Page 38 of Falling Offsides

The apartment feels odd, missing something—the buzz from Courtney’s presence.

It becomes more pronounced when I switch the feed to her apartment on and… nothing. The lights are off. There’s not a flicker of movement. Just the faint hum of the AC.

Panic punches me in the chest.

Court should be home by now. Even if she stopped off for groceries, she should be back.

Did something happen at the facility?

Is she okay?

I pick up my phone and debate asking Jayden and Eli how the rest of the day went. Sylkes always goes late and Morrow stays with him. I guess all the work they put in together is the reason they’re one of the strongest defense pairs in the league. The instant I type out the message, I delete it—I never ask what happened when I wasn’t there. Unless Coach comes to me about it, it’s not my business… except…

Jayden’s voice echoes in my head—that other guy took a puck to the face, walked around fine for hours, then dropped into a coma.

Fuck.

I grip the edge of the counter, my knuckles whitening. My breath shortens. My mind spirals.

I should text him.

Even if just to put my mind at ease.

Pulling up Jayden’s contact, I tap the volume button up on my laptop. Just one notch.

Then—just as I’m about to send Morrow the text—there’s a rustle of keys and the click of a door shutting.

The pup lifts his head, sniffing the air in the direction of the front door right as the feed flickers and Courtney walks in, phone to her ear, towel slung over her shoulder.

She drops her keys on the kitchen counter and starts peeling the straps of her swimsuit down her arms.

I exhale. Tension bleeding out of my spine like a slow release valve.

She’s okay.

The camera’s angled toward the couch, but I can still hear her talking to her friend again.

From the conversations I’ve overheard, I’m piecing together that they’re not just BFFs, the two of them are codependent. A support system for each other. I like that. I like that Delilah makes Courtney snort laugh and let down her walls.Andthere’s a pang of something knotting in my chest at the thought that I want to be that person for her too.

I change the feed to the camera in the kitchen where Courtney is staring into her fridge intently.

“—no, I didn’t go out,” Courtney says, pulling a bottle of water from the refrigerator and taking a sip while she places the phone on the counter on speaker. “I went swimming at the rooftop pool for a bit. The view from up there is gorgeous, and the evening is warm… and I needed to clear my head.”

Delilah’s voice is tinny through the speakers. “Did something else happen today?”

Courtney exhales sharply, kicking her flip-flops off while she wriggles out of her shorts. “No. I avoided him after this morning. I can’t work him out, Dee. The way he was waiting outside my apartment this morning, like he wasn’t an asshat yesterday… Does he really think buying me a muffin and bringing me a coffee is supposed to make his shitty attitude okay?”

I clench my jaw, fists tight at my sides as I glance down at the pup staring me out. Even the fucker is judging me. I can tell he’s already on her side from the way his head is tilted and his eyes are all big and round.

Basically, calling me an asshole.

“First, can we acknowledge that you brought The Puckinator into the conversation?” Delilah announces.

“Deli—”

“Andsecondly, what happened to the 'not today, Satan' energy you hit him with this morning?”

“Why are you twisting things like?—”

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