Darby U Hockey Boys

Charles Preston Carmichael is the most infuriating man I've ever met. I want to sock the golden boy of college hockey right in the mouth. He enjoys telling me everything I'm messing up—publicly. And since he's my roommate for the next year, I can't avoid him. Yet there's something about him that makes me watch him. Something dark. A secret I want to uncover. When he returns from a weekend away, broken and haunted, I can't keep my distance anymore. He needs someone, and I'll be damned if it's not me.

I've been in love with my best friend for years. The problem? He thinks I'm straight. Now that I share a dorm with him, his insistent need to cuddle—and lack of clothes—are blurring the careful lines I've drawn. I'm struggling to keep my defenses up. I love him, but I'm afraid. Afraid I'm not enough to make him stay. Afraid he'll rip my heart out. Afraid he won't love me back. But I see a side of him no one else does. In the security of our room, he lets his mask fall, lets me hold him.

The captain of the hockey team has a lot of responsibilities, but when it's just us, all he wants is to be my good boy. Senior year should have been the same as the previous years: football, hookups, and homework. But after the season ended, somehow, Joey Carpenter happened. He's weaseled his way under my skin, into my heart. The strong, intimidating hockey player melts so beautifully for me, and I'm addicted. He pretends like he doesn't need anyone, but I see him. See what he really needs. The longing to be cared for is there in his eyes.