Page 27 of Bending Under Pressure

Yeah, but the thing is, Cameron has always been a little curious about his birth parents. I haven’t. Never. I kind of wish it was his mom intruding on our lives and not mine.

A whistle shrieks loudly over and over, and another coach yells, “Let’s go, girls! Run, run, run!” Between the unusually hot day and our coaches running us to death because someone mouthed off and someone else was late, I feel like I’m going to vomit at any second. I’m about to start a puddle of sweat with all the droplets pouring out of me. My legs are burning and I’m not sure how I’m still standing. I push harder, knowing if we can all last a little bit longer, it’ll be over.

The whistle blows long and loud. “Enjoy your day off tomorrow, boys. Be ready for Friday,” our head coach dismisses us.

I’m about to seriously fall to the ground, just to rest for a minute, when Cam grabs my shoulders and pushes me forward.

“Your girl is here.”

My gaze snaps up from the appealing grass and searches for Haley. “She’s not mine,” I say absentmindedly. I want her to be, but we haven’t gotten there yet.

He chuckles as my eyes find her and Jess, sitting on the tailgate of Cam’s truck. Dang, they just came from their tennis match. Their white dresses stand out against their skin and there’s so much leg showing, I have to focus where I’m walking or I’m going to run into something. “Yeah, okay,” Cam snorts.

I glare at him. We grab our things and walk over to the girls. A teamm

ate, Seth, has walked over and from Haley’s laugh and her slight blush, he’s flirting with her. I’m tempted to kiss her cheek as a sign for Seth to know she’s off limits, but I can’t do that because she isn’t technically off limits yet.

“Hey, Hales,” I say, brushing past Seth to take a seat next to her and bumping her shoulder gently.

“Hey,” she replies, smiling at me.

“What are you two doing here?” Cameron asks after kissing Jess.

Jess grins, which automatically puts me on guard. “Well, we were just talking to Seth here, who asked Haley out on a date when y’all walked up.”

Haley looks embarrassed, and when I glance at Seth, he’s smiling.

“So, what do you say?” Seth asks her.

All eyes are on Haley as we wait for her to respond. She quickly flicks her eyes to mine with an almost pleading look and then she focuses on Seth with an apologetic smile. “Sorry, Seth.” His smile falters and I try not to smile too widely. Especially when she continues with, “I already have plans with Keelan Saturday.”

Wait, what? Saturday? We don’t have plans Saturday? Do we?

Seth’s eyes widen as he looks to me. “Oh, sorry. I didn’t know you two were together. I’ll see y’all tomorrow.” He walks away like a dog with his tail between his legs.

“How do you know Seth?” I ask.

Haley shrugs. “We have a class together.”

I nod. “We don’t have plans Saturday.” I resist frowning. Did she only say so to get out of a date with Seth?

“Actually,” she begins, angling toward me, her leg pressing against mine. “Can we move the lesson to Saturday? Jess said I have to stay with her Friday night.” She rolls her eyes.

“Yeah, that works.”

“If you two are done making plans, get off my truck. It’s hot as hell out here and Jess won’t let me touch her until I have a shower,” Cameron says.

“You stink and you’re sweaty,” Jess protests.

Cam grins. “Right back at ya, babe.”

We’re probably sweating more than them, but their hair is stuck to the edges of their faces, their ponytails sticking to the backs of their necks. Jess gasps and slaps his shoulder. Haley hops down. She apparently doesn’t care to see Cameron now attempting to kiss Jess and rub his sweaty face over hers. Can’t say I blame her.

“I’ll walk you to your car,” I offer. “How were your matches?”

“I won my singles and my doubles,” she smiles. “I’m not sure how we’ll do tomorrow. We’re playing a tough team.”

“Is it at home?” She nods. “I’ll come watch then,” I tell her as I open the door to her car.

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