Chapter Ten Danny
As I unlaced my cleats in front of my locker after practice on Friday morning, Finn McCabe slid onto the bench beside me.
“Heard you’re looking for a place to stay.”
I huffed out a mirthless laugh. “Giving up the Taj Mahal of dorms, especially with the plush beds the college provides, is truly crazy, I know, but what can I say? It’s a sacrifice I’m willing to make.” As if to emphasize my love affair with my terrible bed, the long muscles of my back gave a twinge that demanded my hands on them.
Finn’s expression said he understood my pain. “Yeah? Bax, Callahan, and I are looking for another roommate. You’ll have your own bedroom and share a bathroom with Bax and me. You pick up a quarter of the rent and groceries and provide your own bed.” He cleared his throat. “And you have to be okay with the occasional celebratory party. The team takes turns, but since our place is big and right in the middle of Jock Street, we might host extra.”
“Jock Street?”
Finn laughed. “Peach Street, actually. But all those old Victorians you saw when you came over to play COD the other day? Those are mostly rented by athletes. A bunch of basketball players live across the street from us. Another couple houses down is where Fitzy, Tarvi, and Patterson live. Beside their place is a house full of track guys.” He shrugged. “It’s a hodgepodge of jocks, so...” He held up his hands in a “you know?” gesture.
“Does anyone study where you all live, or is it one big party on your street?” At Finn’s blink, I hastily added, “No judgment. But I’m majoring in engineering, and I’m probably going to have to work part-time to buy groceries no matter where I live, so I’m looking for a place that’s not wide-open twenty-four-seven.”
“We have an ongoing competition at our place. If you move in with us, you’ll have to agree to it.”
My brows went up.
“Anyone who drops below a 3.5 GPA has to do everyone else’s laundry for a semester.” He clapped a plate-size hand on my shoulder. “We party on Saturday nights after games. The rest of the time we go to class and take care of business on the field. After we were gaming the other day, the three of us talked it over. We think you’ll fit right in at our place. What do you think?”
“I think I need to go shopping for a bed.” I grinned.
He grinned back and offered his fist to bump. “Follow me after practice, and I’ll show you around your new place.”
“Thanks, man. It’ll be good to live in a house again.”
With a nod Finn stood and headed over to his locker. I stripped out of my sweaty shorts and T-shirt, grabbed a towel, and headed to the showers. As the week had worn on, I’d taken to standing under the hot water for as long as I could—the only way to deal with not-sleeping on that awful bed. Tamatoa had bailed out on me yesterday afternoon, so last night I’d tried his bed. By midnight, I’d tried stacking the mattresses. When my alarm went off this morning, I was sitting on one of the desk chairs scrolling through available rental listings.
Finn couldn’t have made his offer at a more opportune time. As the hot water rolled down my back, I stifled a chuckle. One more night in the dorm, and I probably would have offered to buy all the booze for their parties if that meant sleeping on a real bed in a space bigger than a closet. Not wanting to make my new roommate wait, I hustled out of the locker room and met him in the parking lot in front of the facility.
When the guys invited me over earlier in the week, I’d thought their place was pretty damn awesome. A wraparound porch with a couple of lawn chairs on one side took up the front. Trailing Finn up the wide steps, I walked through the ornate oak door into a foyer where hoodies and jackets hung neatly on hooks and a row of shoes was lined up on a rug beneath them.
Following Finn’s lead, I kicked off my tennis shoes when I walked in and met him in the spacious living room.
“You already saw this part and the half-bath down this hall.” He nodded in the direction of a short hallway off the living room.
I trailed behind him as Finn led the way down the hall and opened a door across from the half-bath.
“This was a den or something back in the day. We mostly use it for storage.”
A cursory glance into the room revealed boxes, a couple of suitcases, a set of golf clubs, a bunch of dining-room chairs, and whatever else no one apparently wanted in their room.
“In here is the kitchen,” he said as we made our way back down the hall and through a door off the living room. “Through there is a formal dining room.” He pointed to a door located along the same wall as the door we’d entered through. “We mainly use it for flip-cup tournaments during parties.”
When I checked it out, I saw a gorgeous room with fancy wallpaper and wainscoting. A long table stood pride of place in the middle with some kind of fancy freestanding wooden cupboard taking up the space underneath the windows at the far end of the room. Bottles of booze lined the top of it. The space looked more like something out of a PBS documentary on the Civil War than a room in a house where a bunch of college football players lived.
“I take it you all don’t eat in here.”
Finn smirked. “Did the lack of chairs around the table give it away?”
“Something like that.”
He led me to the stairs located between the front foyer and the short hallway. I couldn’t help but admire the craftmanship of the newel post at the bottom and the heavy wood of the banister that looked like someone had actually polished it recently.
At the top of the stairs, we walked down a carpeted hallway flanked by multiple doors. Opening one near the top of the stairs, Finn said, “This is my room.” Nodding to the door across the hall, he said, “That’s Bax’s room.”
We walked another few feet where an open door next to Bax’s room revealed the shared bathroom. In case I missed it, Finn said, “That’s the head.”
On the same side of the hall as Finn’s room, another door was open.
“This is your room.”
I stepped inside a space bigger than any bedroom I’d ever had in all the years the captain had dragged me around the country. I could easily fit a king-size bed and a small desk in it. The closet could hold every stitch of clothing I owned, plus a new wardrobe.
“This’ll do.” I grinned.
We stepped back out into the hall, and I nodded to the closed door at the end.
“Callahan’s room?”
“Yeah. Lucky bastard has the master suite with its own bathroom.”
“Why does Callahan have that room?” I wasn’t jealous, just curious. The space I was renting was more than enough, and located at the end of the hall, it was private, which was a bonus.
“As guys move in and out, they play musical rooms with the master suite. He was here ahead of Bax and me, so he moved in when it came open. There’s one thing we all have to put up with though.”
I raised a brow.
“The house is in good shape, but it’s old, which means modern amenities like plumbing were added later. The hot-water heater is in the basement, and it’s not especially big. First guy in the shower gets hot water. After that, it’s a crap shoot.” He shot me a sage look. “Plan accordingly.”
“I noticed each of the bedrooms have locks on the doors. Do I need a key to mine?”
“Oh, yeah.” He led me back into the bedroom that would be mine and walked over to the window where he retrieved a key resting on the sill. “Here you go.”
Eyeing the key in my hand, I asked, “Do I need to be worried about you guys short-sheeting my bed or dropping a bag of dog shit on my head when I open my door some drunken night?”
Finn laughed. “Nah. The locks are for party nights. If you’re downstairs having a few brews or you’re out at some other party, you’ll want to lock up your room—unless you don’t mind someone else getting busy in your bed.”
I threaded the key onto the ring with my car keys. “I’ll pass.”
“Thought so.” He smirked. “Anytime you want to move in, just say the word. You can use my truck.”
“Everything I own fits in the ’Stang, but thanks. Furniture stores deliver, right?”
“Yep. And they haul it all right up to your room.” He waggled his brows.
I grinned back. “Then I guess that’s where I’m headed.”
We jogged back downstairs, and Finn beelined to the kitchen.
“You want something to eat first?” he tossed over his shoulder.
Damn. I could get used to this being on a team thing. “I could eat.”
He rummaged around in the fridge and produced a bag of salad and something in a foil wrap. “Every Sunday, Bax and ’Han make breakfast burritos for the week. Since Coach moved practice to tomorrow afternoon, we’ll probably make pancakes or something. But we wouldn’t want these to go to waste.”
I took note of which cupboard and drawer he pulled plates and silverware from and where he set the plates on the table. From the looks of things, “new guy” had to wedge himself in around the back of the round table, which sat in the corner of the kitchen near a back door.
“What’s in there?” I asked, nodding toward that door.
“Oh, I forgot. That’s the laundry room. Walk through it to the back door that leads to the back yard. In the alley is a converted carriage house. You can park your car in it if you want, but the garage door is temperamental. Fair warning.”
“I’ll keep that in mind.”
As I checked out the laundry room with its modern front-loading washer and dryer, I marveled at how clean and neat the house was. The guys’ discipline on the field extended to the way they lived off the field. Clearly, I’d be sharing a space with men not boys, which told me I’d made the right decision in accepting their offer.
When the timer on the oven went off, Finn pulled the hot burritos out, set them on our plates, and plopped the bag of salad in the middle of the table. He pulled a mason jar of ranch dressing and a jar of hot sauce from the fridge and set them beside the salad. Snagging a couple of squares of paper towel from a roll attached to the wall by the sink, he laid them beside our plates and gestured for me to sit.
After unwrapping his burrito and dousing the end of it liberally with hot sauce, he ate about a third of it in the first bite. Deciding I wanted to know what I was eating, I inspected mine first, and my mouth watered at the sight and smell of sausage, scrambled eggs, and cheese. I squirted hot sauce on the end and savored a heavenly bite.
Finn shook some salad onto his plate and covered it in ranch. Spearing a bite with his fork, he chewed, swallowed, and gave me a long look. “Why the military? Why didn’t you try out for the team after you graduated?”
“My dad’s retired Air Force. We traveled too much for me to have decent stats on the field or in the classroom. You gotta have both to get a serious look.” I downed another bite of burrito. “This way, Uncle Sam foots the bill for tuition, books, and a small living stipend so I can concentrate on classes and football.” I wiped my mouth with my “napkin” and noticed Finn’s burrito was history. “By the way, what’s my share of the rent?”
Finn shot me a figure. Based on my research, the amount was unfortunately right in the ballpark for rents in the area. Uncle Sam’s stipend wasn’t going to cover anything outside of the dorms, but I couldn’t face living in them. Next up after bed shopping would be job shopping. Hopefully I’d find something compatible with classes and practice.
We cleaned up from lunch and walked out into the living room. “You up for a COD rematch before this afternoon’s practice?” The hope in Finn’s voice was almost comical.
“Sorry, man. I’m gonna head out and see what I can find for furniture for my room.”
Shoving his hands in the pockets of his shorts, he said, “Understandable. Let me know if you need my truck to help you move anything.”
With a salute, I stepped out into the foyer and slid my feet into my tennis shoes. Then remembering my manners, I stepped back into the living room and extended my hand. “Thanks again for inviting me to stay here. And for lunch. You have no idea how much I appreciate it.”
“No problem.”
Spending time in the service had given me a chance to figure myself out. Since everyone in my unit had been in the same place as me, I didn’t have to try to discover the dynamics of the crowd and how I fit in. I didn’t have to be “on” all the time.
Over those four years, Taryn and I had emailed regularly. Something about putting my dreams and plans in writing in those emails had helped me articulate exactly where I wanted to go. Of course, not wanting to scare her off, I’d steered clear of one major component of my future plans—ending up with her.
When we were in high school, I gave Taryn zero reason to believe in me as a partner, but growing up over the past few years, I’d become the man she deserved. Though judging by the way she’d reacted to me after I returned home, I had my work cut out convincing her of that.
For half a second, I entertained the idea of asking her to come bed shopping with me, but I caught myself. Instead, I spent a few minutes in my car in the driveway of the Victorian doing some quick research on my phone for mattress stores before heading downtown to lighten my wallet in aid of rescuing my back.
By thirty minutes to spare before afternoon practice, I had a king-size bed awaiting delivery to the house the next afternoon. On the same street as the mattress store, I’d discovered a used furniture place where I bought a desk and a chest of drawers in decent enough shape that I could move into my room today. Taking Finn up on his offer to load these pieces into his truck, I scrolled through social media as I awaited his arrival.
Derek Watson had posted a pic of his new wheels—a brand-new cherry-red crew-cab pickup. He’d captioned it, “A new ride for a new chapter. BSU, get ready for greatness!” Jesus. The guy had zero self-awareness. He was moving down from D-I to play ball at a D-II school that wasn’t much bigger than the high school we graduated from. He had two years of eligibility left—not much time to make his mark even on a much smaller playing field from the one he’d been asked to leave. Daddy’s money could buy him new toys, but it couldn’t buy him common sense, natural drive, or the brains not to squander his God-given physical talent.
When Finn pulled into the parking lot in his beat-up twenty-year-old pickup, I was shaking my head at Derek’s post. I couldn’t believe I’d let that asshole bully me into not pursuing the most awesome girl on the planet.
Mistaking my reaction as about him, Finn said, “Sorry, dude. I got here as quick as I could,” as he swung out of his old ride.
Stuffing my phone into my pocket, I grinned. “Hey, you’re good.” I pushed away from my car to grab the desk sitting on the sidewalk beside it. “Right on time. Thanks for helping me out, man.”
Squatting beside the four-drawer oak chest, he tipped it back enough to find a grip along the fancy carved front that served as a skirt for the piece’s short legs. He picked it up as he stood. I’d built up a sweat when horsing that thing out the door of the store, but my new roommate handled it as if it weighed next to nothing. I’d have to jack up my game in the weight room exponentially if I didn’t want him to flatten me on the regular when the defense played the scout team once we started practicing in pads.
We dropped the furniture off at the house on our way to the stadium and had barely made it onto the field by the time the coaches were calling us to line up for warmups.
I grinned my way through the over-the-top number of up-downs the coaches insisted on, thinking about the unanticipated good fortune of finding great roommates. I was still grinning when Coach Ellis asked me to stay after practice.