Page 25 of Ice Cold Rival

I’d heard enough. My mind wasn’t on the game anymore, so there was no point in standing around next to Kane waiting for the next reason to strangle him with his own jockstrap. I tried—Ireallytried—to walk past Kane without saying anything, but his fucking smirk after the sophomore left tipped me over the edge.

With a deep breath to keep my hands at my sides, I slowed as I passed him. “You’ve never made Kenzie happy, and I’m going to enjoy giving her everything you couldn’t. I’m also going to enjoy making sure everyone knows what you did to her.”

Kane snorted, but I could see the wheels turning in his head. He’d convinced most of campus they’d had an open relationship, and Kenzie had thrown a fit when she didn’t get her way. Since she didn’t really have a presence on campus, she couldn’t counter his rumors.

In a he said-she said battle, she wasn’t saying anything. I had no problem speaking up.

There was a small chance letting my temper out would backfire when Kenzie heard, and I knew Kenzie would find out because no way wasTobykeeping his mouth shut when he could harass her using me.

The locker room was empty when I got there, but I only did the bare minimum of changing my clothes and taking care of my gear before heading out. I could shower at home. Some inner sense of urgency told me I should text Kenzie before she found out from anyone else.

Part of me expected Sellers to be waiting at my car since he wasn’t in the locker room, but I was alone in the late afternoon sunshine. I didn’t want to bring my anger home when things were already strained with the guys. Plus, Eva was coming over this weekend so Henry could see her baby, which meant Stephen and Marco would be at the house too.

Sometimes I missed the days when Gavin kept things on the down low and we didn’t have constant visitors. Then again, without Gavin and Cole falling for their respective ladies, I wouldn’t have gotten to see Cole shove Kane against the glass by his throat. Good times.

I slipped into my car, already cooled thanks to remote start, and sat staring down at my phone in my lap. Kenzie had been busy with school since our impromptu lunch date, but we’d texted back and forth. Another message shouldn’t feel weird. Stupidly, it did.

This wasn’t a complaint about her art history class or how Mase kept moving my peanut butter. Telling her Kane was still talking shit while he tried to stake a claim seemed like a face-to-face conversation. Of course, that meant I needed her face in front of me, in person.

Before I could talk myself out of it, I opened our text conversation.

Me: Wyd tonight?

Wifey: Your booty calls are sad and pedantic.

Me: I’m not the one using the word pedantic in a text.

Wifey: I’m smart. Get over it.

I smiled at her response. The longer we talked, the sassier she got. I was starting to discover the sharp, confident woman under her soft outer layer, and she was addictive.

Me: Oh yeah, snap that whip. You know I like it when you get bossy.

She sent me a series of laughing emojis followed by a squirrel I didn’t understand.

Wifey: To answer your question, I need to go grocery shopping and catch up on laundry. Amanda keeps taking up all the washers whenever I find time to get in there. How does she know?!

Me: Must be her evil superpower.

Wifey: Luckily, she’s gone tonight, so she can’t block me again. Why did you want to know?

Me: Thought you might want to come over and meet the ducks in my life.

Wifey: YES. I can do laundry later.

Me: Calm down. You need to establish dominance over the laundry room if you have any hope of knocking Amanda off your ass.

Wifey: You’re right. It’s a matter of principle and lack of clean undies. What about tomorrow?

For a second, I couldn’t figure out what she was asking. The image of Kenzie naked from the waist down filled every part of my brain. Spread out over my bed. Hair wild. Nails digging into my shoulders. The ping of another incoming message finally broke through my haze of lust.

Wifey: If I remember correctly, you have conditioning tomorrow morning. I could head over to your place around noon.

I blinked at her easy memory of my schedule. True, we’d had conditioning last weekend, but Coach gave us tomorrow off, which meant I’d conscripted Sellers to come work out with me anyway. I scrubbed a hand down my face, wrenching my mind away from all the things I could do to Kenzie if we were alone in my room.

Me: Yeah. Noon is good.

She added a heart to the message, and I told the little zip in my chest to calm the fuck down. Kenzie always ended a conversation with a heart. Not all her good girl habits were from her family.

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