Page 46 of Dirty Pucker

Sam: Yup. Aren’t you excited to see my pasty white ass?

Me: I saw plenty of it when we played in college together

Sam: Does that mean you’re doing the photoshoot too?

Me: Yup

Sam: I thought you’d for sure say no

Me: I won’t have this Adonis body forever. This is a great way to document it.

Sam sends an eye roll emoji.

Sam: Have your new teammates kicked the shit out of you yet?

Me: Nope. I’ve managed to survive so far.

I think about Ingrid, how if Theo had caught us kissing in the steam room, I’d be a dead man.

Sam: BTW did you know you’re blowing up on TikTok? That video where you say you’re into blondes went viral

When I make it to my car, I pull up the Bashers’ TikTok account. Sure enough, Sam’s right. That video has more than a million views. I do a quick skim of the comments. Most of them are people freaking out about how I’m flirting with the person filming me.

I shake my head. Damn. That really caught on.

Sam: It’s clear as day that you’re into whoever you were talking to in that video

Me: Her name’s Ingrid. She’s head of social media for the Bashers. And Theo Thompson’s cousin

Me: And you’re right. I’m into her

Sam sends back a skull emoji.

Sam: Tread carefully. You and Theo have a messy history. He’ll murder you if you hook up with his cousin

Me: We’ve never done more than flirt. We’re just friends. You know me. I don’t shit where I eat, I never have

Sam: Yeah…but I’ve also never seen you look at anyone the way you looked at her in that video

The whole drive home, I think about what Sam said. He’s right. This thing with Ingrid is different. I can feel it.

But I can’t do anything about it.

On my way home, my agent calls me. When I answer, he gives me all the details about the physique photoshoot in Vegas. I push thoughts of Ingrid out of my mind and try to focus. My nerves kick up as I think more about doing the nude photoshoot. I don’t have any qualms about being naked—I grew up in locker rooms, getting undressed and showering around my teammates. But a photoshoot is completely different.

At least this is another distraction from thinking about Ingrid.

Chapter 16

Ingrid

Iboard the Bashers’ private plane for our flight to Las Vegas, my stomach in knots.

The team and staff are traveling for the Bashers’ matchup with the Las Vegas Bandits. I’ll be filming social media content. This is my first away game with the team, so I need to be on my A-game and brainstorm lots of cool content for social media.

But right now, all I can think about is Del.

I spot him standing a dozen feet away from me as we all make our way down the aisle of the plane.

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