5. 5 Mae
5: Mae
“ A no-fraternisation contract? Really?” The ballpoint pen hangs limply from my fingers as I glance up at my mother from the armchair in her office.
“Do you think rules don’t apply to you, Mae? You get treated the same as everybody else.” Her lips are pressed together as she slims her eyes, daring me to challenge her.
She’s hoping I will. It means she can assert her dominance.
I clamp my teeth down on my bottom lip, stopping myself from making a snarky comment. I can be a bigger person.
I skim over the written words on the sheet of paper quickly before signing it.
Him.
I’m paired up with him.
Nathan Slater.
Not being big into sports, I didn’t truly recognise him at the wine store, but my heart almost fell out of my butt when he walked through that tunnel.
The captain of the Missarali Storks. The heartthrob that every horny sports fan longs to have just one wild night with. The so-called untouchable and forbidden man—always wearing that intimidating scowl that sends people running.
He’s around six feet three and all muscle. He’s sculpted. Toned. His body matches his personality. Hard and impenetrable. Or so I’ve heard from the media.
He didn’t seem like that at the wine store though.
“Mae? Are you even listening to me?”
I stare at my mother with wide eyes. “Sorry. What?”
“Nathan Slater. He’s a piece of work. He has no control over his teammates, so do what you need to do regarding the charities and stay away from him.”
“If you hate him so much, why did I get paired with him?”
“Because I know he won’t risk ruining his career to mess around with my daughter.” My mother glances down at me like I’m some whore who’s going to beg him to fuck me. Like she’s done this just to piss him off.
I fight the urge to spit bitter words at her, but I don’t need to be reminded of how I’m staying in her house for free for the tenth time today.
“The last thing I need is you being impregnated by one of them.”
I scoff. “Mom, seriously. The last person I’m going to fuck is a football player.”
“Have I made myself clear?”
I stand from my seat. “Like the contract threatening me with legal action wasn’t enough?” My tone is grim, but my mother’s never paid any mind to my unhappiness. She doesn’t care about how her words affect me.
I exit her office and head toward the stadium field where the meeting was being held before my mother called me into her office. We’d been told to discuss where we want our first charity appearance to be within our groups before heading home.
I catch a glimpse of bright blonde hair, and Poppy waves me over. Nathan is standing beside her with his arms crossed over his chest, his workout clothes tight around his athletic body. Under the dim lights in the wine shop, I couldn’t properly see all his features, but beneath the bright stadium rays, I take notice of more than I should.
More than what’s appropriate.
His lips are plump, surrounded by a smattering of stubble. He has a square jaw and high cheekbones, with thick eyebrows framing his face, hovering over his narrowed eyes. His dark hair is tousled and slightly damp—fresh from a shower after what I assume was a gruelling training session on the practice field outside.
“Mae, this is Bennett,” Poppy introduces me, gesturing to the beaming man beside her. He’s your standard good-looking football player. Tall. Muscular. Great hair and teeth.
He holds his hand out to me and shakes mine with a smile.
“And this is Nathan, he’s—”
“We’ve met.” The words roll off my tongue before I can stop them, and Nathan widens his eyes at me, his jaw flexing. He looks displeased—almost like he’s irritated I disclosed the information.
Poppy cocks her head. “You have?”
“I mean, kind of. I was buying wine.”
“Wine?” Poppy appears as if she wants to pry, but she takes one look at Nathan’s rigid posture and clicks her tongue, deciding to change the subject.
Seems he’s not so keen to talk about that.
“Well, how about we hit a bar to discuss our plan to change the world?” Bennett suggests, the corner of his lip curling up into a smile.
“Did you not hear a word Renee and Darrell said? I think the last thing they want us to do is go out drinking together,” Nathan grumbles.
“It’s a drink, Nathan, not a foursome. They’re not here, anyway.” Bennett gestures around us. Other groups have dispersed.
“They didn’t specifically say we had to discuss it here.” Poppy smiles, shrugging innocently. “Mae?”
All heads turn to me, and the way Nathan looks at me like he wants me to decline their offer frustrates me. If there’s one thing my friends say is my best quality, it’s doing the exact opposite of what other people want me to do. Especially when they scowl at me the way Nathan currently is.
I hold my head high. “I wouldn’t mind checking out the city.”
Something flickers behind Nathan’s eyes and his jaw ticks.
I continue to smile, daring him to object.
But he doesn’t.
Poppy and I quickly hit the showers, and the boys wait for us outside the stadium. Bennett gives me brief directions to a bar called The Salty Dog, and although I’m concerned my car will fall apart on the journey there, I make it to the parking lot without a hitch.
The bar is a small, rustic-looking place with high beams and a wooden interior. The windows are small and foggy, letting in little light and giving it a sleepy feel. The dim lights overhead illuminate the worn, polished bar top smattered with droplets of beer, making it slightly sticky, and there’s a line of peeling leather stools tucked neatly under it.
A small Help Wanted sign sits in the window, but it’s old, tattered, and looks like it’s been there for a while.
“Hey, guys. What’ll ya have?” asks the bartender as she rinses her hands under the faucet behind the bar. She looks fed up already, and it’s only seven-fifteen.
“Hey, Amber.” Bennett smiles. “I’ll take whatever beer you recommend. We’re mid-season, so something light.”
She nods, turning to Poppy and me. “You guys?”
We both order berry ciders.
Amber turns to begin prepping the drinks, causing me to blink since she didn’t ask Nathan what he wanted. But after a few minutes, she places a tall glass in front of him, making me tilt my head in curiosity. “Here’s your water, Nathan.”
“Thanks.” He grips the glass with his thick fingers and moves to a table in the far corner, sitting with a huff.
He moves with corded muscles, uptight and highly strung, and my eyes skate over his toned back, berating myself for looking at him in such a way. It pisses me off that he’s blessed with the face of an angel but has the personality of The Hulk.
It smells like old people in here, and not the rose-scented perfume kind of old, but the musty old book kind of smell. It’s not unpleasant, but it isn’t inviting either. It makes my nose wrinkle before the bartender passes me my drink.
Bennett laughs. “Good luck with him as a partner, Mae.” He tilts his drink toward me, head nodding towards Mr Grumpy Pants in the corner. “You’re going to need it.”
I run a hand down my face, sipping my cider. “Thanks. I think I’m in for an interesting season.”
Poppy’s mouth turns flat at the conversation, but she doesn’t say anything as we sit at the table Nathan’s claimed.
“Does anyone have any charities in mind?” Bennett asks, and Nathan’s eyes shift to me. I can see him analysing me with no shame. He's trying to sus me out. But there’s a way that his gaze collides with my own that makes my stomach tense.
“I don’t want to do anything dull,” Poppy says, swirling her finger around the rim of her cider bottle. “Something fun.”
Bennett clicks his fingers as if he’s devised a brilliant idea. “I could ask my uncle if we could—”
“No,” Nathan interrupts. “Working at your uncle’s ranch doesn’t count as charity work.”
“Ranch?” I ask.
Poppy laughs. “Bennett, here, is a real country boy at heart. Runs a ranch with his uncle that he lives on during the off-season.”
I’m intrigued. Considering my mother limits the amount of time her cheerleaders spend in the football player’s company, Poppy sure does know enough about them.
My eyebrows hike up, and I peek under the table to take a look at Bennett’s tennis shoes, humming with a small smile. “Cowboy boots at the dry cleaners?”
Nathan chokes on his water, and Bennett booms with laughter, his palm hitting the wooden table. “Can’t wear them around these guys,” he says with a grin. “They’d tarnish them.”
“You should see his uncle. He comes to Bennett’s games wearing his cowboy hat. I’ve never seen him without it, but, strangely, it’s kind of hot.”
“Please keep those kind of thoughts to yourself. I don’t want to imagine you fucking my sixty-year-old uncle.” He grimaces at Poppy before tipping his beer in my direction, quickly recovering. “So, Mae. You’ve joined the team mid-season. There’s got to be a story behind that?”
“So nosy,” Nathan mutters. His perfectly carved face is glowering again, and I resist the urge to ask him if he came out of his mother with a face that disgruntled… and hot.
“My mom needed someone. I used to dance, so I have experience, and yeah, here I am.” I shrug. It’s not an overly interesting story. Especially because I’m unwilling to explain how I lost my dream job.
I’d asked my mother not to disclose that information, and I was thankful when she actually agreed—most likely because she doesn’t want people to think of her daughter as a failure. But it works for me, so I don’t mind. “I’m only here for the rest of this season, though. Then, I’ll be moving to start a veterinarian nurse training program.”
Nathan’s head tips, his face deadpan, shoulders broad and barely fitting between the wall and Bennett's. “Where’ll you be moving? Somewhere far away?”
Annoyance sparks inside me, and I open my mouth to make a bitter remark about him needing to change his name from Nathan Slater to Nathan Sourpuss, but Poppy speaks first.
“Animals!”
Nathan looks confused as he turns to the excited blonde. “Yes, that’s what a veterinarian does?”
“No, animals are fun. Let’s work at an animal shelter. We can walk the dogs, cuddle the cats, feed the… hamsters? Do they have hamsters there?” Pride swarms her. “The community will love that.”
Bennett nods. “Not a bad idea.”
I smile, trying to fight the excitement that rushes to my face, but volunteering at an animal shelter is right up my alley. “I’m happy with that. It sounds fun.”
Bennett cocks an eyebrow at his teammate, and Nathan swallows, taking another sip of his water, swiping the excess off his bottom lip with his tongue.
Why does he have to do that when I’m supposed to find him the most unappealing man alive?
“I don’t care,” he responds.
Bennett sniggers, holding his drink up to cheers us, sending me a wink. “To good luck this season. Some of us are going to need it more than others.”
I sigh. And looking at how Nathan glares at his football friend like he wants to knock the beer glass right out of his hand, Bennett’s right.