Page 73 of Only Between Us

I’ll bet all Doug McDaniels has to do is play well, flash the Rebels a dumb smile, read them his mediocre stats.

“You need to forget all this chatter. Stay focused on what youcan control,” Parker says. “Let them hear how you’re entertaining the Tigers. Play the part with your loving girlfriend. I can shuffle around some of my clients to put in more time training you, if you want.”

My stomach pangs. “You think I need to put in more time?”

“Not what I meant. I’d rather we take a week off, give that knee time to fully heal.” Parker lifts an eyebrow. “But I’m not stupid enough to think you won’t take this as a sign to spend more time in your gym at home. If you’re going to keep running yourself ragged, I’d rather you do it under our supervision.”

“You’ve been going easy on me since the Tigers scrimmage—”

“Yes. Kind of the point.”

That ringtone picks up again, and I scan the empty facility. “For fuck’s sake, whose phone is that? Answer the damn thing.”

“That would be yours, jackass.” Parker toes my bag, sitting on the floor between us. “Cute new ringtone, though.”

I dig through the bag. When I tap the phone to life, I find Siena’s picture of the bay underneath several notifications. “It’s Siena’s. I must have switched our phones by mistake.” Guess I know why I haven’t heard from Josh. The phone goes off again. Her mom calling.

“Answer it,” Summer suggests.

“I can’t. That would be in clear violation of theno meeting friends and familyrule.” I stare at her picture of the water. I hope she’s having a great time out there. I’ve never seen her come to life so fast as when she mentioned the charter.

“Uh-oh,” Summer says. I look up in time to see her and Parker exchange a smug look. “It appears we’ve hit a snag in the fake relationship. Namely, it isn’t fake anymore.”

“Not according to the internet.”

They both stare at me like they’re ready to argue to the death the moment I start denying it. But I’ve spent the past couple of weeks hitting a wall with Siena, and it’s draining enough. I pluck a packof gummy worms from my gym bag, needing the pick-me-up as I lie back on my treatment table. “You really wanna hear all this? You always complain your clients treat you like their therapist.”

“You’re already moping on my treatment table. Besides, you know how Parker likes to meddle in relationships. He’s salivating for it, look.”

Parker bumps her with his shoulder. “Thanks, Sum.”

I laugh because it’s true. He’d done his fair share of meddling in his sister’s life a few months ago, puppeteering a reunion with our friend Zac.

“Maybe I learned my lesson. I’m minding my own business.” Parker watches Summer kick off her sneakers and wince as she stretches out her leg. “Tight?”

“I added weight to my deadlifts yesterday.”

“Attagirl.” He catches her leg and coaxes it up between them, digging his thumb into her hamstrings. “So, what’s the issue with Siena? If anyone asks, you can say it’s real now.”

“It’s not real. Not for her, anyway. She says she won’t date athletes since her ex.”

Parker glances up from Summer’s thigh. “Why?”

“She hasn’t felt the need to explain.” I rub my face roughly. “Lately I’ve been thinking… Maybe it’s bullshit. Maybe it’s her way of letting me down easy.”

After our breakup, it became abundantly clear that Naomi hadn’t liked much about me other than the lifestyle I gave her. The fancy parties, attention from fans, and celebrity connections to the team. It hadn’t bothered me in the thick of it, but the moment I caught her with McDaniels, it clicked. I could have been plucked clean from the picture, replaced by anyone else with some kind of status, and she’d have been happy.

Not that I’ve gone out of my way to date in the time since Iemerged from a literal and metaphorical back alley, but it’s not as though I’ve had a line of women come knocking. That couldn’t be a coincidence, could it? I lose football, and suddenly I’m undesirable.

What, exactly, have I offered Siena, anyway? Grief over being in the wrong place at the wrong time that first day? An orgasm? Hell, I hadn’t even achieved that on my own.

I sigh, loud and unrestrained in this empty treatment facility.

Midnight skinny-dips. Somehow, even the memory of Siena’s voice from that first day helps clear the fog of insecurity.What’s your thing? When you’re sighing that hard?

How sad is it that I thinkshe’smy thing?

Us in a bed, lights off. Just listening to her soft voice in the dark, telling me stories.

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