“I’ll take you,” Zane says. He looks at me. “You going over now too? You’ve got practice, right?”
I glance at my phone. Tessa hasn’t even been asleep for an hour, but Zane’s right. I do need to get back for practice. “You think she’ll drive my truck?” I ask Evie.
She shrugs. “I mean what other option does she have?”
“Can I get her number from you?” Evie eyes me, and I put my hands up in surrender.
“I should have gotten it earlier, but I’m going to work for it with her. I just need her number, so I can text her about the truck and my keys.”
Thankfully, she caves and gives me her number which I immediately add to my contacts. “Thanks, Evie.”
“Let’s go,” Zane calls out and heads for the front door. I walk down the hallway to Evie’s room and crack the door quietly and stare at the small blond sound asleep. She looks so peaceful but also so vulnerable in this state, and it makes my chest ache. Thankful she’s getting some sleep, I ease the door shut without a sound and force myself to leave.
Chapter 6
Tessa
The sound of my alarm wakes me out of a dead sleep. I turn it off, and it takes me a moment to remember where I’m at. It takes even longer for me to sit up and get out of bed. I’m thankful for the deep sleep; I needed it. I snag my phone and see a few text messages. One is from Connor.
Connor-want to eat lunch tomorrow together? I can save you a seat.
I don’t answer that one yet, not feeling awake enough to do so. The next message is from Evie.
Evie-Hey Girl, come see me when you get back on campus. Coffee’s on me.
I respond to that one.
Tessa-I need caffeine!
The last message I pull up I almost don’t open because I don’t recognize the number, but then I see that it says my name in the preview. I open it and read the message.
Unknown-Tessa, it’s Slater. Hope you got some sleep. I had to leave to get back to practice on time. I left the keys for my truck on the kitchen counter. If you don’t want to drive it, let me know, and I can order an Uber for you. Text me so I know.
I read his message two more times and then finally stand up. After changing into my ugly uniform, I straighten Evie’s bed, grab my phone and bag, and slip from the room. When I get to the kitchen, sure enough, there are the keys to his truck. I’m not really sure how I feel about driving his massive truck, but I really don’t want to wait around for an Uber. I pocket his keys. “How hard can it be?” I make my way out to his truck and climb in.As soon as I stand in front of it, I wonder if this is a bad idea. I open the back door and drop my bag inside before opening the front door. I manage to hoist myself into the truck. As soon as I turn the key, the truck roars to life. I spend the next few minutes moving the seat up, adjusting the mirror, and reminding myself that I know how to drive. I back up slowly and turn onto the main road. It’s terrifying to drive something this big, but I force myself to relax and focus. After a few minutes, it doesn’t seem quite as daunting. By the time I get to campus, I’m much more relaxed. I’m super cautious as I pull onto campus because there are a lot of crazy drivers on campus. I slowly make my way over to where the soccer field is. I'm glad I left when I did because I’m still barely going to have enough time to get across campus to the coffee shop and then to the guard shack on time. I study the truck a moment, wondering what I should do with the keys. I finally decide to leave them under the mat. I pull out my phone to text Slater to let him know.
Me-Hey Slater, it’s Tessa. Thanks for letting me borrow your truck. I put the keys under the mat, so you should be good to go. Unless somebody else finds them first. In that case, I owe you a new truck.I add a facepalm emoji and a smiley face and hit send.
I walk over to the sidewalk that runs parallel to the soccer field and try to make out the players at the other end of the field. And then they’re not so very far away as they run up field. They’re all doing some kind of soccer drill, and it’s not surprising to see Slater’s the one leading it. He looks up at that moment and locks eyes with me, even from across the field. I’m about to keep walking when he jogs towards me. I wait for him, figuring I’ll tell him about his keys now. But I sort of lose my train of thought when he gets close. He’s wearing navy soccer shorts and no shirt, and he looks all kinds of good. I force my eyes to his face.
“Hey,” I say when he gets close. “I parked your truck right over there.” He barely glances in that direction. “I put the keys,” I look around a moment before I whisper, “Under the mat.”
He gives me that sexy smirk of his. “Got it.”
“Yeah. Hopefully, nobody steals it. Otherwise, I’d owe you a new truck, and I donothave that in my budget.”
“It will be fine,” he assures me. His eyes skim over my face. “You got some sleep?”
“I did. I feel so much better; thank you.”
“Slate!” Somebody yells from the field, and I cringe.
“Sorry. I didn’t mean to get you in trouble.”
“It’s worth it.” Before I can overthink those words, he continues. “I’ve got an away game this weekend. Zane and Evie are coming? Will you come?”
I blink and stare up at his gorgeous face. “You want me to come to your game?”
“Yeah.”
