Chapter Ten Cash
Chapter Ten
Cash
“I can’t believe Dally ditched me like that. Especially right after he invited me to room with Dalton, Taco, and him,” I said as I followed Saylor to her car. “I appreciate you giving me a ride back to my truck.”
She shot me a look over her shoulder like she didn’t buy my story, which was funny with me sounding my most sincere.
No way could she have caught me crossing my fingers behind my back as I tossed my new roommate under the bus.
Dally had let me know he was headed out as I dropped Saylor’s and my plates in the trash and grabbed each of us another beer.
I’d told him I’d catch a ride with someone.
That someone, of course, was the gorgeous blonde whose swaying hips had all my attention as she stomped up the sidewalk on the way to her car.
“Right.” Her sarcasm drew the word out to three syllables, and since I was behind her, I didn’t bother to hide my grin.
All afternoon she’d pretended she wasn’t interested, that she’d mostly forgotten our little tryst from a few months ago.
But I didn’t play games. I’d taken every opportunity to look at her, absorb her face, imprint it on my mind, which meant I’d caught her checking me out more than once.
She maybe didn’t want to be interested in me, but she was interested.
The next step was to convince her to act on that interest.
She clicked her key fob next to a pearlescent white Mercedes SUV and walked around the front of it to the driver’s side.
Damn. Apparently, Saylor came from money.
Dating her was going to be tricky since I attended school on scholarship and had to save every penny of NIL money I could for the big-bucks expenses of chiropractic school after undergrad.
Grinning as I opened the passenger door, I reminded myself I could be creative.
Based on the way she’d responded to my touches all afternoon, once I managed that first date, I had a better than even shot at more.
Having experienced a taste of her hotter-than-hell kisses on one magical evening, and after an afternoon of her running her smart mouth as we played games and drank beer, I knew one date would never be enough.
“Nice wheels,” I said as I slid onto the buttery-soft, chocolate-brown leather seat. “A classy ride for a classy lady.” I smiled at her as I buckled myself in.
“Thanks. It’s a hand-me-down from my parents.”
I let go a low whistle. “Some hand-me-down.” Before she could bristle up into full hedgehog prickly, I said, “You take care of it well.”
“My parents are architects. They like beautiful things, and they’ve drilled into us that beautiful things deserve respect, which means taking good care of them.” She put the SUV in gear and headed up the street.
“Us, huh? You have sibs?”
“A younger brother.”
“Yeah? Tell me about him.”
She sighed. “No doubt Mason is going to play college football on scholarship somewhere after he graduates high school next year.”
“You say that like it’s a bad thing. Don’t you want him to play?”
“It’s not that. I’m proud of him. He’s going to be the bane of every quarterback’s existence.” She shot me a smirk. “But there is more to life than football.”
We stopped for a red light, and she glanced over to catch my incredulous stare.
“Well, there is,” she insisted.
I let go a chuckle. “You’re right. Life makes room for fun afternoons showing off your cornhole skills and for fancy parties where you can kiss a stranger to within an inch of his life and walk away.”
“Are you holding a grudge?” she asked as she signaled for a right turn. Guess she didn’t need directions to my new place.
“Nope. I’m hoping for another opportunity to kiss you.”
“You’re terribly blunt—you know that?” Her tone said she couldn’t quite figure out how to feel about my honesty.
“More like you left an impression. Now I’m wondering if I’ve blown it up in my head or if you were actually that good.” I challenged her with a teasing grin.
She pulled up in front of Dally’s—my—place and parked, but she didn’t shut off the engine.
Not promising.
“I didn’t give you directions. How did you know where to go?”
“Dalton and Taco are SCRs. Plus, the players take turns hosting the parties after home games, so I’ve been to a few here.”
My brow went up. “Huh. Dally didn’t mention that part when he was showing me around the house.”
The corner of her luscious mouth quirked up. “The football team throws the best parties. Looks like you’re going to have to get used to hosting bashes.”
Taking a chance, I said, “I could get used to attending bashes with you.”
“Unlike my shortsighted friends”—she rolled her pretty amber eyes—“I’m not in the market for exclusive.”
Not exclusive? Not what I wanted to hear, but I let it go—for now. “Shortsighted how?”
She shut off the engine and turned in her seat to face me.
Progress.
“Each of us is in school because we have goals and dreams. Jamaica wants to be a lawyer. Piper wants to run a business. Chess plans to be a sports medicine doctor. Yet each of them is dating a football player with NFL prospects, which can only mean my friends’ aspirations are going to take a back seat to their boyfriends’ dreams if they stay together.
” She leveled me with a look. “I don’t intend to set aside my plans to accommodate a man’s no matter how hot he is. ”
She let her eyes roam over me, and I almost questioned who was the blunt one now. Instead, I asked, “What are your big plans, Saylor Davis?”
A genuine smile lit up her gorgeous face. “Get on the crews of the biggest pop and rock bands out there and run their in-concert videos.”
I nodded, impressed. “Sounds like an incredibly cool career.”
“It does, doesn’t it?” The wistfulness in her answer told me everything I needed to know about her conviction. Leaning her arm across the steering wheel, she asked, “What about you, Cash Donovan? Which NFL team are you aiming for?”
I tried not to tense at the question I should have seen coming. “I think that ship sailed two years ago when I was back in Washington and blew out my knee.”
In a nanosecond, her expression flipped from expectant to concerned. “But you’re playing for the Wildcats. Aren’t you worried about hurting yourself again?”
With a dismissive gesture, I said, “Nah. I rehabbed it to the point of bionic. But I lost ground while I was doing that, so I lost my starting spot. Playing backup at Mountain State won’t exactly be a ringing endorsement of my skills with pro scouts.
” I shrugged at her big-eyed stare. “I’ve made peace with it.
I love the game, and I’m not quite ready to give it up, so I’m here.
After graduation I’m off to chiropractic school rather than the pros. ”
Saying it out loud to Saylor for the first time crystalized my decisions since I’d entered the portal back in December. Somewhere in the past year, I’d let go of playing pro ball. I think I was more surprised at my words as we blinked at each other across the console.
Saylor recovered first. “Did not see that one coming.”
I gave her my best smile. “Does that mean you’ll give me your number? You know, since I’m not a threat to your cool dreams?”
“How do you figure?”
I think she was going for hostile with her tone, but she let a note of intrigue slip in instead.
“Chiropractors stay in one place so they can build up a patient base. No switching teams or moving to new cities like NFL stars. It’s a home base kind of career.” I lifted one eyebrow in challenge.
“You don’t have my number. We haven’t gone on a date. You only found out my name this afternoon. Yet you sound like you’re making long-term plans.” Her narrow-eyed glare lit me up.
“Nope. I was only pointing out your problem is with football players who have a true shot at the pros, which makes sense. Playing pro ball requires sacrifice from the important people in the players’ lives.
But I’m not one of those guys.” I turned up the charm by adding bedroom eyes to my smile.
“Taking a chance with me isn’t going to mess with your big plans.
” I pulled my phone from the pocket of my shorts and opened my contacts. “Digits, please.”
“You are so blunt.” The words came out on a tiny sigh, and I tightened my abs to keep my triumph in check. “Fine.” Her huffy exasperation delighted me, but I held tight until she rattled off her number and I had it safely saved on my phone under “Saylor Hot Kisses.”
“I’ll go out with you.” She shot me a sexy side-eye. “Once.”
Bingo. All I needed was a shot.
When my landlord started making noise about me “needing” to weed-whack the fence along the driveway so I didn’t “accidentally” drive into it some night, I decided I could forfeit ten days’ rent before the end of my lease.
The guys were fine with me moving in early and even came over to my place to help me pack up my shit.
Honestly, I couldn’t figure out how Saylor could think anything about football players other than we were awesome.
A teammate needed somewhere to stay? Boom!
Another teammate had some space or knew someone who did.
A teammate needed to move? No problem. Several players drove trucks.
Since everyone spent days in the weight room, lifting heavy furniture was no big deal.
Not that I had much for furniture: a middle-aged recliner, a coffee table, a dresser serving as a TV stand, TV, and my king-size bed.
The bed was the one piece of furniture I’d ever splurged on, because duh, college athlete.
A decent bed was a must for peak performance.
It also served me well whenever I wanted to entertain someone at the end of a date.
The rest of my stuff came from secondhand stores or friends moving and not wanting to take something with them.
Dally glanced at the siding and wrinkled his nose as he climbed the cement steps to a narrow landing at the front door. “You weren’t wrong about nearing the sell-by date on your place.”