Page 98 of Unraveling Rain
I’ve fucking missed this.
“Hey, look who’s back,” Matt calls out, and everyone turns toward the door.
A wave of greetings follows—“Xander!” “Hey, bro!” “Welcome back!” I take my time, working my way around the room.
At my cubby, I grab a pair of shorts and a T-shirt.
“It’s good to see you back, man,” Matt says. His locker’s right next to mine.
“Yeah, I’m happy to be back,” I reply, but Matt watches me for a beat too long, his brows knitting together.
“But?” he prompts.
I let out aslow breath.
“Oh, your girlfriend,” he says, nodding like he’s connecting the dots. “I take it she didn’t want to move to Raleigh?”
“Actually, sheismoving. But it’ll take some time to put things in place.”
“That sucks, but at least she’s coming.”
I nod, reminding myself to be patient. Rain needs time to settle things in Azalea Creek before she joins me here. And I’m willing to wait.
I change quickly, folding the sweatpants and shirt that I wore in and stashing them in my cubby. As I sit to put on my tennis shoes, Cody, our goalie, pipes up.
“Hey, Xander. I heard a new nickname is in order.”
I frown. The room quiets for a bit, then ripples of snickers break out.
“What the hell?” I ask, wary.
“Oh yeah. Your goat video went viral,” Matt says, passing me his phone.
On the screen is a video from the day Rain and I took the picture with the goats. I throw my head back, laughing. I can tell the exact moment the pee landed on my foot—my whole face changes. And Rain, catching on, collapses in laughter.
She’s so fucking beautiful.My chest tightens. I wish I were crawling in bed beside her tonight.
“Last time I checked, it had 2.5 million views,” Matt adds.
“Yeah, this was funny as shit,” I say, recovering from the laughter, but not the ache in my chest.
The guys slowly return to their routines.
“So maybe we can call youGoat?” Cody suggests.
The room erupts again.
“Absolutely not,” I say, standing to my full height. “I mean it. I’ll get back at anyone who calls me that.”
I give them my best death glare, but they don’t seem too frightened.
Yeah. I’m going to hear it again. Probably all season long.
I head out to the gym, where Brent is waiting by one of the treadmills.
“Are you ready?” he asks.
I nod, rolling my shoulders to relax.
