Page 133 of The Trouble With Bad Boys

“Be careful,” I mutter, and she laughs and shakes her head.

“I got it. I got it.”

She drops it on the floor of the truck and jumps down, once again using me to help herself down.

I take the bag for her, though, carrying it with me as she walks behind me into the house and down the hall to my room next to Beckham’s.

Beckham moved the rest of his stuff from East Tennessee last week. We’re still getting to know each other, but I’ve started to pick up on the similarities and differences between him and Hayes. I’m not talking about their looks either. I know Hayes is happy to be playing with his brother again, and he deserves to have something positive to look forward to after his tough year.

“You got any plans for the day?” I ask, setting Ava’s bag down near my desk.

She crawls onto my bed, looking right at home, her legs crossed beneath her and shrugs.

“I was thinking I should do something with myself, so I’m going to head into town and see if any places are hiring.”

I tilted my head, nodding slowly.

“When we were driving through downtown yesterday, I noticed there’s a dance studio hiring.” She waves her hand. “I didn’t say this before, and I’m not sure if you picked up on it the other day, but I’m on the dance team for Braysen.”

I figured she was after our first run-in after practice the other day. My eyes drop to her legs. Without a doubt, she has the body for it.

“So I guess you’ll see me more at your games too, ya know, since I’ll be performing at them.”

The mental image of her in her dance uniform, the way her body would move, has my dick waking up. I clear my throat, attempting to force myself off the road my thoughts are traveling on.

“Well, I look forward to it,” I grunt, shaking my head. “Seeing you, watching you. I’m sure you’re great.”

The words rattle out of my mouth, and it takes longer for it to hit me. I’ve made myself look like an idiot again by shoving my foot in my mouth. She presses her lips together to fight off her grin and nods.

“I look forward to watching you play too.” She giggles.

I clap my hands and look around, not sure what to say next. All I know is the energy in the room, having her here, is like having all the oxygen sucked out of the space.

“Well, I gotta get going. Got practice at eight. Like I said last night. Feel free to use whatever of mine in the shower.” I motion to the en suite of my room. “There are washcloths and clean towels, and I’m pretty sure we have extra toothbrushes beneath the sink if you need one. Help yourself to whatever.” I wave my hand.

She smiles. “Thanks again, Colter.”

“My pleasure,” I blurt out. She leans back on her hands and tilts her head.

The sight of her sitting on my bed, the look in her eyes.

Yeah, I’m fucked.

Six

AVA

“It’s great to meet you, Ava. I’ll get back to you sometime this week.” Anita grins, holding her hand out between us.

Anita owns the small dance studio in town. I saw the help wanted sign printed on the front window when I was driving downtown with Colter yesterday.

Expressions Dance Academy offers dance classes starting as early as age one. Meeting Anita and having her show me around the studio brought back many memories of where I started dancing back in Beaufort.

My mom got me into dancing as soon as I started walking. My favorites were lyrical, contemporary, and hip-hop, but my mom insisted on exploring all of them, saying I’d never know until I gave it a shot.

They were finishing the last day of their summer camp, so we didn’t have much time to chat, but she reassured me that if I was hired, they’d have no problem working around my dance team schedule.

“It was great meeting you, too. I hope to hear from you soon.”

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