One corner of my mouth slowly hitches at the thought, marginally brightening my mood.
“Brandon?” Her blueish-purple gaze brightens as her mouth stretches into a wide smile, dimples winking at me as she waves me in. “Come in,” she says before motioning to the cell phone at her ear and mouthing, “Ethan.”
I fight a grimace at the way her lips move over his name, wanting Ethan fucking White nowhere near them.
Turning, she moves further into the communal area shared by her three suitemates, while I follow behind, trying my best not to stare at the way her leggings hug her ass to perfection.Thank fuck for spandex.
Tatum sinks down onto the tiny couch in the middle of the room, and I’m instantly jealous of the worn cushions, when her smile falters at something Ethan says.
Her eyes dart to me, then away again as she gnaws on her lower lip, but I think nothing of it as I move past her to the mini fridge in the corner of the room and grab a bottle of water, pretending not to eavesdrop, even though I absolutely fucking am.
Her shoulders tense as she listens to whatever he’s saying on the other end of the line, her voice small as she says, “No. We haven’t seen each other all week.”
I freeze, water bottle halfway to my lips. Is it me or did she sound almost defensive, pleading? Something ugly twists in my chest at the thought, and my jaw tightens as I watch her curl deeper into the couch cushions. I have no doubt she’s talking about me, and I wrestle with the urge to call her out on it.
“I swear,” Tatum says, her voice firm as I round the couch and meet her gaze. “Okay, I’ll call you after he leaves.”
A thrill runs through me as she hangs up. Because Ethan’s jealous. Of me.
I grin, the realization sending a surge of satisfaction through me I couldn’t tamp down, even if I tried.The Ken doll wannabe can suck it.
I sink down into the seat beside her as I school my expression into one that doesn’t betray my satisfaction at causing tension between her and Romeo.
“I started to think you were mad at me,” she says, turning her cornflower blue eyes on mine.
“Why would you think that?”
“You’ve been MIA the last couple of days.”
I lift a shoulder. “Just acclimating to my schedule now that classes have started. Coach has been riding us pretty hard. You know, with expectations being so high now that we’re national champs and all . . .” The truth is, I’ve been grappling with what to do about our new situation. “Everything good with Evan?” I ask, nodding toward the phone.Because it would be a damn shame if they weren’t.
“Ethan,” she corrects me.
“Right.” I nod.
“But, yeah, it’s all good,” she says, her voice a little too chipper.
I narrow my eyes, trying to read into her tone, when she nudges me in the shoulder. “So, what do you wanna do? Watch a movie . . . Grab some drinks . . .?”
You, Tate. What I want to do is you.
I suck in a lungful of air, trying to calm my inner caveman. After all, that’s not why I’m here. “Um, maybe we could just . . . talk.”
“Okay.” She grins, lifting her legs onto the cushions and tucking them beneath her as she turns toward me. “Let’s talk. I’ve been dying to catch up since we’ve both been so busy this week. I feel like I’ve missed so much having gone home for thesummer. All I got the last few months are texts and a few video calls when you weren’t busy with training and the guys—”
While you were out meeting douchebag Ethan.
“—So, I yearned for our real talks, you know? The kind where I can see this pretty face,” she says as she reaches out and pinches my cheek.
I fight the flush that rises to my cheeks, but it’s no use. The feel of her fingers on me sets my skin ablaze every fucking time.
“Me too.” I swallow, mustering the courage to say what I came here to say.
Rip the Band-Aid off, bro. Just fucking tell her.
“And, actually, lately I’ve been thinking a lot, doing a lot of soul-searching.”
“Oh, yeah?” Her dark brows rise. “Anything interesting?”
