“Honestly, I probably would have given in to his begging even without all the Christmas drama with my family.There’s just something about him, you know?”
Heaving a sigh, I said, “No, I don’t know.But what’s this about Chess and Finn?I thought she blew him off.”
Piper’s eyes twinkled wickedly.“She pretends she doesn’t, but trust me, she’s got a thing for him.”She sobered.“If not for the jersey chasers, they’d probably have hooked up already.”
“Finn does seem to attract more than his share of underclass groupies.”I sipped from my beer and noticed I’d need another right at the same time as the server arrived with our appetizer.
We ordered a second round of drinks and tucked in to the hot and gooey cheese sticks the server set on the table between us.Though she tried to be surreptitious about it, I caught Piper checking the back door more than once.Since several of the players on the team had a Name, Image, and Likeness contract with the restaurant, it was common for them to hang out at Stromboli’s.Even after their semifinal loss in the playoffs, no doubt some of the players were back on campus for winter conditioning.Though I’d hooked up with nose tackle Jeremiah Fitzgerald once last fall, I’d never actually dated any football players.But I loved football and the team, so like every other fan, I paid attention to their schedule.It seemed my friend did too.
“You expecting someone?”I asked as I dragged a yummy morsel of fried cheese through the pond of ranch dressing in the cup the server had left us.
A pretty shade of pink tinged my friend’s cheeks as she guiltily glanced away from the back door after about the tenth time of checking it.Her hasty, breathy, “No!”gave her away, and I grinned around a mouthful of food.
With the exception of game nights, when they wanted to bask in the love of the fans, the guys on the team didn’t usually come in through the front door.Keeping a low profile meant they might be able to enjoy a meal in relative peace.On casual Friday and Saturday nights in the offseason, they often used the back door.Being fans and regulars at Stromboli’s, both of us were aware of the players’ habits.
“If you text him, I bet he’ll show up five seconds after you hit ‘send.’”I smirked.“In case you haven’t noticed, the guy has it bad for you.”
“From what I saw at that last party we went to on Jock Street, Jeremiah Fitzgerald has it bad for you.”She popped a bit of mozzarella stick in her mouth and smiled around it.
I could have called her on her deflection tactics, but I’d made my point.“Jeremiah is such a hottie.That James Earl Jones thing he has going with his voice is panty-melting all by itself.But when we were alone and I invited him to kiss me—pfft!”I flicked my fingers in an imaginary fizzle.“Nothing happened.For either of us.”Over the rim of my glass, I shot my friend a long-suffering stare.“Honestly, Piper, it should have been off-the-charts hot, what with his dark-skinned handsomeness, football-god prowess on the field, and his quick mind.But physically, we had zero chemistry.”I pulled a face.“So weird.And highly unfortunate, what with all my friends dating Wildcats these days.”
I shot her a narrow-eyed stare, and her eyes slid away from mine for a second before she said, “I can’t speak for Jamaica, though we all know how hard she fought her attraction to Callahan.Chessly seems to be only flirting with the idea of Finn.But Wyatt is everything Charlie wasn’t.”She slugged back half her second drink.“He’s definitely better in the sack.Might be a football thing.”She winked.“Your experience with Jeremiah Fitzgerald is probably an outlier.”
“Not really a problem since I’m not looking for a partner.A good time?Absolutely.Someone to cuddle up with on cold nights and share breakfast the next morning and kiss goodbye outside of class?Not so much.”I finished off another cheese stick and wiped my hands on my napkin.“Watching my friends go all starry-eyed over football players is entertaining enough.I don’t have to join you.”
Piper eyed me with a speculative gleam.“You think we’re all in danger of giving up our goals for some guy, don’t you?”
I wrinkled my nose.“I don’t know.Are you in that kind of danger?”
She snorted.“I gave Wyatt my number.NBD.Chess hasn’t even been on a date with Finn.Jamaica is smart enough—especially after what went down with that skank Tory Miller last semester—not to blow any scholarship opportunities she earns so she can go to law school.You don’t have to worry about us.”
“I’m not worried about you.I’m worried about who I’m going to hang out with if you all start spending all your time with Wildcats players.”
Chapter Two
Cash
“Where the fuckdid you learn to run a post like that?”I asked Danny Chambers, the Wildcats’ starting receiver, as we headed back to the locker room after an hour of throw-and-catch after weight training.
“Lots of years moving from town to town learning new systems and trying to fit in.”His quiet response spoke volumes.He grabbed a towel from the stack at the end of the bench and headed over to his locker to strip out of his workout gear.
“You a transfer too?”I asked as I dropped my shorts and slung a towel around my shoulders on my way to the showers.
“Walk-on.”
At that revelation I stopped dead in my tracks.Though I tried, I couldn’t keep the incredulity from my voice.“You run routes like you could be playing on Sundays and you’re awalk-on?”
Danny chuckled as he flipped on the water and stepped under the spray.“I grew up a military brat.We didn’t stay in one place long enough for me to amass scholarship-caliber stats.So I gave Uncle Sam four years of my life in return for college money and walked on to the ’Cats this past fall.”
“Holy shit!You took four years off from the game and still play like that?Damn, son.What are you doing at an FCS school?With what you showed me out on the practice field just now, you could have walked on anywhere.”I lathered up my sweaty head and stuck it under the spray to rinse off.
“Didn’t want to play anywhere else.”
I blinked at him, and he grinned.
“My girl goes to school here.Stood to reason I would too.”He faced the spray and glanced over his shoulder.“And that route-running combined with my mad skills at blocking earned me a scholarship starting this semester.”
I shut off the shower and grabbed my towel.After a minute, I cleared my throat to ask what I truly wanted to know.“Why did you follow me out onto the practice field after weight training?”
