Chapter 7
Dustin
Her eyes narrowed on mine as I spoke.
“Let’s take a breath,” Dante murmured. “Hadley, I believe you’ve met my roommate.”
Her gaze swept over Dante, and I could see her evaluating him. She gave a small nod. “Well, we’ve not officially been introduced.” She looked at me with a sugary-sweet smile. “But I’ve definitely been up close and personal.”
“You weren’t complaining,” I bit out.
“And this is Noah Matthews,” Dante continued effortlessly, as if neither of us had spoken. “He’s our starting middle linebacker.” Noah raised his hand in a wave. “I understand you’ve also met him?”
“Not officially,” she said, and I saw her shoulders relax slightly. That’s what Dante did — he relaxed people, he was calm and measured, and the press loved him. I glanced at her, and it seemed she wasn’t immune to the Lions QB either. “Hi.”
“Hadley, right?” Noah asked, leaning forward and extending his hand to her. She looked pleased as she shook it.
“Are we done?” I growled, my patience running out. “Why are you here?”
“The dean assigned her,” Dante said. “Let it go, man.” He spoke under his breath, but Hadley had heard him, her gaze sharpening as she looked at us.
What the fuck? That was the complete opposite of what he’d said just last night.
“I’m not letting anything go,” I argued, keeping my eyes on her and ignoring whatever U-turn Dante just did.
Her long brown hair was in a messy bun that looked full and heavy.
I remembered her hair fell almost to her ass.
It was the first thing I noticed about her the first night I met her.
She looked like the actress from The Vampire Diaries — the sweet version, not the crazy vampire one.
It was Naya’s favorite show, and I had heard more sighs and gushes about ‘Delena’ than I ever needed to.
But Hadley looked like her. Same long brown hair, only longer with thick waves, warm brown eyes, and a warm skin tone that gave her an exotic flair compared to the girl on TV. Her lips were full, and I knew from experience they were as soft as they looked.
I had no business thinking about that right now.
“You look agitated.” Hadley’s lip curled up in a smirk. “Not used to your hookups turning up at the training facility, and not being here for you?” She lifted her notebook and waved it back and forth. “Relax, this isn’t about you, Slater.”
I scowled. “I am relaxed.” I absolutely wasn’t.
Noah decided to be helpful. “Why would the dean need to assign you?”
Hadley’s gaze shifted to his. “Your head coach is very protective of his team,” she lied glibly. “I think he worries I’ll be a distraction.”
Yeah. That was what he was worried about.
“Which is probably why he asked me to cover Mike.” She looked back at the field. “Second team, striving to get to the first team. I’m excited to get involved.”
I bet you are.
“I really won’t need to speak to you guys.
” She faked a pout. “Sorry.” She turned her attention back to me.
“I’m sure you guys won’t even notice me.
” I don’t think any of the three of us reacted, but she sighed, dropping her arm and putting her notebook back in her bag.
“Look.” I saw a hint of vulnerability in her eyes.
“I’m here to do my job for my course. You three can go back to . . . whatever you were doing.”
We didn’t move. Not an inch. I wonder if my roommates were also waiting for her to sprout fangs and attack.
Dante moved slightly, and I saw the defensive end jogging back to us.
“Whittaker,” Dante murmured. “Scrimmage finished?”
He shook his head, delighted that QB10 was talking to him. “Um . . . no. But they said I have to show her around.”
“Hadley,” I told him. “Her name’s Hadley.”
“I’d love to be shown around,” Hadley told him, beaming.
“Nah.” They were all looking at me. “What?”
Dante sighed. “Dude.”
I glared at him. “What? I don’t trust her.”
“Why wouldn’t you trust me?” Hadley asked, looking between the three of us. When none of us spoke, she gave a light laugh. “Ah, it’s like that.” She looked delighted. “I didn’t know you guys would know about that.”
“Know about what?” Mike asked, the one person in the group who truly knew nothing. The one person I envied for his ignorance. “What’s going on?”
“Nothing.” Dante flashed him that media smile. “Nothing is going on at all, is there, Hadley?”
“Right.” Mike looked over his shoulder. “Um . . . can we start? I don’t want them to yell at me.”
“Get to it,” Dante told him with a nod upfield.
We watched him go, and my gaze flicked back to Hadley, who was watching me.
“Oh, relax,” she said sweetly as she walked past me. “I don’t have time to investigate you today.”
My jaw clenched. “Today?” I repeated.
But she was already walking away, following her brand-new assignment, leaving us staring after her like she’d just walked off with a bomb.
And maybe, in a way, she had, because the three sharp blasts of the whistle across the field brought all of us back to the present, and what was currently one very pissed-off head coach.
“Fuck.”
I wasn’t sure which one of us said it, or maybe we all did.
“Let’s go,” Dante said, and we walked toward the center of the field where he was waiting. “Play it cool. Remember, he doesn’t know that we know more than we do.”
Coach Sutherland’s eyes flicked to Noah as we approached, and then he turned to look downfield where the defense was running through drills. “Did you change sides?” he asked him. “Last I checked, you were a middle linebacker.”
Noah smiled widely. “Still am, Coach. Was passing on a message for the freshman.” He started jogging backward. “See you later!” he called to us, then turned and ran down the field.
“His speed is impressive,” Dante said. “Maybe he should be on offense. He’s tall enough for a tight end.”
I knew what he was doing, and I pounced on it. “Yeah, now that you mention it, he’s kind of the same build as Ash Santo.” I turned to Coach Sutherland. “What do you think? Possible?”
Coach Merriman had joined us and slapped Jason Moore’s shoulder. “What do you think, Moore? You want to give up your spot as tight end to Matthews?”
Jason was six five, solid, and fast as fuck. “If he can catch me, he can try.” He grinned at us, knowing we weren’t serious, and even if we were, he was in no danger of being replaced. “But he won’t catch me.”
Dante was laughing. “Plus, I live with the guy,” he said good-naturedly. “Let’s just say running and catching, he’s not quite mastered it.”
Everyone laughed; even Coach Sutherland chuckled. “Alright, guys, bring it in.”
We formed the huddle, and he began telling us the next play. I looked over at Dante, appreciating his skill, and he winked at me quickly before turning his attention to the coach.
Because that’s what we’d all promised we would do. Maintain the belief that we were invested in this team, and not the fact that all three of us were waiting to be dragged under by it at any time.
Balance. It was all about balance.
Which is what I was trying to remember, but my head jerked to the lower half of the field when I heard the soft, feminine laughter floating toward us.
I didn’t feel balanced. I felt unsteady, and I didn’t do unsteady. Not at all.
“Slater, are you listening?” Coach Merriman barked at me.
“Yes, Coach.”
“Good, run the play.”
I jogged past Dante as we took up positions. “QB?”
“Wide and to the thirty,” he muttered as I passed, which is why Dante Spence was my best friend.
Head in the game, I reminded myself. She’s just another girl.
The dirt she had on the program was for Dante and Savvy to handle. I didn’t need to be part of it. I would support them, but in reality, they were better suited to that kind of thing. Noah and I could be there for them if they needed a sounding board, but we could concentrate on football.
Spring training was in nine days. Then I would be reminding the coaches why I was their number one wide receiver.
I didn’t need that boat rocked. I needed to be the first-team player.
The player who caught whatever was thrown his way, and some that were not.
The Draft was a year away. Nothing was stopping me from getting that phone call from the NFL team that wanted me on their roster.
Nothing. No matter how tight their ass was.
* * *
Practice was over, the locker room was buzzing with the upcoming spring-training excitement, but this morning, there was far too much hilarity coming from the freshman side at the other side of the locker room.
“Why are they giggling like hyenas?” I asked, rubbing my towel over my hair.
“You seen the piece of ass assigned to Whittaker?” Moore said beside me. “She’s got them eating out of the palm of her hand already.”
“I bet that’s not all that’s in the palm of their hands,” our center said with a shake of his head.
Noah choked back a laugh when he saw my glare and dipped his head to hide his grin. I saw Dante shake his head, and I didn’t need Dante to fix this.
“Hey, guys, let’s dial it down.” My teammates looked at me as if I’d grown three heads. I heard myself back, yeah, okay, maybe I needed to dial it down. “Do we really need her to be reporting that the teams are full of hounds?” I waggled my eyebrows. “I can already tell you she’s fine.”
Moore looked at me, his head shaking in denial. “Already?” he asked in disbelief. “How?”
“Ran into her at Digby’s the other week.
” I shrugged it off like it was nothing, very aware of the weight of the stares from my roommates.
“She followed me outside, and, well . . . you know what I mean.” I sighed as I held my hands up in apology.
That wasn’t quite how it happened, but it was close enough to the story I needed them to hear.
“Didn’t know she was going to follow me to work, ya know. ”