Hockey With Benefits

HOCKEY WITH BENEFITS TIJAN For my readers! For those who may have struggles that don’t feel anyone could understand. CONTENTS 1. Mara 2. Mara 3. Cruz 4. Mara 5. Mara 6. Mara 7. Cruz 8. Mara 9. Cruz 10. Mara 11. Cruz 12. Mara 13. Mara 14. Mara 15. Mara 16. Mara 17. Cruz 18. Mara 19. Cruz 20. Mara 21. Cruz 22. Mara 23. Cruz 24. Mara 25. Mara 26. Mara 27. Mara 28. Cruz 29. Mara 30. Cruz 31. Mara 32. Mara 33. Cruz 34. Mara 35. Cruz 36. Mara 37. Cruz 38. Mara 39. Cruz 40. Mara 41. Cruz 42. Mara 43. Mara 44. Mara 45. Mara 46. Cruz 47. Mara 48. Cruz 49. Mara 50. Cruz 51. Mara 52. Mara 53. Mara 54. Cruz 55. Mara Epilogue Acknowledgments Links The Not-Outcast Also by Tijan Copyright © 2023 by TIJAN All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review. Edited by: Kay Springsteen Developmental Editor: Becca Mysoor, www.fairyplotmother.me Proofread and beta read by: Crystal Solis, Amy English, Paige Maroney, Kara Hildebrand, Serena McDonald, Rochelle Paige, Dominique Laura, Chris O’Neil Parece, and Kimberley Holm Photographer: Paperback Model (PBM) 1 MARA I liked hockey. I already knew it, but by the third period, I really knew it. The wine might’ve been a factor, or the two beers that my roommate bought me, but either way, I was having fun. I had a new appreciation for the sport. I was also enjoying watching Cruz Styles, the team’s star player, zip around the rink like he’d been born on skates and not with two normal feet. He wasn’t the only one, though. They were all going so fast, like they were flying on ice. It was exhilarating to watch. It wasn’t my first hockey game, but it was my first hockey game at Grant West. Everyone on campus had been raving about the new guy for a while now. His looks didn’t hurt either. His picture was flashed on the jumbotron so many times over the night that I’d lost count. It was having an effect on the three girls in front of me, and also in my vagina. With the hockey mask on, you could still see his fierce dark blue eyes. His high cheekbones. With the mask off, he had a whole chiseled jawline that wasn’t legal. I swear. And those cheekbones were set high and wide, giving the sides of his face an indented look, but it worked on him. Not to mention the messy dark hair on top of his head and how he had the look where he could rifle his hand through it, let it go and he still looked fucking hot. Comb that shit back, put him in a suit, and he’d be giving off 007 vibes. The guy wasn’t just pretty. He was sizzling hot, and right now, he was whipping down the ice, going left, through two defenders, creating an opening to the goal and bam–the puck was slapped–denied. The goalie thrust his leg out, and the puck went off it, going behind the net. It was picked up by the other team and sent sailing to the other side of the rink. Off Cruz went, but he’d be back in two seconds because that’d been the theme of the night. Grant West was pushing hard the whole night, but Cruz was leading the charge. Over and over again. I was half winded just watching them. “Yo.” Miles Gaynor moved next to me, his shoulder lightly bumping into mine. “You know Race Ryerson?” “What?” I was fully in a drunk haze, and I was enjoying it. Miles had first been a class friend. Then a party friend. Now he was kind of a roommate. A little skinny, floppy brown hair, but where it looked cute on him, and baby fresh cheeks, the guy was a looker. It’d been because of him that I was living in my own little space in the attic of a house where he and his cousin, a guy from the football team, and a couple other girls all lived as well. They were all chill, but I’d only met them twice and hanging out at the hockey game was the second time of those two instances. When my roommate from first semester left college to pursue a job in her family business, I hadn’t wanted to stick around and see who else my college chose to be her replacement. Hence, Miles. He nodded to my left. “He’s been staring over here at you almost the whole time. Isn’t he with someone?” I frowned, but looked around, the edges of my vision blurring before I focused and saw the guy Miles was talking about. At my look, he diverted his head, but bent down to his girlfriend, who was cheering for the team. There went my nice buzz. Tasmin Shaw and Race Ryerson. As he talked to her, she stopped cheering, her smile falling as she leaned forward, her eyes searching, searching, and finding me. I frowned, narrowing my eyes, but she only went still before raising a hand up and giving me a slight wave and smile with it. I scowled, but she barely blinked at that. Goddamn. “What’s the deal there?” I jerked forward, my whole body going stiff. “Nothing.” “He’s never been a creep before.” “He’s not. His girlfriend is next to him. Tasmin Shaw.” “So?” I shrugged. “Taz is probably just confused why I moved out of the dorms. She lived across from me, that’s all.” I was lying because while she wasn’t from my hometown, she knew people who were, and I was guessing that she’d heard the gossip. Her boyfriend too. My phone buzzed, and I glanced at the screen. Kit: OMG! Your mom?! Are you okay?