Tripping (Iced #2) - Kristine Allen Page 0,68

every call had gone directly to voicemail.

“Cam, I need to talk to you,” Dmitry quietly said, sounding secretive. I glanced over my shoulder at him as we climbed the stairs to board the plane. He and I had gotten closer after he moved in with his cousin, Jericho. We spent more time together with him being in the neighborhood.

“Is this some covert FBI shit?” I asked, poking fun at his demeanor. He flipped me off, and I laughed. Though there was little humor in my days lately, his expression was humorous.

“Follow me,” he said as he brushed past me and headed to the back of the plane. Looking at him like he was nuts, I followed anyway.

“Okay, now you’re acting like we have a drug deal going on. Are we doing some illegal shit?” I prodded, and he damn near snarled at me. I shouldn’t have gone that far. He’d had to overcome a lot of adversity when he first joined the league due to who his father was. There had been a significant stigma for the son of a Russian mafia boss. It stirred up again when his father went missing and was purported to be in hiding or dead.

“Sorry,” I said abashedly.

“Sit,” he commanded, and I could see a little of his upbringing coming out, but I kept my mouth shut.

“I spoke with Crimson.”

He had my immediate attention. “And?”

“She believes Bleu really cares about you and wants to talk to you, but she’s been burned before. You need to tell her you stayed with your cousin. That it wasn’t some chick you hooked up with.” As if I didn’t already know that.

“Dude, you’re preaching to the choir. Don’t you think I would’ve if I could’ve? She blocked me. Kinda hard to explain yourself if you have no communication,” I muttered as I slouched in the seat.

“Crimson will help,” he said with a smirk.

“Thank God,” I breathed. Hope began to unfurl within me. “What’s with you and Crimson, anyway?” I asked with narrowed eyes.

He shrugged and closed his eyes with a secretive smile. “We have phenomenal sex,” he replied. I punched him in the arm, and his eyes popped open. He frowned.

“What the fuck?”

“Don’t fuck with Bleu’s sister. You hurt her, and I’ll kick your ass.”

He snorted and closed his eyes again. “Don’t worry, she reminds me often enough that it’s just sex. I doubt she’s gonna be the one who gets hurt.”

Most of the guys slept the rest of the flight. Sleep was impossible for me, because my mind wouldn’t shut off. When we landed, we all waved our goodbyes amidst fist bumps and bro-hugs.

It was on the ride from the airport to our homes that Dmitry, Jericho, Alex, Mikhail, and I came up with a plan. We’d all ridden in Mikhail’s SUV since we lived in the same neighborhood. He was often the designated driver since he had room for us all. The thing is, we were big guys, and it was still a tight fit. I was ready to get home—for more reasons than one.

“This is never gonna work,” Jericho said as he snickered.

“Shut the fuck up,” I grumbled.

“But you can’t—”

I glared, and he zipped his trap.

We had two days off, and in that time, around workouts and practice, I had a lot to do.

“Did it work?” I asked Dmitry as my heart pounded. He gave me a satisfied smirk, whipping out his phone to show me the selfie Crimson had sent her of her and Bleu. My pride took a hit that she wasn’t wearing my jersey.

I gave him a nod of thanks, and then proceeded to go through my pregame ritual. It was Wednesday night and the first home game of three. We were playing Arizona, and we all knew it was going to be a tight game. They were ranked number one in our conference.

A glance to my right showed me Alex shoving a Ding-Dong in his face. I shook my head with a laugh. That fucker had one of the weirdest pregame rituals. He had to eat a single Ding-Dong. It had to be a chocolate one, too. Sometimes we fucked with him and hid it. Damn, that pissed him off.

My playlist blared in my ears as I laced up my skates. The last thing I did before we left the locker room was pull my practice sweater on.

Amped up after the last-minute speech Coach gave, we were pumped to hit the rink. It took everything in me not to look in