Page 30 of The Players We Hate
Bullshit.
He wasn’t here because he gave a damn about the team. He was here for the photo ops. For the talking points. For the chance to spin our success into political currency, like, “Look at the young men I support, the programs I believe in.”
The election was next month. He needed votes, and we were the headline.
Wren stood beside him, playing the part—hands clasped, not a hair out of place. But I remembered her differently. Wild. Breathless.Mine.
When her eyes finally hit mine across the suite, just for a second, I knew she remembered too. That night was still there between us, no matter how much we tried to bury it.
Rowdy elbowed me. “You good, man? You’ve been clenching your jaw since we walked in.”
“Fine,” I muttered, grabbing a water from the drink cart and chugging half of it. I needed something to focus on that wasn’t the fact that Wren’s dad was shaking hands with our coach and smiling as if they’d been best friends for years.
“Coach always this chummy with board members?” I asked, keeping my voice low.
Rowdy followed my gaze and raised a brow. “Not unless they’re donating big. You think the governor pitched in?”
“I think he’s trying to own everything he touches,” I said. “Including the team.”
I turned away in time to hear someone behind me say my name.
“Talon Pierce,” Governor Perry said with a politician’s smile, hand toward me. “Your coach tells me you’re the one to watch this season.”
I shook his hand because I had to. I hesitated at first, barely curling around his before I forced myself to tighten the grip. His hold was firm, controlled. The kind of handshake that saidI’m in charge herewithout saying a word.
“Just doing what I love, sir.”
“Well, keep doing it. Rixton’s lucky to have talent like yours.” He leaned in a fraction too close. “Keep your head down. Eyes on the game.”
It sounded friendly enough, but I caught the edge under it. A warning.
Beside him, Wren’s lips parted as if she might speak, but nothing came out. I held her gaze a beat too long, and this time, she didn’t look away.
Then her father turned to the crowd, and she slipped back into his shadow.
The plastic water bottle crumpled in my hand. The game couldn’t start fast enough.
Wren slid her hand into her father’s, a staged gesture for the cameras. Her smile was practiced, chin tilted just right, while he laughed with the university president and a couple of board members. They shook hands like they were sealing a deal, not waiting for the puck to drop.
I watched her from the corner of my eye, jaw tight.
She didn’t look at me again.
Not after everything that happened between us.
Not after the way I had her pinned to the wall only days ago, her lips parting on a moan that still echoed in my chest every time I closed my eyes.
She’d slipped back into that role again, the governor’s daughter. The practiced smile on her face was the same one her father wore whenever he stood at a podium, promising answers to problems he had caused.
I didn’t realize how tight my grip was on the railing until Rowdy jabbed me in the ribs.
“You planning to burn a hole through her, or actually focus on winning tonight?”
I shook him off, rolling my shoulders and muttering something he probably couldn’t hear.
The signal came to head downstairs, so I fell in behind Kade and Rowdy. We’d barely made it to the end of the hallway when a voice rang out behind us.
“Talon, wait!”
