Page 45 of Out of Bounds

"One more and I’ll give somebody else a turn," I promised, rolling back my shoulders.

The whistle screamed and my sneakers pounded against the grass. We tore up the field, racing off toward an end goal marked by one of the leftover yellow pads. My breathing labored, but I kept it steady. I had to beat my record, had to push myself. Had to stop focusing on the fact that Kassie wasn't—

"Damn!" an assistant coach shouted when my fingers grazed the pad.

"New record?" I panted, looping my fingers over the wrap on my side.

"Five seconds faster and I’ll send you to the track team!" He clapped me on the back and waved the stopwatch in my face. "Just joshing with you. Don't tell coach I said that. Back to it! Olsen! Get moving! Windows, I see your mouth moving - if you can talk, you aren’t going hard enough!"

I tried walking back with them, but the assistant coach shook his head.

"Lawson wants you training right runs in ten. Get some water."

"Got it." I bumped his fist when he offered it.

I took my time across the field, commenting on forms from the other players and upping the weights. I held up a hand before they could object.

"If I wanted opinions, I would’ve asked, Blanc. I know you can do better than this. You’ve had this for a week now. And Miles! Stop staring at Cleo’s office!"

We’d accepted some freshmen and transfer players for the semester, but they seemed surprised when I demanded more from them. I had no idea what kind of workouts they were usedto and I couldn’t care less. Everybody had to learn how to swim. Either they knew already, or I’d dunk them into the deep end. There wasn’t room for anything else on my team.

And still, no Kassie.

I scanned the field, the front entrance, the tunnel to the lockers, and the first three rows of bleachers, covered in dark blue jerseys and bleary smiles.

No Kassie.

"Cross," Adam cleared his throat by the water cooler. His words were careful. "Lawson has the timers—"

"Fuck off, Adam."

My reply was short. All my replies to him were short. I still couldn’t believe it. It wasn’t missing the photoshoot that bothered me. Emergencies come up. In fact, King skipped out of a sneaker signing event to take his mom to the hospital. Did I yell at King during a frat party? No. The two of us skipped the sneaker event and I watched his little sister for the afternoon.

But Adam lied to Cleo. He lied to Coach Lawson. And he lied tome. After I swore to the coaches that he was cleaning up his act. How long had Adam and I known each other? How many times did we have each other's backs when nobody else did?

That wasn’t even the worst part.

Why the hell did he pull that shit in front of her?

For years, we were the faces of our football team. There were certain expectations placed on us. But it was different with Kassie in the picture. I didn't want her to see me as just a quarterback. I wanted her to see me as a team captain. And the team captain isn't lied to. A team captain isn't the last person to learn about something like that. A team captain doesn't shout at a teammate in the front yard of a freshman vomit site.

Adam cleared his throat. "Ah, I wanted to say…I’m—"

My eyes flickered over to the back exit. I jerked up.

Kassie.

She was the only girlfriend without a jersey and I could see her curves through her white t-shirt. Her hair was thrown up in a messy bun that let my eyes wander to her bare neck. And the lipstick…

Of all the things to think about - lipstick? I had to get my attention back to practice.

"Ragar." I strolled over to her. "Where’ve you been? You’re…" I checked my watch. "Twenty minutes late."

"I’ll be on time tomorrow." Kassie took a moment to steady her breathing. Loose strands had come undone from the bun, framing her face. "I thought you were supposed to shower or something."

"We begin at six o’clock."

"Right at six tomorrow? Okay."

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