“Hey, Cade.”
I close my eyes as Cade carries the conversation, as usual. Bits and pieces garner my attention. A party this weekend. New walk-out song ideas. If the mole on Carlos’s back looks cancerous. Then it shifts, now discussing plans for the upcoming holiday.
“Don’t even think about asking Shay out for Valentine’s Day,” Cade says, and a warning lies beneath his laugh.
“What about her best friend? I heard she’s still single,” Zeke, another baseball player, says.
“Not for long.”
I don’t recognize this voice and quirk my head toward the small pool.
“Yeah right, D.” Cade’s lighthearted tone sharpens. “Lay off MalPal. I’m serious.”
“Chill out, Cade. You know that uptight girls aren’t my type,” Darin laughs. “I’m just saying that I heard Jordan is going to stop by the soccer field today and try to get her back. I bet they’ll kiss and make up in no time.”
The practice pool goes silent. Even Cade’s splashing stops.
I sit up, desperate for someone to speak. Anybody. Because the thought of Mallory saying yes to Jordan makes my stomach flip.
“Uptight? Shut up, Darin,” Cade finally responds. If there’s one thing Cade hates, it’s anybody talking about Mallory. “And she will never take him back. Not after what he did. He has no chance.” The other thing Cade hates is Jordan Hill, her ex-boyfriend.
“That’s fine,” Darin says. “Jordan has always liked a challenge.”
Mallory isn’t something to be won. A challenge to be accomplished. She deserves someone infinitely better than Jordan. The year they spent together was hell for me. I was forced to watch a man who never deserved her get to be loved by her.
I’m positive there isn’t a single person deserving of her.
“Seriously? Shut the fu—”
Coach Brown blows his whistle three times, cutting Cade off from his burst of anger and forces them to start their recovery day exercises.
“What time is it?” I ask Grant, rubbing my eyes to get rid of the red rage fogging my vision.
He brings his wrist to his face. “4:23. Why?”
I answer by jumping out of the hot tub, and the cold air chills my skin. I yank sweatpants over my damp legs, ignoring the nasty feeling of wet socks and jog to the door.
“Where are you going?” Grant yells.
I push open the door and turn back. “To see about a girl.”
Chapter Eleven
“Hey! Watch it!” Iyell at the driver of a blue Subaru who thinks stopping for pedestrians is optional.
For four thirty on a Tuesday afternoon, campus is lively. Every parking spot is filled for tonight’s basketball game. Even I’m going, although I’d rather go home and wallow about how crappy today was. I’m running on three hours of sleep. Muscles I didn’t even know existed hurt like hell. It took fifteen minutes to find my keys after Adri hid them in a basket of jerseys. And worst of all, I’ve been dodging Mama’s calls all day.
I am one bad thing away from a full-fledged freak-out.
“Rory!”
My body freezes as the nickname I despise more than anything rings out, the wind carrying it. The choice alerts me to who is calling for me. Even though I can’t see him, my spine straightens, preparing for the worst possible thing that could happen to me today.
I knew splitting that pole would come back to bite me in the ass.
“Hey, wait up!”
This time, the tenor voice is much closer and coming from behind me. I turn around, and my heart falls into the pit of my stomach as he appears, jogging through the vehicles with a smile on his face.
