Darkroom: A Moo U Hockey Romance, Kate Willoughby [best books to read for young adults .TXT] 📗

In every single class, as I took my customary seat in the back, my classmates gave me double takes. Granted, they were used to seeing me without the “birthmark,” so it was understandable that they were confused and curious. My professors’ eyes kept coming back to me as they lectured, but no one actually asked me about it. They just whispered and gave me weird looks. It got to be really annoying.

Later that day, because Indi had given her permission, I told the team exactly what was going on. I thought it would be easy, but I ended up sounding a little ridiculous. Some of the guys even snickered.

“Pipe down, dickheads,” Brammy said.

“So let me get this straight,” Lex said, “your girlfriend has a birthmark on her face.”

“Correct,” I confirmed.

“And people give her shit about it.”

“Yes.”

“So you’re painting your face like this for a week in a gesture of solidarity?”

“Exactly.” Thank God, someone understood.

“It’s like when someone gets cancer and you shave your head too,” AJ said.

“Sounds kind of sickening, if you ask me,” Birdy said, but Birdy was probably the most immature guy on the team and I sometimes wondered if he even liked girls yet.

After the week was over, as I told Indi everything that had happened to me, she started to cry. Because I never know what to do for someone who’s crying except hand them a Kleenex, I just kept going.

“I mean, as the days wore on, it seemed like people were going out of their way to avoid me so they wouldn’t have to deal with the discomfort of trying not to look at my birthmark. Once in the grocery store, someone turned the corner, got one look at my face, and backed away as if they’d made a mistake and didn’t want any cereal after all. Jesus, I felt like a pariah.”

She was nodding as the tears continued to slide down her cheeks.

“All I kept thinking was, ‘just make it ’til Tuesday, dude,’ because I wanted it to be over, but the shitty thing is, it’s never over for you. You don’t have a choice.”

“But you did have a choice,” she said fiercely. “You chose to do this and I’ll never forget this as long as I live.”

Then she hugged me for a really long time—like longer than the Briscoe Thanksgiving group hug—but it wasn’t awkward at all because that hug cemented a bond between us that felt good and strong and true.

40

Indi

I woke up to find Hudson under the covers kissing me softly and coaxingly between my legs.

“Mmmm,” I murmured, caressing his head as he teased my clit with his tongue.

Even though it felt heavenly, I opened one eye to check the time.

“Hudson, we don’t have time for this. I have class in fifteen minutes.”

We were at his place, which meant a commute of five minutes. That left ten to shower, brush my teeth and get dressed.

He made his way up my body and popped out from beneath the covers. He was on top of me which meant there was no way I was leaving unless he got off.

“We do have time. That’s why they call them quickies.”

I rolled my eyes, but didn’t object and before I knew it, he was sheathed in a condom and entering me with a low groan. His cock felt so good as he buried it to the hilt inside me and then pulled back out only to push himself back in, over and over.

“Indi, you feel so good.”

The roughness of his voice excited me and I rocked against him as he moved with increasingly hard thrusts. I couldn’t help myself; I looked at the clock again.

Unfortunately, Hudson noticed and pulled out.

“What the…!” I exclaimed.

Without a word, he dove back under the covers and went at me with his mouth again. I gasped as he wrapped an arm around to hold me immobile while he drove me to a quick, shuddering climax. Before I’d even come back down to earth, he’d shoved his cock back inside me. His guttural grunts as he slammed his body against mine propelled me toward another orgasm that broke over me just as he stiffened and came in a hot rush.

I allowed myself a few moments of dwindling bliss before shoving at his shoulder. It was like trying to move a boulder.

“Hudson, come on. Get up.”

He lifted his head and grinned at me. “I told you we had time.”

“That remains to be seen,” I said as he finally moved off and let me scramble out of bed.

“You can take a girl out of the classroom…” he said then yelped as, laughing, I swatted his bare ass.

We showered, dressed and left his apartment in record time. As he drove us to school, I mused on how he seemed to have regained his confidence. I’d never seen him this eager and relaxed before a game. He was almost cocky.

“Don’t take your eyes off me tonight,” he said as we pulled into the parking lot closest to my first class, “because I’m going to kick ass.”

Hudson was going to wear his hearing aids during the game tonight for the first time. Following orders, he’d been using them in increasingly loud environments, most recently during practice. He’d complained about the adjustments he was having to make to his game and how, in a way, he’d had to learn how to listen again. But finally, it was time to put the tiny devices to the real test, the only test that mattered.

“I finally feel like my old self, Indi, like I’m in control.”

“I’m so excited. I can’t wait.”

“Me either.” He flashed me that prescription strength smile. “Because tonight, you’re finally going to see what I can do on the ice.”

As far as most of the people in the arena were concerned, this was an ordinary hockey game—the Burlington Bulls against the Northeastern Huskies. Nothing particularly important was at stake. We were still three months