Breathless #2 (The Breathless Romance Series - Book #2) by Claire Adams

into Johnny. He
was the star of the team apart from the goalie; Georgia made a point of
explaining why the goalie was always one of the most important and valued
players on the team. But the goalie for our team was not nearly as hot as
Johnny; no one in the entire school was, and no one combined that mixture of
hotness and confidence and charm that Johnny had.
    During one of the breaks, I looked around the stands,
just people-watching, trying to get a feel for the kinds of fans hockey
attracted. I saw some guys who I was sure I’d seen at the frat house
party—though whether they were members of Phi Kappa or just people at a party,
I didn’t know for certain. I did see one of the guys who’d been in a toga—so I
assumed that he at least was a member of the fraternity. I saw way more girls
than I thought I would have seen at a game of any kind; some of them were
waving banners or homemade posters, with the school colors on them. Some of
them were wearing jerseys with different players’ names (most of them wearing
Steel jerseys, I noted with a little bit of a creepy-crawly feeling in my
stomach). I thought to myself that it might be worthwhile to get a jersey of my
own—and then show up in Johnny’s room wearing nothing but that.
    As I was looking around, though, I noticed the girl
from the dining hall; she was sitting in the front row section a few yards away
from us, cheering her head off, and I thought bitterly to myself what a
hypocrite she was. She had warned me off of Johnny with a hint that he was a
player and that he had somehow driven a girl to suicide—and even though I knew
better, it was gross to think that the only reason she had done it was because
she wanted to be with him. If he’s such a
player, why are you into him? I thought in her direction.
    The teams went back out onto the ice and the second
half of the game started. The girl was screaming almost more than I was,
calling out Johnny’s name. As he came past our section, giving me a little
glance and a wink, she somehow managed to get his attention, smacking at the Plexiglas
with her hands until he looked up. I watched in horror and revulsion as she
lifted her shirt up—and her bra with it—and pressed her breasts against the plexi . The crowd went wild, screaming and cheering, and I
felt my stomach turn over. I was relieved to see that Johnny didn’t look the
slightest bit interested; in fact, I saw his expression transform from curiosity
to disgust at the sight.
    After that, Johnny finally seemed to get his head in
the game and I sat down, feeling irritated and jealous. I knew I shouldn’t
be—but the fact that so many girls, and especially that one, were throwing
themselves at him made me feel a little insecure. Georgia rolled her eyes at me
when I whined. “Dude, Johnny is hot enough that even if he wasn’t the star
player every girl on campus would be after him. You gotta chill.” I grumbled.
    “Yeah, but it’s disrespectful to me for other girls to
do shit like that.”
    “What do you care if they respect you? They don’t have
Johnny—you do. He’s crazy about you! He’s been messing up plays all night
because he keeps looking at you. He’s going to meet your parents. So just
chill.” I nodded, realizing I was being silly; as long as Johnny was into me
and only me, what did it matter what other girls did? If anyone did anything
particularly gross in front of me while I was with him, I’d just have to handle
it then. And if I started acting all jealous and possessive, that would drive
Johnny away more surely than any pair of boobs pressed against a shield
possibly could.
    I cheered myself up, remembering all the little things
Johnny had said about me in our texts back and forth, the way he grinned at me,
and the way he couldn’t seem to take his eyes off of me for more than a few
minutes at a time whenever we were together. That was enough to keep the
possessiveness at bay. I started to get into the game again, ignoring the