Page 28 of Tumbling the Cornerback

I glanced at the rest of the squad at Bodied. For the past few years, the small, private gym had been awesome to us, between the discounted membership and arranging to use the space on the days they were generally closed. But it felt too crowded and too overwhelming surrounded by the rest of the team while I was trying to sneakily check my texts from Cooper. Since the weekend, we'd been texting one another several times a day. It was Wednesday, and we'd both been busting our asses with training, him with some sponsorship and admin stuff, me with Queering Sports and teaching.

And by several, I mean maybe two, three dozen times. Or more if I found some funny memes about football or athletes.

Cooper didn't seem bothered by it, though, always replying when he had the time, never telling me I was being annoying or too chatty. He must like me, I thought. I'd have been sick of me by the fourth meme.

Me: You didn't peek? I'd have peeked.

Cooper: Some of us are better at being patient. Taking our time. Making it last... *winking emoji *

Me: Shut up. I'm at the gym with the squad. Can't do leg presses with a hard-on.

Cooper's reply was a bit longer coming, the dots bouncing then stopping, bouncing then stopping. Finally, he sent it.

Cooper: I feel like there's a sex joke in there somewhere, but I can't make it happen.

Me: *tongue sticking out emoji *

"You're gonna get your ass fired," Marisol announced, dropping to sit beside me. Sweaty and breathing hard, she gestured at me with her water bottle. "Don't lie and say you're not talking to Cooper Howard. I had a feeling in my gut at the fundraiser. My grandma had the Eye and she said it runs in the family." She tapped the center of her forehead. "My cousin Ellie, she can throw a curse like no one's business. Me, I'm good at sussing out when people are lying." She gave me a pointed, eyebrow-raised glare.

"I'm not lying about anything. I'm just texting with Cooper about the fundraiser in August."

"You're flirting with him. You've wanted in that man's jock since at least the fun fair, if not before. And don't you give me that tongue click and eye roll, Lucas. I know you. You're one of my BFFs, and you cannot lie to me."

"Which is it? You got your grandma's magic powers or I'm a bad liar?"

"Don't you try to distract me. You know this is a bad idea," she hissed, grabbing my wrist when I started to stand. "Even if you weren't literally contractually forbidden from dating a player, what about all that shit with Jimmy?"

"Cooper isn't Jimmy," I muttered, glowering at her fingers on my arm. "I... I thought maybe he'd be like Jimmy too, but he's not."

"How do you know?"

"Because he's not!" The sudden quiet that pooled around us told me I'd been way louder than I'd meant to. Marisol let go of my wrist and made a whatever gesture, but I knew we weren't done with the topic. Shoving my phone in my bag, I went back to the circuit. A few times, I caught her and Liz with their heads bent together, glancing my way only to stop when they caught me looking.

Fanfuckingtastic. I smelled an intervention.

By the time I'd done my rounds and run through a cooldown, I had just an hour before I needed to be at the studio, so I couldn't linger and chat like usual. When Marisol, Liz, and Tori trailed after me towards the locker rooms, I stopped and shot them all three a stern look. "I know we're close, but I am fully capable of changing without help."

"Lucas, listen," Tori began in a gentle, firm tone, ever the Mom-friend. "Marisol told us you're messing with a player, and that's not just gonna come back and bite you on the ass, but any of us who knew about it too."

"Marisol doesn't know that I'm doing anything," I shot back. "Marisol is pulling things out of thin air."

"Am I?" she demanded. "Lucas, I'm not dumb." She leaned in closer, dropping her voice to a near whisper. "Someone saw the two of you this weekend, okay?"

Shit. I pasted a smile on and shrugged, forcing down the wave of nausea threatening to send me bolting for the bathroom. "He asked to meet up. Cass and Dani cleared me working with him, and it's okay. Management gave the go-ahead."

"Lucas," Liz sighed. "Look, none of us are famous enough to get recognized on the street?—"

"Unless it's by those creepers who think we're all nymphos," Marisol added.

Liz rolled her eyes. "Them aside, some gossip pages say Cooper Howard was seen on a date with a guy who looks a lot like you. They described his date as short, dark hair, Latine?—"

"So that could be like forty percent of the male population of Texas," I pointed out.

"Don't be dumb," Marisol snapped. "It's not that hard to figure out. And it doesn't even have to be true," she added. "It just has to seem true for management to cut you loose."

"And to come down on the squad, too, since we'd obviously know. You're not exactly being lowkey, Lucas," Liz said gently. "Look, I'm not telling you who to date or fuck. Just... be careful, okay?"

"Remember Jimmy," Marisol said with a sneer. "You didn't think he'd turn out to be an asshole, either."

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