14. Ben
BEN
It’s Monday morning and I’m just getting back from my run when I hear a “No fucking way” from the kitchen. It’s Mac, and he’s laughing over something.
Curiosity gets the better of me and I head around the corner, wiping my sweaty face with the bottom of my T-shirt.
“What’s up, man?” Darian asks from the dining table. He’s chowing down on his morning oats with blueberries and banana. The girl he let spend the night is perched next to him, sipping a coffee, her nose wrinkling every time he inhales a mouthful like he’s competing in some eating contest.
Mac waves his phone in the air. “Just reading an article about us in the Nolan U Star.”
“What?” Darian pings up straight. “What do you mean? Did that fucking chick write about us anyway? We all said no to interviews.”
My stomach clenches.
“She never asked me.” Mac shrugs, then turns to smirk in my direction. “But it looks like she asked someone, and he didn’t say no.”
Jimmy walks in just as Darian explodes out of his seat.
“What the actual fuck, Evers!”
His one-night stand flinches, watching him curiously as he stalks toward me.
I raise my hands before he can thunder any closer.
Sawyer is just loping down the stairs, strapping on his watch and looking confused. “What’s up?”
“He spoke to that reporter!” Darian points an accusing finger at me, and I take a step back, distancing myself just a little more.
How the fuck am I supposed to explain myself here?
Sawyer’s eyebrows dip into a frown. “I thought we agreed not to.”
“I… I…” Letting out a sigh, I finally admit, “I felt sorry for her. She worded everything wrong when she approached Darian and then got iced out by the rest of you. I couldn’t do it to her.”
“You and your marshmallow heart.” Charli laughs from her perch on the bottom step. She’s putting on her shoes and grinning at me.
“Shut it, sis,” Darian growls. “You’re not the one she’s writing shit about.”
“She’s not writing shit,” Mac murmurs, winking at the girl at the table. Her lips twitch, then give in to a flirty smile. But Darian is oblivious to it all. He’s too busy glaring me down.
“We’re supposed to be a team. We agreed as a team that we wouldn’t talk to her, and you fucking betrayed us all!”
“It’s a good article.” Mac holds up his phone, but Darian’s still too busy ranting.
I roll my eyes and pull out my iPhone, quickly finding the article and reading it through.
Damn, Jolie knows how to write.
Talk about making us look good.
“Wow,” Jimmy murmurs, his lips twitching as he reads the article as well. But then he starts to frown, and I wonder if he’s ahead of me or something. Did she finish on a bad note?
“What does it say?” Darian looks between us. “Why aren’t you raging? She said we were the worst team in the school. Did she write that shit?”
“Of course not,” I defend her with a little more ferocity than I mean to. “She was never going to write that about us. If you’d given her a chance, you’d know that.” I quickly finish reading and have no idea why Jimmy looked so worried.
“Read the fucking article, man.” Mac throws his phone at Darian, who catches it and scrolls to the top of the page.
Sawyer’s looking at his phone now too, and there’s a pleasant beat of silence as we all read and reread an article that is masterfully written.
It talks about our teamwork, how loyal we are to one another, how even though we don’t always win, we know how to have fun on the court.
Success isn’t always about winning. It’s about enjoying life, and according to her, the Nolan U basketball team is doing just that.
She’s used my best quotes and made me look so fucking good.
It seriously turned out way better than I thought it would.
“Holy shit,” Darian finally murmurs, slapping the phone against his thigh and shaking his head. “Damn, who is this chick?”
“Her name’s…” Sawyer looks at his phone again. “Jolie. Is that how you say it? Jolie Carmichael.”
“Yes.” I give Darian a pointed look. “And she was sweet and kind.” And I will never tell you about how innocent she is or the conversation we had during the second interview.
“I’m still pissed that you went behind our backs.” Darian scowls at me.
I roll my eyes. “I was trying to protect the team. If she’d written something without talking to any of us, who knows what she would have said? At least this way I could talk us up.”
“Thanks for what you said about me.” Jimmy gives me a shy, somewhat pained smile that I don’t understand.
I study him for a beat and he breaks eye contact, squeezing the back of his neck. “I only speak the truth, brother.”
“Yeah.” He nods. “Yeah, thanks.”
“Is everything okay?”
“Yep.” He glances up, silently telling me not to ask before moving into the kitchen to no doubt start brewing that funky-smelling tea he likes so much.
I have no idea what’s up with him. Hopefully I can ask him later. For now, I flick my eyes back to Darian, who’s started reading the article again.
By his second run-through, he’s even more impressed, his anger evaporating.
He forgives me with a soft grunt and mumbles, “Thank you for what you said.”
“You’re welcome.” I smirk at him and he flips me off with a laugh, returning to his oatmeal and continuing to eat it despite the fact that it’s likely stone-cold. The girl beside him rests her empty coffee mug on the table.
“I’m gonna take off.”
“Yeah, cool.” Darian glances at her. “Thanks for a good night.”
She grins, pressing a kiss to his cheek before moving around him. She glances over her shoulder as she heads for the door, catching Mac’s eye. He winks at her again, and Darian throws him a sharp frown.
As soon as she’s outside, Mac starts to laugh. “I’m just messing with you, man. I won’t go after your girl. Even though she obviously wants me.”
Darian rolls his eyes, dropping his spoon into the bowl. It rattles as he stands tall and clarifies, “She’s not my girl. We agreed to one night of fun, that’s it. But don’t be winking at her when it’s obvious she spent the night with me.”
Mac snickers and shakes his head, walking out of the room.
I glance at Sawyer, then head for the stairs to go shower when I hear Darian say something that makes me pause.
“What’s her name again?”
“Jolie.” Charli pulls open the fridge. “Why are you asking?”
“I don’t know.” Darian’s lips curl at the edges, and my gut starts to twist. “Wonder if I should track her down and thank her personally, you know.” He looks at me and waggles his eyebrows. “She pretty?”
I don’t know how to answer him. The girl he spent the night with left less than a minute ago, and he’s already asking about Jolie?
My first instinct is to growl, “Stay the fuck away from her.” It’s such a visceral internal reaction that it takes me a second to hide it.
Darian’s eyebrows pucker, so I force a smile. “She’s a dorky little freshman. Not sure she can handle the likes of you, man.”
He starts laughing, and I wait for him to say something else, but he doesn’t.
Taking the stairs two at a time, I head up to the bathroom and start to think about the girl I spent all weekend trying to forget.
The thought of Darian making a play for her sits ugly in my chest.
I don’t want guys like him anywhere near her.
She needs protecting.
Maybe I should text her to check in. I could thank her for the article, see if she wants to meet for a decent milkshake at Eat Your Faves.
It wouldn’t be a date or anything, just two people hanging out.
Stepping under the hot spray, I soap myself down and figure there’s no harm in a casual catch-up… and while I’m there, I can warn her not to get caught by one of Darian Gomez’s flirtatious smiles.