Page 8 of Faking the Play

My phone. Someone was calling me.

I reached for it automatically, my body moving without my brain really telling it to. Even as I tapped the “accept” button, I realized that I probably should’ve checked who it was first. Then a familiar voice came through and relief rushed through me.

“Amelia, hey, it’s Ethan. I just wanted to check in.”

I took a shuddering breath, and his tone shifted before I could even speak.

“Are you okay? Did something else happen?” A hint of anger tinged his next words. “Is that asshole there?”

“No,” I said quickly. “He’s not here. It’s just…my roommate…”

I swallowed a sob, but it didn’t fool Ethan.

“I’m coming to get you.”

My hand tightened on my phone. “You don’t have to do that.”

“I’m coming to get you,” he repeated. “I don’t know what your roommate said to you, but it doesn’t matter. If she made you cry, you don’t need to be around her.”

He had a point.

“Let me take you out of that toxic environment.”

If he’d been talking to anyone other than me or the other two guys, his words would’ve just sounded like something a good friend would say. I knew him, though, and I knew how he felt about people being able to feel safe, especially in their home. The dorm wasn’t a house or an apartment, but I’d lived here for four years, so it should’ve been somewhere I felt safe.

And right now, I didn’t.

I didn’t think Megan would physically hurt me, but what she said to me had cut as deep as any knife. I didn’t want to be here when she came back.

“Okay,” I agreed. “Let me change my clothes and I’ll wait downstairs in the lobby.”

“No,” Ethan said. “Stay in your room. I don’t want anyone else messing with you. I’m coming to get you and I’ll keep you safe.”

We might have only just reconnected, but I believed him.

Chapter five

Ethan

The guys were immediately on my side when I explained to them what happened, and they said they’d have some pizza waiting for us when we got back. The moment I arrived at Newsom Hall, I was glad I’d decided to drive to get her. I didn’t know if the crowd outside the dorm and in the lobby were here because of her, but I heard enough whispers to know that at least some of them would just love to get a picture of Amelia with me, to add to the shit storm surrounding my friend.

Her hallway was empty when I reached her door, and when she opened it, I was glad no one else could see how puffy and red-rimmed her eyes were. The flare of anger that went through me was hard to hold back, but I managed to paste on a smile.

“Ready?” I asked, keeping my tone as casual as possible, like I was here to take her on a date or something.

My stomach gave a weird twist at that thought, but I didn’t pay any attention to it. Amelia was hot, but I wasn’t here because of that. Besides, I wasn’t about to screw up a friendship just to get laid.

“Yeah, we can go.” She stepped into the hallway, careful not to touch me, but I caught her arm as she headed for the stairs to the lobby.

The shock that went through me nearly made me forget why I’d stopped her.

“There’s a whole lotta people in the lobby,” I said. “I’ve got no problem walking through a crowd with you, but I figured you might like the choice to go out a…less noticeable way.”

Her mouth tightened but she nodded without hesitating. “This way.”

She gestured in the other direction and we made our way out to my car without anyone saying a word to us. She seemed to relax the moment we were in the car, and something that had clenched inside me finally loosened.

“The guys are getting pizza,” I said, glancing over at her as I drove. “We just finished practice and, technically, pizza’s not on Coach’s approved diet, but we figured one time isn’t going to kill us.”

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