Chapter 1
***WALKER***
Oblivious to the snow gently falling from the slate grey clouds above his head, Walker threw open the doors to the gymnasium, then paused for a second, letting the familiar smell wash over him.
Stepping inside, he let the doors close behind him, then headed down the long hallway following the sound of court shoes squeaking on the freshly waxed floor.
He could hear the team before he reached the door and a smile spread across his face as he listened to them good-naturedly ribbing each other.
“Marty, you must have gained twenty pounds since last season,” Colin, the other point guard, called.
“I told you sitting on your butt all fall was going to catch up with you.”
“At least I’m passing all my classes,” Marty called out. “You’ve been doing so much extra credit lately, we’re all starting to worry that you’re turning into a nerd.”
“Hey, it’s not my fault I have such a busy social life that I don’t have time to study,” Colin shot back. “In fact, I’ve got a date after practice. What are you doing tonight?”
He couldn’t hear Marty’s response as he dribbled away, but Colin burst out laughing, then followed him over to the other end of the gym, shaking his head.
Making his way over to the bench where they all left their stuff during practice, he realized just how happy he was that basketball season was starting.
Dropping his bag, he grabbed a ball and gave it a couple of experimental bounces, enjoying the small thrill that still raced through him when he got one in his hands.
Satisfied, he set the ball aside and shrugged out of his coat, then grabbed his basketball shoes out of his bag and changed into them, eager to get out on the court.
It wasn’t until he picked up the ball again and began a slow dribbling walk around the outside of the court to warm up that he noticed there was a small audience sitting in the stands.
There were a few men, but most of them were women, which didn’t surprise him because it happened all the time.
The only difference was that some of them looked much too young to be there.
Running a little faster to catch up with Marty, he fell in step next to him, still watching the girls in the stands. “Are they letting high school girls in here now?” he finally asked. “Those two up at the top look like they’re about sixteen.”
Marty followed his gaze, then shook his head, an amused smile on his face. “Those are freshmen. They’re probably eighteen or nineteen,” he said. “They look young to you because you’re getting old.”
He started to get annoyed, then realized that his friend was right.
He was twenty-two, just about to graduate, about as close to being an adult as you could get.
The thought sent shivers down his spine, and he rejected it instantly.
He wasn’t ready to grow up; there was still too much fun to have, still too many women to date.
Looking up at the two freshmen again, he grinned at them and waved, not all that surprised when they waved back.
Marty was wrong; he wasn’t old, he was just a little more mature, that was all.
He could still score with the women, and he was going to prove it to himself and his teammate right then.
They’d reached the end of the gym, but instead of turning the corner like Marty, he started walking backward, still dribbling the ball, then threw in a couple of tricks before bowing to the girls in the stands when they began to clap.
Feeling sure of himself, he began an internal debate trying to decide which one of them he’d ask on a date first, the blonde or the brunette, but before he could make up his mind, disaster struck.
“Walker, watch out behind you,” Marty called just as his feet got tangled up with a ball that had rolled into his path.
There was no stopping his momentum, and he went down hard.
His teeth slammed together, the ball he’d been dribbling bounced up in the air, then came down on top of his head, and he felt a strange twinge in his ankle.
He lay on the gym floor for a second in an undignified heap, then tried to jump back to his feet, but this time, there was a sharp stab of pain in his ankle, and he went down again.
This time he stayed right where he was, all too aware of the laughter coming from the top of the bleachers, his face flaming with embarrassment. Marty got to him first. “Are you okay?” he asked, squatting down next to him. “I tried to warn you.”
“Yeah, thanks,” he said, his ankle beginning to throb. “I shouldn’t have been showing off, but I’ll be okay, just give me a few minutes to scrape my dignity off the floor.”
Marty laughed, “I’m afraid your little friends are leaving,” he said, standing up again and looking over to the door where the two girls were walking out. “Too bad, I was thinking about taking your leftovers, guess neither of us is going to have a date now.”
“Very funny,” he said, then tried to get up again, but the pain was back. “Crap, I think I really hurt myself. Coach is going to kill me.”
“I’ll see if I can find one of the trainers, maybe it’s not that bad,” Marty said. “I’ll be right back.”
He sat there for a second trying to control his annoyance.
His ankle would heal in just a matter of hours, even if it was broken; that was one of the gifts he’d received as a shifter, but the whole thing was humiliating.
There was no way his other teammates hadn’t seen it all and they’d be teasing him for weeks, and his reputation was sure to suffer.
It would be all over campus by the end of the day.
Blowing out a frustrated breath, he moved the ankle a bit, hoping he could get up and disappear into the locker room, but the pain was still there and he knew he’d never be able to walk that far.
Resigning himself to having the trainers work him over in full view of the entire team, he sighed, hoping this wasn’t a bad omen for the season, and waited for Marty to come back.
***Maddie***
Maddie watched Walker from the other end of the gym with a growing sense of apprehension that had nothing to do with the fact that he might be hurt and everything to do with having to face him after three years.
She’d known that running into him would be inevitable now that basketball season had started, but she’d hoped to put it off for at least a few weeks.
Instead, she was about to meet him face to face completely unprepared.
When her advisor had called to tell her the schedule had changed that morning, she’d done everything in her power to get out of the shift covering practice, but here she was watching the man who’d broken her heart flirt with every woman in the gym.
There might have been a sick sense of satisfaction when he’d fallen and made a fool of himself, but she couldn’t even feel that since his injury put her smack dab in the hot seat.
It was no surprise when the player who’d been with Walker when he started his antics started walking toward her and she did her best to calm her beating heart.
“Hey…umm…I’m sorry, I don’t know your name,” the player said with a shrug of apology.
“Walker tripped over a ball, and I think he sprained his ankle. Could you come take a look?”
Trying to act like she wasn’t trembling inside, she grabbed her bag, “Sure…” she said, then paused. “I don’t know you’re name either.”
The man looked at her like she’d lost her mind, then shrugged, “I’m Marty, the best right guard on the team,” he said, trying to hide the hurt in his voice. “Most people know that, you must be new.”
“I’ve been taking all my classes online for the last two years, but I’m back on campus for my senior year. I can’t do my intern hours from home,” she explained, falling into step next to him. “Don’t take it personally, I don’t know any of the players. I had the same problem during soccer season.”
“Oh, that makes sense,” Marty said, a look of relief on his face, then he looked over at her. “I still don’t know your name, and if you’re going to be taking care of us all season, that seems like a good thing to know.”
She smiled up at him.“My name is Madison, but my friends call me Maddie,” she said. “It’s nice to meet you, Marty.”
“You too,” he said, returning his smile. “Tell you what, I’ll introduce you to the other guys after you take a look at Walker.”
“Sounds good, thanks,” she said, all too aware that Walker was only a few steps away.
She’d been preparing for this moment since she got back to campus earlier that fall, sure that she’d run into him, but the speech she’d prepared didn’t fit the circumstances.
Suddenly not ready to face him, afraid that the second he looked at her he’d know all her secrets, she hesitated a second, wishing she had more time to decide if she’d ever share anything with him again.
Before the pain of his betrayal could come to the surface, Marty turned back to her, a questioning look on his face, and she was forced to push it all aside.
“Let’s see what we’ve got here,” she said, kneeling next to Walker’s feet without looking directly at him. “I heard that you took a little fall.”
“He was trying to show off for some freshmen up in the bleachers, he tripped over a ball and fell on his…butt,” Marty said, a big grin on his face. “Serves him right for messing around. Do you think it’s broken?”
“It’s not broken,” Walker snapped, clearly annoyed. “I don’t even think it’s sprained.”
“How about we get your shoe off, then we’ll see what we’ve got,” she urged, reaching for the laces. “If it’s fine, no harm done, right…”
“Don’t talk to me like I’m a child,” Walker said, pulling his foot away. “I said I was fine, it already feels better, so back off.”
Pulling her hands away, she got back to her feet. “Sorry, I was just trying to help,” she said, backing up. “I’ll leave you alone now.”
Feeling like the world’s biggest coward, she grabbed her bag and started back across the gym, but she’d only made it a few hundred feet when Walker’s voice rose over the noise. “Wait,” he called. “Maddie, is that you?”
She froze, couldn’t help herself, then tried to keep walking like she hadn’t, but only made it a few steps before she felt a pair of strong hands clamp down on her shoulders.
He spun her around so that she was facing him, and she was forced to look up at him, hoping he couldn’t tell her body was going crazy just from his touch.
She prayed he didn’t know that she still wanted him just as much as she had the day they met.
“Hey, Walker,” she said, stepping away from him. “It’s been a long time.”
“A long time,” he repeated, staring down at her, his eyes roaming over her body, making her fill with warmth as a blush spread across her cheeks. “It’s been three years, I thought you were gone for good.”
“Well, I wasn’t, I was taking classes online,” she said. “But I’m doing my internship hours now, and I have to be on campus for that.”
He just stared at her, his mouth hanging open, a look on his face she couldn’t read.
But when she looked into his eyes, all the old feelings came rushing to the surface, and it felt like no time had passed.
The urge to throw herself into his arms began to slowly build inside her, and she knew that she had to get away from him and fast.
“Well, it was nice to see you,” she said, backing away a few more steps. “I really should go. Someone else might need my help.”
She whirled around and started walking, but Walker was right behind her. “Maddie, wait,” he called. “I want to talk to you.”
Knowing that anger was her only weapon against him, she reminded herself of what he’d said to her three years before. “Too bad, I don’t want to talk to you,” she threw over her shoulder, still walking away from him. “You had your chance three years ago.”
“Come on, Maddie, that’s not fair,” he said, still following her. “I just want a second of your time.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s the same thing I said to you when we were freshmen. Do you remember what you told me back then?” she asked, unable to resist turning around to face him, even angrier when he shook his head. “Well, when you do, come find me and then maybe we’ll talk.”
She stomped off then without even a backward glance, unsure if she felt better or not, but one thing was clear in her mind: as much as she hated him, she was still in love with Walker.
Her heart ached as she walked away, her body rebelled at the distance slowly forming between them, she could feel his eyes on her back, felt every step that separated them until she was out of the gym.
Holding back tears, she headed straight for her car, desperate to get away from the man who’d almost ruined her life, while at the same time giving her the greatest gift of her life.
All she wanted to do was go home where she felt safe and protected, where the outside world couldn’t touch her, where everything she loved was waiting for her.