and I’ll come down.”

  He nodded. “Great. See you later, Sabrina.”

  I watched him walk out of the classroom wondering why I’d never paid him much attention before. Had I been hoping Trace Forester would come around? Had I been closed off to other possibilities? Had I been too wrapped up in everyone else’s lives to focus on my own?

  * * *

  I stared into the mirror in the girls’ restroom. I’d applied minimal makeup, opting for only smoky eyes for my date with Jeremy, unsure where we were even going. My phone vibrated on the sink. I hit speaker while touching up the corners of my eyes. “Hello?”

  “What are you wearing?” Grady asked. “Please tell my lingerie.”

  “Do I need to hang up?”

  “This hard-to-get thing is gettin’ old.”

  A toilet flushed in a stall behind me. A girl who lived down the hall stepped out stifling a smile.