Page 7 of Ice Cold Rival

“Because you hit on her every time she’s around.”

To be fair, Avery was tall, beautiful, and confident, favoring kickass boots and dark red lipstick. She was one hundred percent the type of girl I looked for at parties, and she was a thousand percent in love with Cole.

I abandoned the textbook to spread my arms. “It’s how we communicate.”

The annoyed look on his face told me I was taking this conversation in the wrong direction. Time to change tactics. “I’ll pay for pizza, and I’ll be on my best behavior. No inappropriate comments at all. Promise.” I crossed my finger over my heart, but Cole rolled his eyes.

“Pass.”

Frustration bit into me, and I conceded I’d have to give him more than free pizza. “I talked to Coach about my interest in being captain.”

Cole closed his laptop with a soft click and set it aside. “You were serious about that?”

I buried the flare of hurt where he wouldn’t be able to see it. “Yeah, I was serious—amserious.”

“What did Coach say?”

I opened my mouth intending to make a joke—I wasn’t here to bare my soul, I wanted adistractionfrom what Coach said—but Cole’s eyes narrowed. He knew me too well.

“Let me guess. You’re not captain material because you hit on his daughter in front of him?”

I winced. Not my finest hour, but I thought we’d moved past that. “Maybe. He said he was doubtful about my lifestyle, and we should give it a few more weeks.”

“That’s cutting it close.”

“No shit, and Sellers told me Kane talked to Coach too. Claimed his experience as captain of his last team would be ‘useful’.” I threw up some hand quotes because we all knew how he’d abandoned his last team the second he thought he could get a better gig here.

Cole scoffed. “I’m sure as hell not voting for that asshole.”

“You know our votes are only symbolic. Coach has the last say.”

He ran a hand through his hair. “Are you sure you even want tobecaptain? Could this maybe be your way of dealing with Gavin leaving.”

My jaw tightened, but I tried to maintain my carefree façade. “You don’t think I can do it?”

He glanced at his phone, then tossed it on the bed. “I think you can do anything you put your mind to, but what happens when you get bored with the responsibility? It’s not just about you. The team needs a strong leader.”

He might as well have slapped me. Talk about betrayal. Cole was supposed to be the boy scout, the one who only saw the good in people, and evenhecouldn’t see me as captain. Suddenly, I was way less interested in using him as a distraction.

Why put in the effort when it didn’t make a difference? If my best friends didn’t believe in me, I was doomed to fail.

“You know what? Nevermind. I just remembered I promised Sellers I’d wingman for him at the Chi Omega party. Have fun with Coach’s daughter.”

I managed not to slam Cole’s door or mine, but I did kick a wad of laundry across the room as soon as I was safely in my own space.

Me: Count me in for Chi Omega.

Sellers: Be ready in 15.

4

“Mom, now’s not a good time.” With less than fifteen minutes to get ready, I set the phone on my dresser, then dug for the calf-length pink dress in my closet.

“This will only take a second,” she insisted. I rolled my eyes because my mother was notorious for the length of her phone calls. “Your sister needs you to send final measurements. She thinks you may have gained a little weight?”

I appreciated the question mark at the end, but she and I both knew I’d been eating my feelings since the “break” with Toby, as she liked to call it. Case in point, I’d just had to move a day-old plate of nachos to search through my jewelry box for the pearls I was required to wear that evening.

“I’ll send them tomorrow, okay? I need to be downstairs in a few minutes to play hostess for the annual welcome back open house.”

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