Page 7 of Offsides

Her eyes narrow a fraction, and she leans forward, her mouth opening like she’s about to speak, but she clamps her lips shut and shakes her head, her brow furrowing.

“What?” I demand, the word sounding more like a bark than anything.

She raises her eyes to mine, surprise replacing her thoughtful frown. Then she laughs. More of a chuckle, really, but a laugh all the same. Leaning back in her chair, a half grin on her face, she looks me up and down once more. “You’re in worse shape than I thought.” She waves a hand. “So you’ve been in love with your best friend for years, and obviously she has no clue.”

Obviously. I mean, I’d kinda hoped she’d have at least thought about the possibility of us, even if she was still hung up on that douchebag Luke. And maybe it makes me a shitty friend, but I can’t help but be grateful that I won’t have to keep hearing about him if they’ve actually broken up for good.

About fucking time.

I can’t imagine being jerked around like that for years. Letting myself be jerked around like that. Or doing it to anyone else.

What’s even the point? Either you want to be with someone or you don’t. Or just call it what it is—an ex you still bang when you’re both in town.

Who’s the one who insisted on the labels? My guess is Dani. That seems like something that might be important for her.

Maybe that’s why she was so shocked about our kiss? And … upset? I’m assuming she was upset since she won’t talk to me but has apparently talked to Autumn. Though Autumn never clarified if Dani said anything else …

“You sure are thinking hard over there,” Autumn murmurs.

I snort.

She grins, spreading her hands in front of her. “If you share, I might be able to help you.”

“How, exactly, do you thinkyoucan help me?”

Lifting one shoulder in a shrug, her smile turns coy. “I have my ways. Dani’s one of my roommates, after all.”

I snort again. “And it’s not like you spend a lot of time with her. She’s here as much as at your place. For that matter, so are you.”

She tilts her head from side to side. “True. But that doesn’t mean we don’t talk. As evidenced by the fact that she’s already filled me in on the events of last night. You don’t think having me in your corner could be beneficial?”

My jaw works as I chew on her words. “What are you offering?”

A shrug and another sly smile is all the answer I get.

Knocking my knuckles on the table, I shake my head and stand. “Thanks for the offer, Autumn. But I think I’m okay on my own.”

Another shrug as I stand. “Suit yourself,” she calls after me as I walk away.

Thanks, Autumn. I think I will.

CHAPTER FOUR

Dani

I wake up the next morning and lie in bed for a while. Even after the press of my bladder forces me out of my cozy cocoon of blankets, I climb back into bed and laze around.

This is unlike me. While I’m not one to hop right out of bed wide awake, I usually only allow myself five or ten minutes of acclimating to waking life before I’m up and getting my day started. There are always plenty of things to do between school, lifting, working, etc.

But my job as Dr. Howard’s lackey doesn’t start up again until school does, which is still almost a week away. If I were still at my mom’s house, like I’m supposed to be, there’d be noise and activity and my mom would’ve knocked on my door already and told me to come eat breakfast before I missed it entirely, and since making sure I eat enough calories and protein are priorities, missing breakfast is not an option.

Plus, I love breakfast. The only times I skipped was when my dad forced me to cut leading up to a meet. Then I had to do fasted workouts first thing in the morning because he said it maximized fat loss.

Fasted workouts suck donkey balls, though. My energy is always worse and my numbers suffer, which of course prompted lectures about giving it my all no matter what and blah blah blah.

I got really good at tuning those lectures out after a while. Paying attention with half my brain so I could nod anduh-huhat appropriate intervals, but largely ignoring everything he said. He’d hired me a coach for a reason, after all. And my coach never said any of those kinds of things to me. He understood that fasted workouts are never as good as when you’ve eaten. It’s basic biology. Which you’d think my dad would understand, considering it’s also common sense and he’s worked out and been athletic enough throughout his life, but pushing me to do and be my best was always more important than reality, I guess.

He was disappointed that I didn’t follow Luke to Michigan to participate in their programs. He even got me an Olympic lifting coach to see if I would change my focus, or at least add to it. And while it’s fun to have some variety, and I still occasionally toss in a few snatches or cleans and jerks into my routine for fun, powerlifting is my favorite hands down. I mostly include the Olympic lifts because it gets a big reaction from the football players I work out with these days.

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