But also for my fucking sanity because every time Jace brought it up, I was tempted to punch him.
And we couldn’t have that.
Jace would complain about it for the rest of our days.
The man in question grinned, clearly proud of himself for steering the conversation straight into chaos. “I was talking about Matty’s nudes, by the way. We got a little off topic there for a moment, so I’m going to bring us back in line.”
A deep laugh cut through the weight room, far too amused for my liking.
Garrett Harper.
Of course.
The guy was leaning against the squat rack like he’d been there the whole damn time, a towel draped around his neck, dark curls plastered to his forehead, and that trademark smirk that had half the campus ready to throw themselves in front of him if he so much as blinked.
He was the team’s star running back, quick and lethal and infuriatingly unbothered.
“Man,” Garrett said, shaking his head, grin widening. “You miss one lift, and suddenly you’re the last to know your teammate’s dropping an OnlyFans.”
Jace cackled. Parker just smirked.
“Mind your business, Harper,” I snapped, grabbing the water bottle off the bench beside me.
Garrett lifted his hands in mock surrender, still grinning like he’d just been handed front-row seats to my humiliation. “Hey, I am minding it. It’s not my fault that your business is so loud.”
He turned to Jace, eyes glinting. “You got copies of the pics, right? For…research purposes?”
Apparently everyone in this weight room was interested in science right now.
Assholes.
I chucked my water bottle at Garrett and whirled around to face Jace.
“They were not nudes, Thatcher. I was dressed. Kind of. And they were tastefully shot.”
“What do you mean ‘tastefully shot’?” Parker pressed, sounding way too intrigued. Which was exactly what Jace had been aiming for, the bastard.
“The fact that I know about this and you don’t is one of life’s great victories, Parkie-poo,” Jace commented.
He hesitated for half a beat—just long enough for me to almost start to hope that he might finally shut up.
But then his grin widened and my stomach dropped.
“You know…sometimes if I’m feeling cold at night, I think about the fact that you literally let Darla Pinswallow take pictures of you in a cowboy hat and briefs, and it warms me right up.”
Everyone went silent for exactly one second.
Then Parker and Garrett both lost it. Parker laughed so hard he almost dropped the barbell on his own head, and Garrett had to steady the rack while wheezing, “Not the cowboy hat!”
I rubbed a hand over my face, wondering if there was a polite way to fake my own death mid-set.
Regret settled deep in my soul…the kind that made you reevaluate every decision that had led here.
Like choosing this school.
Or becoming friends with men who clearly had the collective emotional maturity of a wet sponge.
Hell, even being born started to feel like the wrong move.
