Outside the Box Read online

  If only it were that easy. The stench wafting from this girl was really bad. Exceptionally bad. Distractingly bad. I was so busy concentrating on breathing through my mouth that I’d barely heard a word she had said in the last half hour. Luckily, I had learned my lesson well and only booked our initial session for that long so I wasn’t stuck here any longer.

  “Wow, time flies when you’re having math fun,” I joked as I gathered my books up and stood. “Sorry I have to run, but I have to be somewhere soon. Thanks so much for your time today.”

  “Did you want to schedule your next session now?” she asked, pulling out her iPhone to access her calendar.

  “I don’t think so,” I responded and felt bad at her crestfallen expression. My best guess was that she didn’t get many return clients, but there was no way I’d allow guilty feelings to sway my decision to either find another tutor or give up completely. “Sorry, but if I don’t leave now, I’ll be super late for my next appointment.”

  “Oh. Okay. Bye then,” she whispered and started to shove her books into the beaten-up backpack she’d brought with.

  I waved and made my escape out the door. I hadn’t really been lying. I needed to meet Lexi and Drake for dinner. We hadn’t hung out very much lately, but Lexi had invited me over for dinner and cards. It was quite a bit different from our old Saturday night routine, but I guess we’d all settled down a bit since last year.

  Drake was going to have some friends over later, so I figured she was trying to play matchmaker too. She’d made it pretty clear that she thought it was time for me to get back into the dating game. I was finally at the point where I wasn’t totally ruling it out, but I wasn’t ready to hop into bed with anyone right away either. But I was ready to check out some eye candy if they were going to serve it up to me, so I was looking forward to the prospect of hanging out with some hot guys tonight.

  As I pulled up to their apartment building, I admired the view. Drake had spared no expense to make sure that Lexi was living in the best place possible. How he’d managed to find an empty unit in the one complex in town that had round-the-clock security present, I had no idea. After all the shit that had down over the summer, he wasn’t going to take any chances with her safety. It was a beautiful thing to see how protective he was of my best friend since I wanted the best for her. And Drake Bennett was definitely her perfect match, even though it meant I had missed my chance to make her my sister-in-law.

  Lexi had given me the code for the door the first time I’d stopped by their place, so I was able to buzz myself in, and I waved to the security guard on duty this evening as I walked to the elevator. I pressed the up button and watched the numbers count down as it descended to the lobby. With my mind on my math tutor problem, I wasn’t really paying attention when I heard the ping. I automatically stepped towards the opening doors and walked straight into what felt like a brick wall.

  “Oomph,” I grunted into a hard chest as warm hands grasped my arms to steady me. I took a deep breath and a woodsy scent that was somehow both spicy and a little bit sweet hit my nose. I didn’t think I’d ever met a guy who smelled this good before.

  “You okay?” a deep voice murmured.

  “Yes,” I whispered as I looked up into green eyes, my hands resting against his chest.

  “Good. Wouldn’t want to start my night off by mowing down defenseless women, now would I?” he asked as I moved away.

  I couldn’t help the laugh that bubbled up at that since I’m the one who ran into him. “No, we certainly wouldn’t,” I said as I stepped into the elevator.

  I watched his ass, lovingly hugged by his jeans, as he walked away with a couple of guys I hadn’t even noticed. And just like that, my libido jumped back to life. Holy fucking shit.

  “Hey, bitch. What the hell are you doing standing in the hallway?” Lexi hollered from her open door.

  I shook my head to clear it and gather my thoughts. “Nothing. I’m just on my way to see you, silly,” I said, hoping she would let the subject drop.

  “What’s up with the goo-goo eyes then?” she asked.

  “Goo-goo eyes? Really?” I snorted. “That’s the way you’re going to play this? Who even talks like that?”

  “Your super amazing best friend for life does. Clearly,” Lexi answered sarcastically while rolling her eyes at me before grabbing my hand and pulling me into the apartment. “But seriously. What the fuck was up with that?”

  “There was this guy I bumped into downstairs. Like literally bumped into,” I tried to explain.

  Lexi jumped up and down and let out a shriek that made Drake come running.

  “You okay, baby?”

  “I’m better than okay. I’m awesome because my girl here is starting to check out guys again!” she crowed.

  Drake dropped a kiss onto Lexi’s lips before turning away. “And on that note, I’ll leave you two to it ‘cause I really don’t need to hear about Aubrey’s thoughts on guys’ dicks, and I sure as shit don’t need to hear her talking about it with you,” he muttered as he wandered back into the kitchen.

  “Soooooo?” she asked, waggling her eyebrows at me.

  “So nothing. He was cute,” I said as I shrugged my shoulders.

  “He was cute? So cute that, even after riding the elevator up and stepping out, you were just standing there thinking about his…cuteness?” she quipped back.

  “Oh shut it. So I noticed a guy for the first time in months and months. It’s not that big of a deal,” I grumbled at her.

  Lexi beamed a smile at me. “No, it’s a very big deal. It gives me hope that you’re getting your head screwed back on straight. I’ve been worried about you. You’ve always been so boy crazy, so it’s been weird to see you ignore guys for this long. It’s like it’s unnatural or something. Boys and Aubrey have always gone together like salt and pepper. Or peanut butter and jelly. Or maybe rum and Coke would be a better analogy.”

  “Okay, okay. I get your point, but there really isn’t anything for you to worry about,” I assured her. “At least not anymore. I don’t know how to describe it, except to say it was like I went into a deep freeze or something. And now I’m starting to unthaw again.”

  Lexi gave me a quick hug. “I’m sorry I haven’t been a very good friend to you when you needed me.”

  “You’ve always been exactly the friend I’ve needed. And I’m doing better now. I might not have been that way for very long, but I feel like I’m coming back to myself, only a better version of me,” I said.

  “So can I call you Aubrey 2.0 then?” she teased.

  “No, but you can feed me and then let me beat you at cards tonight,” I countered.

  And that’s exactly what happened. We shared a great meal of steak and baked potatoes—because what guy doesn’t like his meat and potatoes? And let’s be real for a minute and admit that Lexi definitely had her guy in mind and not me when picking out the menu. Then some of his friends came over for poker. We had a blast, but I couldn’t help but be a little worried when I left and realized that my libido must not have awakened as much as I had thought. I’d just spent the evening hanging out with a bunch of hot guys, but I’d barely flirted and hadn’t found myself truly attracted to a single one of them. What the hell is up with that?

  chapter 2

  LUKA

  “Luka, get your head back into the game,” Coach barked at me as I missed a pass.

  The season so far wasn’t going great for me. I’d pushed myself too hard over the summer with all the shit that had gone down with Kat and blew my knee out. Stupidest fucking thing ever. I didn’t know what the hell I’d been thinking except that hockey was saving me from doing something incredibly foolish. Instead, I had done the most idiotic thing ever and put my scholarship at risk by injuring myself.

  When I got back on the ice with the team at the start of the school year, I was behind the eight ball. I should have improved over the summer, but I messed things up and regressed. So Coach was all over my ass because I kept
screwing up. I needed to push through all this shit before I found myself riding the bench for most of the season. Because it didn’t matter how well I’d played for the team the last three years. Coach was a ‘what have you done for me lately?’ kind of guy. And I hadn’t done jack shit lately.

  “Dude, you okay?” Jason asked me. He was a good friend. We had both joined the team as defensive linesmen at the same time and found ourselves paired together most of the time. We’d also been roommates for the last two years when he’d convinced me to move into the apartment his parents had gotten for him.

  “Yeah, man. I’m fine. I just need to pull my head out of my ass and get back into the game like Coach said,” I shrugged it off.

  “You need help with that?” he asked, not letting me minimize the problem.

  “Help with pulling my head outta my ass?” I joked.

  Jason grabbed my face mask and pulled me forward. “No. Do you need help getting back into the game? Because I can get us some extra ice time if you need it. I already called the rink in town and they have open slots that we can use if you want ‘em.”

  That right there was part of why Jason and I got along so well. He’d seen me struggling and gone out of his way to help solve the problem. He had my back all the way, both on and off the ice.

  “Shit, man. Yeah. Set it up and I’m there,” I answered before slapping his stick with mine and skating off.

  The rest of practice went a little better. I felt a renewed sense of purpose and hoped like hell the extra ice time would get me back up to fighting condition. Because I sure as hell didn’t want the mess with Kat to ruin my last season with the team. Hell, this was the last time I was going to play competitive hockey. I needed to enjoy it as much as possible, because after this year, I’d be relegated to men’s league games at one of the rinks back in Chicago.

  ****

  Jason jumped on it as fast as possible, and I found myself on the ice with him every day that week. Throw in classes and team practices and I didn’t have much free time. It was probably a good thing because adjusting to my new single life was harder than I’d expected. I wasn’t used to partying with the guys all that much seeing as I’d kept it to a minimum the last three years. I hadn’t wanted to put myself into situations that could damage my relationship with Kat. Which was pretty damn ironic now that I thought about it since she’d apparently been fucking her way through campus the whole time while I hadn’t even danced with other girls. I hadn’t wanted to give anyone the idea that I’d ever even consider cheating on my girlfriend back home.

  The guys used to tease the shit out of me for it, too. They hadn’t brought it up at all since we got back to campus. I figured Jason had let them all know it was a sore subject for me and they respected me enough to let it go. Instead of talking it to death or razzing me about what had happened, they’d dragged me to party after party and all the bars in town. They figured I’d be all for hitting everything that moved because I finally had my freedom. What they didn’t know was that I’d lost my taste for easy pussy. Sure, I’d banged some chicks back home to work through everything. Hell, I’d even fucked Kat’s best friend, thinking it would make me feel a little better. Only my revenge had made me feel worse because I realized that nothing would fix what was broken.

  Well, maybe not worse seeing as I had felt some satisfaction in rubbing my fuck fest with her best friend in Kat’s face. I probably should have felt guilty for ruining their friendship, but what type of friend sleeps with your ex at the drop of a hat? I’d always thought chicks had the same code guys did, but maybe I’d been wrong, because her friend had been very into it.

  The truly sad thing was that I hadn’t even had to work for it. Unfortunately for me, after that, sleeping with chicks who would spread for just about any guy left me cold. But that didn’t stop me from going out with the guys to party, just like we were going to do again tonight. We only had a few weekends left before our first game, so we needed to have fun while we could, because pretty soon, we’d find ourselves under lockdown the night before games or Coach would have our asses.

  “You almost ready, dude?” Jason yelled while banging on my door. “I swear to God you’re worse than a chick when it comes to getting ready sometimes.”

  “Chill out, man. I didn’t take that long,” I muttered as I threw open my door and walked past him into the kitchen.

  “It’s not like it even matters what you look like tonight when you’re not even gonna try to pick up chicks,” he argued.

  “Doesn’t mean I have to look like shit though,” I pointed out just to be irritating.

  “Shut the fuck up and take a shot before we head out,” he said as he handed me a shot of vodka.

  “Za vas!” I toasted him before slamming down my drink. “Damn, that was good.”

  “Yeah, it should be since it’s that bottle of Kauffman your dad gave you the last time he was here,” Jason explained.

  “Motherfucker. That shit’s special,” I growled at him.

  It was my dad’s favorite vodka, and it ran a couple hundred bucks a bottle. It wasn’t something that you drank for the hell of it. It was very smooth and worth every penny, but I normally only drank it on special occasions.

  “Then let’s make tonight special and find you some ass,” he taunted me. I guess the gloves were coming off tonight.

  “I don’t need liquid courage to find myself easy pussy,” I argued.

  “Could have fooled me,” he snapped back.

  I just shook my head at him. “Dude, I’ll find some if I want it. Trust me.”

  “That’s not it at all, man. It just dawned on me today that maybe your problems on the ice might partially be due to being backed up. That shit’s not healthy, you know,” he joked.

  Or at least I thought he was joking.

  “Backed up? Shit, man, there’s no need to worry about that. I take care of it every morning in the shower,” I said while moving my hand in a jacking-off motion.

  “Well, I hope you and your girlfriend Rosy are very happy together. Me? Tonight, I’m gonna find some lonely girl who’s willing to take care of me instead of resorting to helping myself out,” he replied as we walked out the door.

  “And how is that different from any of the other nights we’ve gone out?” I asked.

  Jason waved his hand up and down his body. “Hey, I can’t help it if my sexiness makes it impossible for women to resist me.”

  Just as he finished talking, the doors to the elevator opened with the up arrow still flashing. A cute brunette stepped out and smiled at us before walking down the hall.

  “I don’t think I’d use the word impossible, buddy.”

  “I don’t know about that,” he argued. “Hey!” he called out to the girl who had made it to the door of the apartment to the right of ours.

  She turned around and looked at us, her door slightly cracked open. “Yeah?” she asked.

  I swiveled my head to see what type of bullshit was going to come out of his mouth now.

  “You’d agree that I’m impossible to resist, right?” Jason asked her.

  I jerked my head back to the girl when the only response I heard was the sound of her door slamming against a wall. “Oh, she can resist you all right. And if you don’t leave my fiancée the fuck alone, I’d be happy to make sure any girl you run into will be able to resist you very easily, because you’ll be in the fucking hospital, douchebag,” the guy stalking towards us growled. The girl was just standing in the open doorway, shaking her head.

  “Shit, man. Sorry about that,” I said, stepping in front of Jason in the hopes of diffusing the situation. “He can be a bit of an ass, but he really didn’t mean any disrespect. Honestly, he was just trying to give me a hard time more than anything else.”

  “Seems to me that hitting on my girl was bound to give me and her a hard time. Not you,” the guy argued.

  “And I totally understand why you’d see it that way, but he’s my best friend and he knows that I’m havin
g a hard time adjusting to being single again after so many years. Sometimes, he just doesn’t know when to stop when he’s trying to get me to go with the flow, man. That’s all,” I explained.

  “Dude, you don’t need to step between me and danger,” Jason said as he shoved around me to look the guy in the eyes. “No offense meant. I’m sorry.”

  “C’mon. Leave them alone. No harm, no foul. I’m perfectly safe,” the girl said as she walked towards us and grabbed his hand.

  I jabbed Jason in the ribs and gave him a look as I nodded towards her meaningfully.

  “I really am sorry,” Jason said to her. “I’m usually not a douche. Especially not to my neighbors.”

  “See? He apologized to both of us,” the girl said to her fiancé. “So how about we let these guys get on with their night out?”

  He glared at both of us before pulling her towards their apartment. “I’ll have my eyes on both of you,” he threatened before they walked inside. “Fucking hell. Why do our neighbors have to be single guys, baby?” I heard him mutter before the doors closed.

  “And you guys used to call me pussy-whipped,” I joked.

  “Fuck, man. That was nuts,” Jason grunted as the elevator doors opened again and we got stepped inside. “That was a buzzkill.”

  “Like you’d let anything kill your buzz when tonight’s one of our very few nights out when you can drink until the season is over,” I pointed out.

  “Damn. You’re right,” he agreed. “I guess I’ll just have to drink some extra shots to wipe that from my brain.”

  I laughed, thinking that Jason was joking, but he proved me wrong that night. We got trashed, he picked up some chick who he brought back to the apartment, and I wondered what the hell was wrong with me that I just wasn’t interested enough to put in the minimal effort that would have been needed to do the same.