KINGS OF RITTENHOUSE: Novella by Maya Hughes

Author:Maya Hughes
Language: eng
Format: epub

5

Declan

The party seemed like a great idea at the time. Still did, I just wasn’t into it. My wet hair dripped all over Emmett’s bedspread, but I didn’t care and I knew he wouldn’t. He’d probably fall asleep on one of the inflatable pool floats like he did at the last party with Avery trying to lug him out of the pool.

Driving bass vibrated the bed even this deep into the house. Every so often a peal of laughter would shoot straight through the place. This was supposed to be our final blowout.

In only a few weeks I’d be up against guys who hadn’t made it onto the development teams by the skin of their fucking teeth, and I wasn’t going to come out anywhere near the bottom of the pack this time. If Archer was there, I’d flip him off and keep skating.

Drive. Intensity. Nonstop balls-to-the-wall ferocity was what I needed to have on the ice. I wasn’t losing my spot. I’d show him that we didn’t need him and I’d made it on my own.

“If I’d had another week, I know things would have gone down differently,” Heath said, climbing in through the open window, leaving his perch on the roof outside Emmett’s bedroom.

“How long have you been out there?”

“An hour or so. I had to make a call.”

“You’re going to get her fired.”

Heath held up his hands in mock surrender. “I can’t help it that I’m attracted to a hot woman all buttoned-up like that.” He walked to the mini-fridge in the corner of Emmett’s room.

The door flew open, and Colm and Emmett blew in. I pinched the bridge of my nose and sat up on the bed. Bottles clanked together as Heath grabbed a beer from the six-pack he’d stashed.

He’d driven up to Maine to a specialty microbrewery just to get them. Only one six-pack per customer. After all the time we’d been scoring booze underage, that was the thing that made him finally get his fake ID. All to drive ten hours for a six-pack. Sometimes he just took off driving. If something got to him off the ice, he walked away and just drove.

“Let me get one of those.” Colm held his hand out, opening and closing it like a little kid who wanted a toy.

“Dude.” Heath glanced down at his precious beers and held out the six-pack to Colm. He leaned over and snagged one out of the cardboard carton. Emmett tapped Heath on the shoulder, and he handed over another one.

Emmett flicked on the TV and threw a controller my way. A girl stumbled past the open bedroom door on the phone. “I can barely talk, let alone walk. Holy fuck, that was amazing!” She banged into the wall, dropping her phone, and we all shot up. Before we got to her, Ford wrapped his arms around her, coming from the same direction she had.

He held on to her and crouched down so he was looking into her eyes, and talked to her so low we couldn’t hear.

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