“Yeah? Maybe.” I thought about her temper. “Sometimes more than others.”
“You like sleeping with her?” Gray asked when he stopped laughing. “Not screwing, just sleeping.”
“Yeah, we were, um, snuggling—”
“You weresnuggling?” Gray’s hand whipped out and hit his brother across the chest to stop him walking. Jett was grinning at me. Gray was looking me over slowly. “Who the fuck are you, and where’s my cousin?”
“I’m dating the redhead?”
“You’re dating the redhead.” Gray nodded.
“Oh yeah, definitely dating Mia,” Jett confirmed.
They were both chuckling as they walked past me, and I stayed behind as I looked up into the dark Tennessee night. “I’m dating Red?”
I did not see that coming. Did she know? Shit, did I have to have the conversation? How did you even have the conversation? What was the actual fucking conversation?
A hand on each arm turned me, and my cousins dragged me into the locker room between them.
“Calm down,” Jett said easily. “It’s a good thing.”
I knew my look was skeptical.
“You’re looking a bit wild in the eyes there,” Gray said to me, and he pushed me to sit on the bench. “Do you not want to be dating her?”
I thought of his earlier conversation. I would fuck this up. He knew it, I knew it, and as I looked at Jett, he knew it.
“This isn’t a good thing,” I said slowly. “I’m going to mess it up.”
“Fuck someone else then.” Gray shrugged as he crossed his arms. “Easy.”
“No!” I protested. I didn’t want to be with someone else. IwantedRed.
“Yup, he’s a goner.” Jett looked over at his twin, and Gray agreed. Jett’s hand fell on my shoulder. “It’s a good thing,” he assured me seriously.
Was it? I wanted Red? Yes. I did.OnlyRed. I was totally screwed. How the hell did I tell her?
Chapter 29: Mia
I ended up falling asleep when he left. I napped. I hadn’t even done anything, but I was exhausted, and as I lay back on his bed, I felt sleep pull at me.
It was the sounds of the house coming alive that woke me, doors banging, voices raised. I was startled out of sleep and was completely disoriented. Then I realized I was cuddled into Ash’s pillow like it was my most favorite possession.
Venturing out of his room, I made it to the kitchen, where some of the team were hanging out.
“Hey, Mia,” one of them greeted me, and I lifted my hand in a wave as I looked around.
“Alden,” I greeted him as he sat beside his friend. “Where are the others?”
“You know so little about football,” Alden told me. “We’re backups, we’re not first team.”
Was this a big thing? “So? Do you not play football?”
My other chaperone, Casey, started to laugh. “We play. We’re just not on the roster for the first team, and because of that, we don’t have as long as they do for practice.”
“That doesn’t make sense,” I said as I took a stool at the counter. “They’re first team because they’re better? Right?” Several of the boys nodded. “So why would they need to practice longer? If they’re better, why aren’t you training? Surely you need more practice?” Several blank stares met mine. Then I heard my words back. “It wasn’t meant to be insulting,” I added hastily.
“It’s okay,” Casey said amicably. “We have different practice sessions. We do train more, but when the first team is using the field, they get priority. Tonight, we did general training together, then Coach does the next session just with the first team.”
