Page 4 of Hate the Game
For what felt like the first time in a long time I laughed. “You’re an idiot, Hayes.”
“Wait. Does that mean you’re showing your…you know whats?”
“No!” I felt my cheeks burn and was more than a little grateful that he hadn’t video called me. “I’m just acting like a dumb bimbo. So far the rest of the team has been interested, but not the three assholes I need to be interested.”
“The rest of the team, Vannah? Jesus Christ. You know I’ve basically lived in a locker room my entire life? I know the type of shit guys say in there. I don’t want them talking about my little sister like that. Maybe Sam’s right. Maybe you should come home.”
“Do you want me to block your number, Hayes? Do not ever tell me that you think our father is right about anything he’s told me. Ever. I mean it. Now I’m hanging up before I hurt your feelings. I love you fifteen.”
He groaned loud and long. “Fine. I love you thirty.”
“That’s fair. You probablydolove me twice as much as I love you right now. Which is your own fault. Goodbye, loser. Talk soon.” I hung up and dropped my head back against my bed.
Dropping my head to my knees, I sat there feeling utterly alone and sad for as long as I could allow. No matter how much I wanted to throw a fit and throw in the towel, I couldn’t. Friendless or not, I wasn’t leaving until The Apex Three paid for what they did. My brothers deserved more than a quitter. They deserved me fighting for them. So that’s what I’d do.
***Savannah***
Another week passed and I’d at least made it onto the field. Sitting on the bench between a bunch of sweaty guys while gripping a notepad and smiling like an idiot while flirting with everyone and anyone wasn’t my idea of a good time, but I’d at least made more contact with my targets. Ryder had grunted at me to move. Cole had eyed me up and down before stripping his pads off and pouring water over his chest. That moment had been a little more charged than I would’ve liked. Jax was still a block of ice towards me, though.
Watching him had shown me that he didn’t play around on the field. His work ethic was intense and so intense that it almost looked like insanity. He didn’t budge until everything was perfect and he wasn’t shy about exercising his authority as team captain. Off the field, he was the golden boy. He smiled and acted like a freaking politician. I was waiting for the moment he kissed a baby. I’d watched him work the crowd in our dorm’s dining hall and had nearly been sick. It was all so fake but everyone ate it right up like he was their god.
Ryder was the same level of intense off the field as he was on the field. I’d seen people throw themselves out of his way. Literally. He terrified people. I’d also observed that he was a control freak. Things around him had to be orderly or he looked even crankier than normal. I knew from my research that he’d been raised a military brat, moved from base to base with his family until he left for college. His dad held a pretty high position in the military still so it made sense to me that Ryder was as uptight as he was. He was hardly the first military kid I’d met who had been forced to be as regimented as their parents, as if they were enlisted, too.
Then there was Cole. Watching him was an art of self-discipline. He walked around campus like a rooster, chest puffed out, demanding attention wherever he went. People fawned over him. Where Jax was loved and Ryder was feared, Cole was desired. Women practically lined up to watch him leaving the locker room after practice. He never failed to throw his arm around a couple of them on his way out. I didn’t want to know what he did with them, at all. The guy oozed sexuality and I refused to notice it more than necessary for my article.
The rest of the team had made a sport out of flirting with me, catching me on my way to and from class or during meal times. I actually sort of liked some of the guys, but it made my life so much harder because I had to keep up the act that much more. Most nights I crawled into bed so exhausted that all I had to do was blink and I was out.
I’d at least had the free time from not taking my classes seriously until Barbie found me on campus one afternoon and perkily told me that if I didn’t work a little harder, I’d have to leave. She’d given me some speech about USC academics and how they didn’t allow students who weren’t serious to represent them. The woman was eerily nice so I hadn’t even been able toget mad at her. Until she’d poked me in the arm, grinned, and told me to perk it up or pack it up anyway.
When I’d been tempted to tell her to leave me alone she’d looked right at me with a straight face and poked me again. “We don’t pity fools, Savannah.”
She’d quoted Mr. T. And she’d done it with no trace of humor. That interaction convinced me that Barbie was a robot, built by a nerd who’d lovedThe A-Team.
Taking my classes seriously meant I no longer got to fall into bed and die for eight hours every night. I got home and worked on assignments I’d missed until my eyes were so dry they’d barely blink and my brain was so tired that I felt like a zombie.
The night I accidentally let my mask slip in front of Ryder was a long one. I’d been working on a paper for hours and needed a break. Normally I timed my shower trips down to a science so I didn’t run into anyone from the team. It was so late that night that I knew no one would be awake. I stripped naked and pulled on my robe while grabbing my shower caddy and cursing communal showers. It was pure torture to shower knowing so many people had already been there, probably peeing and doing other things that made me want to cry.
I was cranky as I walked into the bathroom and headed towards my favorite stall at the back. It was probably in my head but I felt like it had more water pressure than the others. I wasn’t paying attention as I reached for the outer shower curtain so when it was yanked away I yelped.
Ryder was on the other side of the curtain, a too-small white towel wrapped around his waist and his chest bare. I blamed my exhaustion for the way I stared at all that bare skin and strong muscle. He was just so big, probably a foot taller than me, and I wasn’t short. He was built like a god with his wide shoulders and chest leading down to a trim waist and thick, strong thighs. He even had a happy trail that made me want to take up hiking.Then I glanced up at his face and all that crap faded from my brain. Thankfully.
As handsome as he was with his odd gray eyes and cutting bone structure, the scowl killed me. It reminded me just what he thought of me and I couldn’t find a man who hated me very attractive. At least I shouldn’t.
“Move.” His gravel-filled voice was hoarse and rough, probably from not using it, and it held absolutely no warmth. He definitely hated me.
I wasn’t sure if it was the exhaustion or his happy trail tempting me but I snapped. Instead of twirling my hair and laughing like his meanness was funny, I balled my hands into fists and stood up straighter so he wasn’t looming over me quite as much. I forgot everything I’d been working towards and lost my shit.
“I don’t know what the fuck your problem is, soldier boy, but you need to get your shit together. You’re not going to get very far in life by just barking orders at people like the world is under your command, at least not with me. Learn a few manners or take a long walk off a short pier, asshole. If you can’t speak to me like a normal human being, you can fuck right off. Do you understand me? I am not one of your little teammates who fall into line for you. Bark at me again and I’ll rip your dick off and make you eat it. Asshole. Now get out of my way. This is the shower I use and not even your bad attitude and the putrid scent of bastard is going to ruin this for me.”
His eyebrows climbed his forehead as he stared at me, scowl momentarily replaced with a slack-jawed expression of shock. It only lasted a second before he tilted his head and stared at me like he could see right through me. His eyes were too piercing when he studied me full on and I got the feeling I’d just waved a red flag in front of a bull.
I’d shown too much. There was no way the ditzy, giggly woman they all knew me as would’ve reacted to him the way I just had. I swallowed down the urge to giggle and toss my hair while claiming I’d been kidding or that I was on my period. I just inched around him and closed myself in by yanking the shower curtain shut. I froze there and listened as he just stood there for a few more seconds before grunting and leaving.
I’d messed up. I needed to be better than that. I couldn’t show the real me, especially not pretending to be an idiot for a month. They’d all know something was up. I’d ruin everything.
***Ryder***
Iwaited outside of the suite I shared with Cole and Jax to see where Savannah Lane went. I had a bad feeling I already knew where she’d go when she left the shower. What I didn’t know was who the fuck she really was. I would’ve sworn I had her pegged. She was some nepo baby who got the elite job withVarsityLedgerthrough anything other than intelligence and potential. Or maybe she’d slept her way into the position. I knew she hadn’t earned it, though. I’d watched her flirt and tease the rest of the team for weeks. She had aFootball for Dummiesbook for fuck’s sake.
