Page 108 of When Wrecked Meets Ruined
“Thanks. Appreciate it, but I’m good.” I turned to go, thinking that was the end of it.
“Hey, Ridge.”
“Yeah?”
“Will you be at the party—”
Nico stepped in front of her and turned her around. “Stop flirting with my teammates, little sister. Get to class.”
Gabriella rolled her eyes. “We were just talking.”
“Let’s get moving, McCallister. We’ve got practice.” Nico clapped my shoulder and gave me a little shove in the direction of the football complex where we spent ninety percent of our time. He was a quarterback, a year ahead of me, and thought he was God’s gift. Good thing we were friends. “And stay the fuck away from my sister.”
I refrained from telling him that his sister was chasing me, not the other way around and that I had zero interest in her. “I have a girlfriend,” I reminded him.
“The mysterious Evie,” Jamal said. “When are we gonna meet her? I’m starting to think you’ve dreamed her up.”
“I don’t want her anywhere near you assholes.”
“I saw her at that party a few weeks ago.” Malik grabbed his junk. “Snapped a pic on my phone so I’d have something to beat off to—”
I punched his arm to shut him up. “Was that your momma I saw last week?” I let out a low whistle. “Cougar alert. I hear she’s single. Damn, she’s hot.”
“Five-alarm fire.” Nico made a sizzling sound.
“Don’t even look at my mom, assholes.”
Someone jumped me from behind, and I spun around and knocked him to the ground.
“Jesus Christ.” Santiago wheezed. “What was that for?”
I offered him a hand and pulled him to his feet. He was a running back, six inches shorter than me, with broad shoulders and thick thighs. “That’ll teach you not to jump me.”
The other guys laughed as we swaggered across campus to the football complex. There were over thirty thousand students at this school, but most of them knew who we were, and there were always girls hanging around at practice time.
“Hey, Ridge,” a blonde purred. She did that eyelash flutter hair flip combo that reminded me of Ainsley. “Hey, Nico.”
“Hey, guys,” a girl called out. “Can’t wait for the game on Saturday.”
I waved my hand over my shoulder, not even turning to look at her as I swiped my keycard and pushed through the glass door.
“It’s like a pussy parade,” Nico said as we passed the NFL mural of all the former Bobcats drafted. I tapped my fist against the NFL logo just like I did every day. Someday I’d be on this wall.
“It gets fucking exhausting,” Nico continued. “The other night, I brought some chick home, right? We did the deed, and I was like, Thanks, babe. Catch you later. Because I had to be up at six and hit the weight room. And it was like one in the morning. I was tired as fuck. But she wouldn’t fucking leave, so I said….”
I tuned him out. Nico always had a story like this, and I didn’t care enough to listen. I grabbed an energy drink and a bag of dried fruit and nuts from the fueling station and headed into the team meeting room for film. I chose an aisle seat, dropped into a cushioned lounge chair emblazoned with the Bobcat logo, and pulled out my tablet as the rest of the team filed in. There were one hundred and five players on the roster, and some of these guys had never seen any playing time. Like Walker. He took the seat next to mine.
“You good?” I asked.
“Just saw Austin.” He looked around to make sure we weren’t overheard and lowered his voice. “He’s gonna be your new wide receiver coach.”
“No shit.”
“Yeah. He met with Woodward and the rest of the coaching staff today. They offered him the job.”
“Will that be better or worse for me?”
Walker laughed. “Could go either way. He won’t go easy on you. But Austin’s always believed in you. Said he’s proud of you. You’re doing good. Real good.”
