Chapter 23 Mia
My first official practice with the band was a good one. Wade had been busy writing two new songs, and Sticks and Shane seemed to be really on board with his changes. We sang a few classics, and I loved how they made the songs their own and how they altered the tempo to match my voice.
By the third song, I was completely relaxed singing in front of them, and it felt like I had been doing it for years. We all seemed to click, and when a guy turned up outside at six and loitered, I knew by the width of his shoulders he was a football player.
“You found a new boy toy?” Wade asked me as he unstrapped his guitar.
“Ah, no, it’s . . . you know, it isn’t even complicated, but just . . . yeah.” Grabbing my jacket, I hurriedly put it on as I watched the dark-haired guy stand outside, texting on his phone.
“Groupie?” Sticks asked as he walked up beside me and slung his arm around my shoulder. “I prefer the ones with bigger breasts.”
“You’re a dog,” I told him as I ducked out from under his arm. “And you smell bad, what is that cologne?”
“It’s au naturel Sticks,” he told me proudly.
“Yeah, it au naturel stinks,” I called out to him as Wade and Shane laughed at my dig. “See ya later, guys!”
Outside, I looked at the guy waiting. “Hey?”
“Red?” he asked me as he looked up from his phone. He saw my eyes narrow and hastily shoved his phone in his pocket. “I mean, Mia,” he amended as he held his hand out. “Captain says I have to walk you home.”
“Captain? I thought Jett was the captain?”
“He is.”
If Jett was the captain, and he told this guy to wait for me, why was I getting called Red? Was this a setup? Oh, my good Lord, they turned me into someone as paranoid as them.
“Ash texted me just before you came out to make sure I was here,” he expanded.
And now the Red comment made sense.
“Okay, what’s your name?” I asked as I pulled my own phone out.
“Alden.” He gave me a grin, and I saw he was cute.
“Well, I’m Mia. Hi.”
His rueful chuckle made my own smile wider. “Yeah, I know.”
Me: I’ve been picked up curbside, where am I to be delivered?
“Why aren’t you at practice like the rest of the team?” I asked as I sent the message.
“It’s only the first team that practices tonight,” he told me as his cheeks burned.
“Oh, I don’t really follow the sport,” I explained. “What time does practice stop?”
Alden looked at his watch and then at me. “Soon.”
Well, wasn’t he a well of information? My phone buzzed.
Brute: Are you still in a mood with the twins?
Me: I’m not in “a mood” they were mean
Brute: Uh-huh. Back to our place then
Our place?
Thank goodness he wasn’t here to see the smile. Alden and I walked in silence, and it was all very strange.
“You don’t say a lot,” I said, desperate to break the silence.
“Oh no, they said I wasn’t allowed to flirt with you.”
I stopped walking. “Who said?”
Alden’s eyes widened slightly. “Um, you know, the . . . um, them.”
Them? Nodding, I assessed him. He wasn’t as tall as Brute, or as wide, or as gorgeous, but he wasn’t Quasimodo, and he seemed nice enough. Nice dark hair, light brown eyes, clean-shaven. Little bit nervous, but then the circumstances were hardly ideal.
“Do you want to flirt with me?” Possibly blunter than I was usually, but then again, the Devils made my temper rise.
Alden looked like he was going to pass out. “Um, I mean, you’re pretty.”
“Pretty?” Too sharp, Mia — pretty is good.
“Gorgeous!”
“Don’t overcompensate, Alden.” I started walking as my irritation grew. “Which one in particular told you not to flirt?”
“It was Gray.”
My feet stopped again. “Gray?” I saw him hesitate. “Alden, spill it now, or I’ll tell them you were disrespectful.” Now I was just bullying him, which made me no better than them.
“He said you weren’t available, and I had to be careful what I said to you.”
Did he, indeed? “And did he say why?” The poor guy looked like he was going to run. “Alden!”
“Yes, he, um, said Ash wouldn’t like it because he said you’re off-limits.”
“Off-limits?” My voice was dangerously low. “Do you want to flirt with me?” I asked him again.
“No?”
“Cracking hell, Alden, it wasn’t a trick question.” I started walking rapidly back to the suite Ash and I were sharing, but it wasn’t Ash I was angry with. Was it? Possibly. Maybe? No. They all incensed me.
I changed direction.
“Um, Mia, ma’am?”
My look at Alden was scathing. “Ma’am? Ma’am? Are you serious? Do I look like a ma’am? I’m a year older than you, if that.”
“Aw, fuck, I don’t know!” he cried out in despair.
“They said pick up Mia, she’s hot, don’t flirt, take her home.
Then Ash Santo texts me, like has my actual number, and it’s Ash Santo asking if I had picked Red up yet.
” His hands were gesturing wildly as he spoke.
“No one said I was in the middle of some fucked up relationship squabble.”
“You’re not in a relationship squabble; I have no relationship with any of them,” I assured him as my feet and irritation carried me to the stadium. “But I do have a squabble.”
“Where are you going?” he asked me fearfully.
“I’m overdue a visit with the Devils,” I snapped.
“Aw, man, they’re going to kick my ass.”
“No, they won’t, I won’t let them.” I didn’t know how I would stop them, but I was sure Alden and his ass would be fine.
When we got to the stadium, I wasn’t sure how to get from out here into in there. Looking at Alden, he sighed heavily and led me around to a side door.
“Which way?” I demanded.
“They’re probably finished on the field,” he muttered.
Fine, he wasn’t going to be helpful. I could find them myself, and I started walking again.
“You can’t!”
I ignored him as I flung open the door that said Players Only and entered the hallway. It didn’t matter that I was in an area I hadn’t been in before and didn’t know where I was going, because I heard voices and followed the sound.
“Mia!” Alden cried, but I ignored him again as I pushed open the door that said Locker Room.
I didn’t even heed the fact that there were a lot of guys in a semi-undressed state as I walked through the locker area. I had my sights set on Devils, and I would find them.
I saw Jett first, jeans on, pulling his T-shirt over his head. He stopped, his shirt resting around his pecs, and he looked at me in complete confusion. “Mia?”
The person beside him was pulling his jeans on and turned at Jett’s question. Gray’s ass disappeared, and my brain knew I should have looked away when his bare chest faced me.
“Mia. Are you lost?” His dry tone only served to increase my temper.
Cold, insufferable jerk. “You told Alden he couldn’t flirt with me?”
Gray’s eyes flicked over my shoulder, and I was sure poor Alden was probably hiding behind someone. “Who?”
Jerkface.
“You told the cute guy who you sent to collect me that I was, and I quote, off-limits.”
“Did I?” Gray shrugged as he picked up a shirt and put it on. “And?”
“And? What is wrong with you?” I looked at Jett, who was standing watching me as he fixed his shirt, and I just knew he was trying not to laugh. “Any of you?”
“Could it be that you’re in the locker room when most of my teammates are trying to get dressed?” Ash asked as he walked toward me in a towel. “And the others are hiding in the showers.”
Oh, mother of fudge sundaes.
The towel didn’t reach his knees and sat so low on his hips, I was sure gravity was going to demand the towel drop.
I may demand the towel drop. Ash’s V was deep, and his abs were .
. . I was going to die. His hair was wet, and droplets ran down and over his golden, toned body, and I knew I was literally following one lucky little water drop as it ran slowly down his chest, over his abs, and disappeared into his belly button.
I’ve never been so envious of water — or a towel — in my life.
“Eyes up here, Red.”
Horrified that I had been caught, I met his dark blue eyes.
I could not back down. “You’re invading my privacy,” I snapped.
“Says the girl standing in the male locker room,” Ash said casually.
“You told a stranger I couldn’t go out with him.”
Ash raised an eyebrow as he ran his eyes over me. In jeans, a sweater, and a coat that was unbuttoned, I was still very overdressed compared to the guys around me at this moment. “Do you want to go out with him?”
“No.”
“Then I’m not seeing a problem.” His foot lifted to rest on the low-level bench, and he leaned forward to rest his elbow on his leg as he spoke to me. My attention was completely caught by the gap in the towel, hoping it would reveal something.
“The problem is that you three do not control me!”
“Okay.”
“You can’t tell me what to do!” I forced myself to look up at him, away from the promise of a glimpse.
“Noted.”
“Ash!” I cried as my hands flung up in the air in desperation.
“Yes, Red?” The slow, lazy grin was what tipped me over the edge.
“I’m not sleeping with you tonight.”
Ash drew up straight, and now he was openly grinning at me. “We don’t usually sleep,” he taunted. I ignored the chuckles around the room and Jett’s loud laugh. I meant in the same room, not as in sex. And he knew that. He was playing with me.
Dipping my head, I closed my eyes and bit my lip. I needed to salvage this; otherwise, I looked like a fool.
Turning my head, I saw Alden sitting on a bench, his head in his hands. Nope, not him. I met the backup quarterback’s amused stare.
“You single yet?” I demanded.
He looked surprised, but then he nodded. “I am,” he replied with an appreciative look.
“Excellent, pick me up tomorrow at seven. You’re taking me to dinner.
” I looked at Ash, who was no longer smiling.
“My roommate can tell you where to meet me.” Turning on my heel, I started to leave the locker room, rounding a corner, out of sight.
“Alden!” I called sharply. “Hurry up, you’ve still got to walk me home. ”