Chapter Six
SKYE
G lass shattered at my feet, a sharp crash that jolted me back to reality.
I closed my eyes and willed my hands to steady.
It was just a beaker, not the end of the world.
But my nerves were another story. I needed my study to be successful, but it was Liam’s stupid grin that kept replaying in my head, throwing me off balance.
I muttered under my breath, brushing the shards into a dustpan. My chest tightened at the uninvited memories of his touch—strong, warm, infuriatingly gentle—lingering from our last tutoring session. Why did he have to be so… him?
“You okay?” Joe turned to face me, concern flickering in his deep-espresso eyes.
“Yeah, just clumsy today.” I summoned a smile I didn’t feel.
The weight of his gaze stayed on me as I finished cleaning up, but I avoided looking directly at him. Joe didn’t need to know how much my current distraction was tied to a certain wide receiver.
I noticed Joe’s disheveled hair and swollen lips then remembered seeing Megan slipping out of the lab as I came in. I laughed. “I’m fine, but it looks like you’re more than fine. What were you and Megan doing before I came in? Did she finally agree to go out with you?”
“I took your advice.” Joe’s sheepish grin tugged at my mood despite my frazzled nerves. “Megan said yes.”
“Good. Don’t screw it up.” I waved him off with a laugh, sweeping up the glass and trying not to let my shaking hands give me away. “When did this happen?”
“Last night.”
My brows climbed my forehead. “You dog. Bet you were here ‘working’”—I air quoted—“last night. Maybe she didn’t even go home.” I glanced around the lab. “Just tell me, should I avoid working anywhere because of… contamination?”
“Shit, Skye.” His cheeks flamed red, and he ducked his head. “You’re all good. But yeah, we were… working all night, and she said yes when I asked her out.”
“So it’s official?” I’d known Joe since last year, when I’d started being a TA for Professor White’s introductory chemistry class.
Joe was at the top of his class and was Professor White’s go-to assistant.
We’d become friends when he covered for me during a few emergencies with Lily.
I’d noticed how he pined for Megan, another grad student who had access to the lab for her research on the harmful effects of pain meds and performance-enhancement drugs in high school and college student athletes.
Because he’d been such a great friend and had helped me out when I’d needed it the most, I’d decided to coach him on how to ask her out.
Guess he’d finally manned up and taken my advice.
“Yeah, we’re going out Friday night.”
I dumped the glass in the trash. “Was that before or after you two got busy?”
“Jesus, Skye.”
I laughed at his discomfort before deciding to go easy on him. “I’m glad things are going well for you.”
“Yeah, thanks.” Joe glanced at me as he scribbled something in his notebook. “How’s tutoring?”
“It’s fine,” I said too quickly.
His head snapped up, eyebrows raising in curiosity. “Fine, huh?” He leaned back, crossing his arms.
“I was asked to add an athlete to my schedule. Liam Cartwright.”
“Really?” Joe’s smile fell away. “I saw the two of you at the stadium last night. You’ve been spending time with Cartwright.”
My stomach tightened, but I forced a casual shrug. “I’m tutoring him, Joe. It’s part of my job.”
He frowned, his expression shifting from curiosity to something more serious. “I know guys like Liam. They take what they want and leave the rest in pieces. Be careful, Skye.”
“Ah, nothing’s going on with Liam. I’m just tutoring him.”
“Still, I know how he is with women and relationships. I’m just saying this because you set me up with Megan, who won’t ditch when fame hits.”
“As I said, nothing’s going on between us.” I couldn’t keep the chill from my voice if I tried.
He ducked his head, seemingly chastised.
“How’s your research on foxglove going?” I eyed his notes. It was one of two separate studies he’d been burning the midnight oil on this past summer and semester.
“Really good.” A genuine smile curved his face.
“Do you need a hand with that?” He waved to my abandoned work.
“No. I’m good. I’m too preoccupied to focus. I need to get out of here anyway.”
Aunt Eileen was picking Lily up from daycare, feeding her dinner, and getting her to bed, which gave me the flexibility to spend the evening with the team.
I’d planned to film some of the players walking through campus for a short day-in-the-life post after candid practice shots to hype the next game.
It wasn’t my favorite part of the job, but it was important for building engagement.
In addition, I needed to work on the players’ stats for the once-a-week posts I’d started doing to get everyone who liked that sort of thing hyped for the upcoming games.
Mostly guys, but some girls followed that data religiously as well.
“Sure.” His response was distracted as he refocused on his experiment, already absorbed in his work.
As I bent to tuck the dustpan back under the counter on my way out, the lab door creaked open.
Megan stepped back in, her gaze bouncing between Joe and me. She carried an air of curiosity that didn’t feel entirely innocent. “Hey, Skye,” she said, her tone casual. “I saw you at the game last weekend. You’ve been spending a lot of time with the team lately.”
I nodded, brushing my hands on my jeans. “I’m their social media manager. Most of what I do is behind the camera, but I’m also taking on some athletic tutoring.”
Megan’s eyes sharpened slightly. “Must be interesting, being around them all the time. I bet they’re under a ton of pressure.”
“Yeah, it’s a lot, but the coaches keep them focused,” I said, my tone measured.
“Do you ever hear about, you know, the pressure they’re under?” She tilted her head, feigning casual interest. “I mean, with scouts watching them, the combine coming up, and all those insane stats you post, it’s got to be intense trying to measure up.”
“Probably,” I said cautiously.
Megan leaned against the counter, her lips twitching into a sly smile. “You ever wonder if any of them might… I don’t know, look for an edge? Hypothetically speaking.”
Her tone was too breezy, too specific to feel innocent. I stiffened, not liking the direction her questions were going. “Not here. They know better than to risk their futures over something like that.”
Megan shrugged, her smile not reaching her eyes. “I’m sure you’re right. I was just curious. You hear stories, that’s all.”
“You heard wrong,” I said firmly. “Our team knows better than to jeopardize their careers over something like that.”
“Of course.” Megan laughed falsely. She turned to Joe, her voice shifting into something huskier. “We still need to go over those samples later. Don’t forget.”
Joe nodded, his focus fixed on his notebook.
“Catch you later, Skye.” Megan threw me a wide smile before disappearing toward the back of the lab.
I stood frozen for a moment, the exchange replaying in my mind. Something about her questions rubbed me the wrong way, but I brushed it off as curiosity gone too far. With a final glance at Joe, I grabbed my bag and headed out the door, ready to shake off the strange encounter.
Backpack slung over one shoulder, I hurried through the quad toward my car, eager to get to the stadium.
It was easier driving to the athletic center and practice field than walking.
Ten minutes later, I was on the field, my backpack parked on the bench as I snapped pictures of the players in action.
I had to be careful not to reveal any of their plays but to take individual shots or group ones where they were just talking or lifting in the gym.
Later, as I stood on the sidelines, camera in hand, my focus was supposed to be on all the players, but my lens kept drifting to Liam. He wasn’t just running drills—he was commanding the field. Every movement was sharp, deliberate, as if he could will the world to see him.
I shook my head, lowering the camera. What is wrong with me?
I couldn’t keep letting him pull me in. Still, something about him was different now.
He wasn’t the cocky freshman I remembered.
There was a quiet intensity to his game and the way he encouraged the rookies, clapping them on the back or offering tips between plays.
It tugged at something in me that I didn’t want to name.
Shoving the camera strap higher on my shoulder, I forced myself to focus on pictures and stats for anything post worthy. Liam didn’t fit into the careful plans I’d laid for my life. I couldn’t afford to lose sight of that, no matter how much he made me feel like I already had.
When the numbers blurred, I glanced at the team still running drills on the field with a more critical eye.
Megan’s question about the players circled in my head.
It took only a few seconds to key into what bothered me about the players’ attitudes.
A few of them were exhibiting unusual behavior, where their movements seemed almost too quick, their strength beyond what I’d thought I remembered from earlier in the season when I’d studied the team before taking on the internship.
I watched the scrimmage on the field where number eighty, Louis Leroy, one of the defensive ends, tackled another player with such force that the sound echoed across the field.
My suspicion grew, and I shifted on the bench, pulling up the team’s stats on my phone to study the reoccurring theme I’d spotted earlier—players who didn’t see a lot of field time and weren’t getting noticed before now were, and their stats showed a remarkable difference from last year.
The numbers for some players didn’t make sense.
Leroy’s numbers had skyrocketed, but the way he moved—almost too fast, too strong—made my stomach churn.
Something about it didn’t add up, and the numbers on my screen weren’t helping.