Trapped Between Two Rival Hockey Kings

The roommate agreement

Rachel’s POV

Rachel took a breath and walked the rest of the way to the table. Cade looked up at her, that easy smile already on his face, and nodded toward the chair across from him.

“You gonna stand there all day, or you wanna sit?”

She rolled her eyes and slowly pulled out a chair before sitting down. Her mind was still trying to process the fact that, out of everyone who could have been her potential roommate, it had to be Cade Mercer.

That’s when she noticed it. The way half the café wasn’t looking at their laptops anymore. The way two girls by the counter were whispering behind their cups, eyes flicking toward their table.

Now she understood why the place felt so crowded. It wasn’t just lunch rush.

It was him.

Cade Mercer had transferred to Northridge a year ago and somehow dominated the ice, even becoming co-captain of the hockey team within months.

He was good. Really good. Good enough that people argued about whether he or Brian was the better player, good enough that his name got dropped in conversations of players who could make it into the pro hockey.

He was Brian’s rival on the ice, and according to campus gossip, his rival for pretty much everything else too; maybe except Sasha.

And he was sitting across from her like it was completely normal.

“If I knew C.M. was you,” Rachel said feeling smaller, “I wouldn’t have shown up.”

Cade smirked. “You work here, so you did not need to show up.” He said. He leaned back in his chair, arms crossed, watching her like this was funny. “Besides, you need an apartment, so here you are.”

“Not when half the girls in this café look like they want to kill me for sitting here with you.” She spat.

Cade laughed, low and easy. “They’ll get over it.” He muttered.

Rachel rubbed her hands together under the table. She didn’t know what to do with them, with her face, with any of it. Because it wasn’t just the staring that had her rattled. It was him.

Ten years ago, it had been the three of them against the world.

Her, Brian, and Cade, running around the same block, riding bikes until the streetlights came on, building blanket forts in Cade’s basement during the summer. Three kids who did everything together.

Then one day Cade just stopped showing up to any of their spots. A few weeks later she heard his parents were getting divorced and he’d moved away with his mom.

He never said goodbye. Not to her. Not to Brian.

And then, a year ago, he just appeared at Northridge like nothing had happened. Same easy smile, same way of taking up space in a room. Except he never once brought up the past. Not when she’d run into him at games. Not when their eyes met across campus.

Cade acted like they were strangers, and so she had let him be. She figured if he didn’t want to talk to her about it, that was his choice. She wasn’t going to chase an explanation out of him.

So why now? Why was he suddenly interested in helping her at all? After keeping his distance from her for months.

She decided not to ask. Not yet. She had bigger problems.

“So.” Rachel folded her hands on the table. “The apartment. I thought you lived in the Heights.”

“I do.”

People who lived in the Heights building were the rich students who could afford it without breaking the bank, and they usually do not need roommates.

“Then why do you need a roommate? Isn’t that place nice enough that you’d want it to yourself?” Rachel asked.

He shook his head. “I can’t cover the rent alone anymore.” He said it simply, no big explanation attached.

Rachel frowned. That didn’t add up. As far as she knew, Cade had been handling that rent fine on his own this whole time. Nothing about his life looked like it had changed. Same car. Same gear. Same expensive new skates every season, if the rumors were true.

“What changed?” she asked.

“Trying to cut back what I’m taking from my mom.” He shrugged, like it wasn’t a big deal, though something in his eyes told her it was. “She’s been covering more than she should. I want to fix that.”

Rachel studied him for a second. He didn’t look like he was lying. But something about it still didn’t sit right. She decided to let it go for now.

“I want to see the place before I agree to anything.”

“Smart.” He pulled out his phone, swiped through a few photos, and slid it across the table to her.

Rachel picked it up. The apartment was nice. Really nice. Hardwood floors, big windows, a kitchen that actually looked like someone cooked in it. A whole different world from the cramped two-bedroom she shared with Brian.

“This is in the Heights,” she said. “This isn’t student housing prices.”

“I know what it costs, Rach.”

The way her name came out of his mouth, easy, like he’d said it a thousand times before, made something twist in her chest. Nobody called her that anymore except Brian. And hearing it from Cade felt like stepping back into a memory she’d packed away a long time ago.

She handed the phone back to him, ignoring the feeling.

“I have rules,” she said.

“Of course you do.”

“I’m serious.” She held up a finger. “We stay on our own sides of the apartment. We mind our own business. If you want something from my side, you knock first. Always.”

“Okay.”

“And if you’re having a guest over,” she went on, “you tell me at least five hours in advance.”

Cade arched an eyebrow. “A guest?” He muttered.

She scoffed. “You know what I mean.” She mumbled.

“I really don’t. Spell it out for me.” Cade said, staring at her with a smile.

Rachel rolled her eyes. “A girlfriend. Whoever. I don’t want to walk into the kitchen at midnight and run into some stranger making toast in their underwear.”

Cade smirked, slow and amused. “I don’t have a girlfriend.” He muttered.

“Sure.”

“I’m serious. Ask anyone. It’s common knowledge, Rach. Everyone on campus knows that.”

She didn’t believe him for a second. A guy who looked like that, who had half the café staring just because he was sitting near a window, single? Unlikely. But it wasn’t really her business either way, so she let it drop.

“Fine,” she said. “Five hours’ notice. That’s the deal.”

“Deal.” He held out his hand, like they were closing some kind of business arrangement.

Rachel shook it. His hand was warm, and bigger than she expected, and she pulled hers back a little faster than necessary.

“Payment,” she said, clearing her throat. “I assume standard split. Half the rent, half the utilities.”

“Standard.”

“Okay.” She nodded slowly, the reality of it finally settling in. She actually had a place now. A real place, away from Brian, away from Sasha, away from that apartment she couldn’t stand to walk back into. “I can move in today?”

Cade blinked. “Today?” He repeated in surprise.

“Yes.”

“You’re serious.” He sat forward, studying her now, like he was trying to read something off her face. “You’re really that desperate to get out? What, did Brian screw something up that bad?”

Rachel’s jaw tightened. “I need to move out today. It’s urgent.”

“What happened?”

“And no,” she said, cutting him off before he could push further, “you don’t get to ask me why.”

Cade held her gaze for a second, like he wanted to argue, like there was a version of him that would’ve kept pressing until she cracked. But then he leaned back and let it go, just like that.

“Fair enough,” he said.

He hummed, tapping his fingers once on the table. “You know where the place is. Heights building, third floor, unit 304. I’ll text you the address just in case.”

“Okay.”

“Call me if you need help moving your stuff.” He told her.

Rachel doubt she would ever need his help moving anything. She stood and grabbed her bag off the back of the chair. Half the café was still pretending not to watch them.

“Thanks,” she said.

“Anytime, Rach.”

She turned and walked out before he could say anything else, before she could think too hard about the strange, warm, confusing feeling sitting in her chest.

She had a place. That was all that mattered.

She pulled out her phone the second she stepped outside, already typing a message to her landlord, already mapping out in her head exactly what she needed to pack.

She was leaving tonight. For real this time.