Page 72 of Fair Catch
“I’m not a pooper,” I argued, holding up my plastic red cup of booze as proof.
“Mm-hmm. You always get sad on our birthday,” he pointed out. “I thought you’d have grown out of it by now.”
“I’m not sad. And you’re being rude to your date,” I said, smiling at the girl still wrapped around him. “I’m Riley, by the way.”
“Jen,” she said, offering me a wave with flushed cheeks. “Nice to meet you.”
“Let me know if my brother goes past the funny kind of annoying into the needs a pinch in the arm kind and I’ll help you out.”
She chuckled, looking down at Gavin, who was smiling up at her like they had a million secrets between them. “Oh, I think we’re past that part. Lucky for him, he’s just charming enough for me to overlook it.”
Gavin waggled his brows at me, and I stood up from my chair long enough to grab his handles and push him off toward the make-shift dance floor in the middle of the house party. “Go, before I gag on how cute you two are.”
He obliged me, but looked back over his shoulder with a pointed look, silently telling me to have fun or else. I forced a cheesy grin back before I settled into my chair again, content to people watch from the corner.
Some of the older guys on the team had a house off campus that had been termed The Snake Pit. They housed parties here nearly every night they could get away with it — meaning nights where we didn’t have to report for class or practice before ten the next morning. The whole place was permanently sticky from beer and sweat and who knew what else, but I did kind of admire that they had so much space, so much room to decorate.
Not that they did.
I was sipping on my beer and looking around at the living room, daydreaming about what I’d do if this house was mine when Zeke leaned up against the wall next to me. He kept his eyes on the party, laughing a little when Clay and Leo did some sort of handshake before jumping in unison onto a folding table, and everyone cheered as it collapsed in on them, cups full of beer going flying in the process.
“I’m thinking of calling it a night,” Zeke said to me and yet to no one in particular as he took a sip from his cup with his eyes still focused ahead. “You?”
“Oh, God, please,” I said, standing a bit too excitedly. “These fishnets have climbed up into a place they very much do not belong.”
He smiled, but still didn’t look directly at me as he nodded toward the back door. “I’ll call an Uber. Come outside in five.”
The way he managed to ignore me while talking straight to me was a feat, one I’d asked him to do when we’d made this whole arrangement. Usually, I was thankful for it, impressed by it even — that he could fuck me against our kitchen counter one moment and pretend like I was just another teammate the next.
But tonight, it was just a reminder of what we were, and what we weren’t, and how that line would always be there — dark and permanent and binding.
It wasn’t a long ride from The Snake Pit back to the athletic residence hall, and luckily, all the dorms were empty when we returned, the rest of the team not even close to calling it a night. It wasn’t even eleven yet, but I let out a long, body-quaking yawn as Zeke unlocked our front door.
He opened it for me first, and I kicked my shoes off as soon as we were inside, groaning at how it felt to stretch my toes again. Zeke chuckled, grabbing my shoulders from behind and planting a kiss on top of my head.
Another shift in persona. From teammate to…
What, exactly?
“Why don’t you go change into your sweats and I’ll put on a movie.”
“I really am tired,” I confessed, twisting in his arms. “I might actually call it a night soon.”
“Okay,” he said. “But you have to let me give you your gift first.”
His eyes flashed with promise, and my body came to life under that gaze like I suddenly had all the energy in the world.
“Sweats,” he ordered again, spinning me and gently walking me toward my bedroom door. He smacked my ass for good measure before disappearing into his room, and I smiled, changing out of my costume and taking all the makeup off my face before I made my way to the living room.
Zeke was already there on the old couch, all the lights off save for the lamp beside him and the glow from the television. I didn’t even pay attention to what was on it before I sat down next to him, and he pulled me under his arm, wrapping me up in all his heat.
