Page 61 of Second Down Fake

Noa said Lena had a full itinerary for their night out and judging by the phone call earlier that afternoon, Cassandra had been all too happy to follow Lena around the strip. That should have put me at ease. Lena would keep them out of trouble.

My phone buzzed to life, illuminating the dark hotel room like a beacon. I pushed off the covers and grabbed the phone, knocking the cord out of the wall as I fumbled to answer the call.

“Hey.”

Cassandra’s soft giggle eased all the tension out of my chest. All the anxiety that I didn’t want to admit had been building up over the evening.

“I didn’t think you’d answer. It’s late, Diego.” She lowered her voice, as if chiding a naughty child. Her words were slurred. Buzzed, maybe on the precipice of drunk. I couldn’t tell.

“It’s late. I thought you passed out hours ago.” I extracted myself from the rumpled sheets, standing up with the phone pressed to my ear. From the window, I could barely make out the Bellagio in the distance. Too far away to count the floors up to her hotel room.

“I wanted to wish you good luck tomorrow.”

“You could have done that in the morning.” She exhaled, her breath a hum over the line. “I couldn’t sleep, anyway. What’d you get up to tonight?”

“Lena gambled, a bunch. Then, we went on a sightseeing tour, got a picture with the Welcome to Las Vegas sign, saw a show. Then got dinner at some fancy restaurant. I ordered a sake flight.”

“A sake flight?” I grinned. “Was it good?”

“Two. Two sake flights,” she corrected. “It was okay.”

“Just okay?” I peeled myself away from the window and relaxed into an upholstered chair beside the bed.

“I liked the drinks at the show better. Lena insisted we ordered drinks. I told her they were too expensive.”

“You have my credit card,” I reminded her.

“Twenty dollars for a drink is ridiculous.”

“There’s nothing ridiculous about you having a good time, Cassandra. You had a good time, right?” The tension in my chest eased with every second on the phone. “You sound like you had a good time.”

“I missed you.” Before I could even process the admission, she charged on. “I mean, I would have had a better time with you. The rules you have to follow are dumb. Like am I even supposed to call? It just seems ridiculous to ask a grown man to go to bed at a certain time.”

“You missed me?” I circled back to the only important part of what she said. I couldn’t change the league rules. I couldn’t change Coach Simmons rules. But I was glad I answered her call.

“A little.”

“A lot?”

“A moderate amount. Lena’s great. She’s just not…”

“Wildly handsome and irresistibly charming?” I closed my eyes, imagining her smile as her laugh tapered off.

“Annoyingly companionable.”

“I’ll take it.”

“Which hotel are you at?”

My throat constricted. “Why do you ask?”

“I just thought we could have a nightcap? I’ll smuggle you a drink.”

I paused, sure that if I opened my mouth immediately, I’d say yes, and Cassandra would be on her way over before I came to my senses. It wasn’t as if the coaches prowled the hallway, but I shouldn’t do that to my team. I should be in bed.

“There’s literally nothing I want more.” I exhaled.

“But…I sense a ‘but’ in there.”

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