Page 13 of Meet the Boys
My lips part as I climb out of the car, barely noticing Ben and his carload of teammates. I’m too busy gaping at this palatial place. I can’t believe we get to stay here for free.
“Shit, I knew Mac came from money, but maybe I didn’t realize just how much,” I mutter across the roof of my car at Sawyer, who’s wearing the same expression as me.
“Are you kidding?” Charli slaps me on the shoulder when she hops out of the back seat. “Look at what he drives.”
She points to his shiny car with the spoiler and who knows how many dollars’ worth of special features. That Nissan GT-R is his baby, and I’m guessing it’s one of many.
Yeah, okay, so he’s loaded.
But this house…
“Come on.” Charli lets out an excited giggle. “Let’s go check it out.”
She runs around my car, which suddenly feels like a cheap rust bucket compared to the array of cars parked outside this place.
At least Ben’s car doesn’t look like a boy racer’s wet dream. It’s still an Audi, but it’s more likely been passed down fromhis dad or something. I don’t know, I’m just speculating here. Ben just strikes me as the kind of guy who comes from sensible wealth rather than the ostentatious kind.
He raises his hand and waves at me just as Charli and Nix rush past him.
I give him a smile before heading to the trunk to unload our stuff.
“It’s gonna be a good weekend, man.” Sawyer grins at me. “This place is sick!”
“Yeah.” I laugh, nodding and wondering exactly what we’ll get up to in this rich man’s lake house.
4
BEN
Oh man,I’m glad I’m here.
Going home for summer break is always a mixed bag of emotions.
I love seeing my family—for the first few days.
I love helping my dad at work—for the first week.
I love catching up with buddies from high school. But it doesn’t take long for that shine of reunion to wear off.
The whole point of going to college was to get out from under my overbearing family. Don’t get me wrong. They’re awesome, and I’m grateful to come from a loving home. It can just get a little much sometimes. I have three older sisters, which essentially means I grew up withfourmothers, and they still don’t get it. One of them even has her own kids now, but do you think it’s made any difference?
No matter who I spend time with, they all want to “give me advice” on how I should be living. So when Darian’s invitation popped up in the team chat, I jumped at it.
The only thing that would make this weekend a million times better is if Mandy was here with me.
I met her online about two months ago, and she’s been my saving grace. I didn’t even know we went to high school together. We ran in different circles, but we connected over an Insta-reel. I replied to her comment, and then she replied to mine. Within a few hours, we were DMing each other, and I found out she’s a student at Lennox… and then I found out that we grew up only a few blocks away from each other.
I met her before the end of the school year. Drove up to Lennox to say hi, and we ended up in bed together that night. Since then, it’s been a torrent of hookups, and since we got home for the summer, I’ve been spending every spare minute I can with her.
It’s been a rush and made this summer the best one I’ve ever had.
After getting severely burned by the red-headed goddess—Caroline Mason—I was wondering if chicks were even worth the trouble.
I don’t know what came over me when it came to her. We had one night together, and I was gone. But it turned out she waslusting after the bad-boy hockey player, Casey Pierce. Truth is, she was actually in love with him, and I was the poor schmuck left out in the dark. The forgotten one-night stand. I meant nothing to her… yet she consumed me.
It was like a punch in the balls when I found out how serious she and Casey were.
It took me weeksto get over her.
