“It’s two-thirty,” I remind him.
“So, his game’s not until six.”
“Yeah, and he has to be there three hours early,” I tell him.
Quint frowns. “Why so early? We don’t have to be at our games until two hours before.”
“Yeah, well, you don’t have Coach Goodwin for a coach,” I tell him. “How do you not know this?”
Quint’s eyes widen. “How doyouknow this?”
Slater comes up behind me, putting a hand at my hip. I immediately turn to him, knowing he has to go. “Are you coming with?” he asks, his voice urgent and low.
“No, go ahead. I’ll catch a ride with somebody here.”
He reaches around me and pushes the door closed, effectively knocking Quint out into the hallway. “Hey,” he complains, but Slater ignores him.
“I can’t believe I slept that long.”
I stare up at him. “You needed it.” I put a hand on his chest. “Have a good game, Slater. I’ll be there cheering you on. You guys have this.” He lowers his head, and his lips meet mine. It’s chaste and fast, but my blood still heats.
“Thank you.”
And then he’s gone. I take a moment after he leaves to catch my breath. When I walk out into the living room a few minutes later, Reid, Quint, Evie, and Zane all stop talking and look at me. “Okay, well, that’s not like completely obvious.”
Zane chuckles, and Evie gives me an apologetic smile. “We were just talking about you.”
“No kidding,” I say dryly.
“But it was good,” she hurries to add.
“It was,” Zane adds. His eyes meet mine. “We were just saying how good that Slater finally slept, and we have you to thank for that.”
“Or, he was just exhausted,” I counter.
“No.” Zane shakes his head. “Slate always has a hard time sleeping. We’re always trying to get him to sleep, but he’s always too wired.”
“Not today, though,” Quint says with a grin. “Not with our Tessa.”
“Here’s a tip,” Reid says, entering the conversation. “Maybe don’t call heroursif you’re attached to your extremities.”
“However you did it, thank you,” Zane says sincerely.
“Yeah, Tessa,” Quint continues with Zane’s words. “How exactlydidyou do it?” Reid smacks the back of his head.
“We just slept together,” I announce to everybody.
“We know,” Quint says, his eyebrows wiggling.
“I mean we just slept...nothing more—”
“We know, Tessa,” Zane says, stepping in to help me. “He’s just trying to get to you.”
I shake my head. “Are you all going to Slate’s game?” All four of them nod.
“You need a ride, Tess?” Evie asks.
“Yes, please.”
