Page 155 of Out of Bounds

"Nothing."

Kassie turned her attention to Adam. "Adam?"

The linebacker was supposed to bemyfriend but he just chortled and walked away with his hands up.

"King?"

But King was already gone, making record time to other side of the field.

"Where are the drones?" Cleo demanded. "Someone needs to get the banner."

Kassie stood in front of me, her dark eyes gazing into my soul, trying to get me to break. But I wasn’t telling her about the locker. Not yet anyway. Her finding out about the locker wasn’t part of the small steps she needed.

Unsatisfied, she shifted back. "Cleo, do you need an extra hand?”

I straightened up. Instantly, I could see the plan formulating in her head. Cleo agreed too quickly and told her three main places the banner could be at, but I shook my head and tried to break up the conversation.

"I’ll go find one of your drones," I said.

"Why would we do that?" Kassie gave me a curious look, trying not to smile. "I can just go get it?"

I’m sure that’s all you’re going to do.

"We’re neededhere."

"The next batch of football players aren’t showing up for another thirty minutes." Cleo shrugged. "We have time."

The one time Cleo gave us some breathing room and it came at my expense. I wanted to argue but Kassie was faster than that. She strode across the grass, off towards the locker rooms.

“Kassie!”

“You can wait behind,” she assured me, waving without glancing back.

I followed after her, swearing under my breath.

60

Kassie

Deep Indents And Creases

The anticipation of exactlywhatwas in Ryan’s locker buzzed under my skin.

What can it be?

"Art girl—Kassie—let’s discuss this," Ryan tried to negotiate, like this was something we could’ve negotiated, as he jogged up to me. "Adam’s being a dumbass. It’s how he is."

"What’s in yourlocker?Hustler magazines?" I teased. A thousand possibilities raced through my mind. Playboy pin-ups? A half-empty bottle of lotion and a box of kleenex? What had Ryanputin there that I missed out on the first time I saw the inside of his locker, when it was all perfectly organized?

"That’d be a lot fucking better," he muttered under his breath.

“You know you’re just intriguing memore.”

He grunted.

"How bad is it?"

"Ten."

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