2. Felix
FELIX
The clang of metal first thing in the morning is usually the perfect way to wake up, but I grimace as someone drops a barbell across the room and the heavy thud echoes in the gym.
“You look rough.” Teddy gives me a once-over with one brow arched.
“Feel rougher.”
“What happened to taking it easy last night?” He sits on the bench and wipes his sweaty forehead with the hem of his T-shirt.
We had a big party at our place and while the goal was to have a good time, I had not planned on getting shitfaced. We’re gearing up for the start of the season and it could be a very big year for us. We have five returning seniors and we’re all hungry to win a national championship.
“Bethany happened,” I say, and Teddy’s mouth forms an “o.”
Theo Radford, aka Teddy. My best friend, teammate, and roommate. He’s about the nicest guy I’ve ever known. Loyal and hardworking, an absolute beast on the field. He only has one flaw—he’s dating my sister. But I try not to think about it too much, keeps me from wanting to hit him.
Teddy lies back, and I help him unrack the bar, then spot him as he benches the heavy weight. The way he’s throwing up the iron today, he obviously didn’t drink as much as I did last night.
Only when he’s done and sits back up, does he ask, “What’s the evil ex-girlfriend up to now?”
A small chuckle escapes my lips. Not because the situation with Bethany is funny—it most definitely is not—but hearing Teddy talk smack about anyone is so out of character for him that it catches me off guard.
“She tried to corner me last night. She misses me, blah blah.”
“It’s been how long? Girl is persistent.”
It’s been six months since we broke up. The worst part is, she doesn’t even want me back. Not really. She wants to say she’s my girlfriend, but she doesn’t actually want me. “It’s all bullshit. She’s hooking up with Armstrong. I walked in on them last night. In my damn bed.”
“Fuuuuck.” Teddy stands, and together, we adjust the weight on the barbell. “Seriously?”
I nod, and then take a seat on the bench. “She’s hell-bent on pissing me off.”
And she knows using my teammates is the easiest way to do that.
I don’t know what I ever saw in her. No, that’s a lie.
I saw what she wanted me to see—a gorgeous girl who told me I was awesome and wanted to hook up with me.
It was only after my dumb ass fell in love with her that I realized she was full of shit.
“What did you do when you walked in on them?” my buddy asks.
“Nothing.” I wish I could say I was shocked, but nothing Bethany does surprises me at this point. “She wants to get a rise out of me. The worst thing I can do is let her know it’s working.”
“So instead, you got trashed and then slept in the freshman’s sex sheets?” He shudders.
“Definitely not. I slept on the couch.” I roll my neck to work out a kink. That lumpy couch is only slightly more comfortable than sleeping on the floor.
Laughter across the room catches our attention and we both glance in that direction in time to see Armstrong, all smiles, standing on top of a chair dancing to the music pumping through the workout room.
“He seems energetic.” Teddy’s jaw works back and forth.
I hum my annoyance. Carson Armstrong is a freshman. He’s a quarterback, just like me. Second-string, so he still has a lot to prove, but he’s a talented kid. Talented, but na?ve. Bethany is going to eat him alive.
I make it through the rest of weightlifting without throwing up and my headache has lessened. I shower and get dressed for class, but before I head out to breakfast, I corner Carson in the locker room.
“Hey.” I step closer to give us some semblance of privacy. Even so, guys are glancing our way. Bethany made sure that everyone saw her hooking up with my backup last night, and they’re all waiting to see how I’m going to react.
“Walters,” he says in his thick southern accent. His green eyes flick to me and then quickly dart away. “Some party last night, huh?”
“Yeah, it sure was.”
He chances another look at me and I catch the hint of nervousness before he can mask it.
“What time’s your first class?” I ask him, leaning casually against the locker next to his.
“Uhh.” His brows furrow. He was expecting me to go off on him, and now he doesn’t know what I want. “Nine. Why?”
“Good. That’ll give you time to wash my bedding.”
He swallows, Adam’s apple bobbing, but his lips twist into a smirk. “I’m sorry, man. She pulled me in there. I was drunk…”
“Bethany’s real convincing when she wants something,” I say. It’s the only hint of understanding I’ll give him. Whether it was her idea or not, he knew it was shitty to fuck on my bed. And he might be new, but he knows the history between Bethany and me. Everyone does.
I push off the locker. “I expect my sheets to be cleaned and bed remade by lunch. And if you fucking pull something like that again, with me or any of the guys on the team, you’ll wish you stayed in Alabama.”
I leave without waiting for a response. A good breakfast, and maybe a twenty-minute power nap between morning and afternoon classes, and I’ll be good as new by practice.
In the cafeteria, I grab a tray and get in line for food.
It’s busy in here today. First week of classes and people are still getting up early enough to have breakfast, instead of waking up five minutes before class and downing a granola bar on the way.
That isn’t an option I have with football, but I’ve noticed a routine over the years.
I get more than a few looks from groups of girls while I load up my plate. Being the face of the team gets me attention from chicks, that’s nothing new, but there’s something in their glances today that has me on edge. I shake it off and head to my usual table.
Teddy and Lucas are already here. These guys are my closest friends.
The three of us have been at Valley together since we were freshmen.
If Teddy is the nice, quiet one, then Lucas is his polar opposite.
Lucas Moore is loud and goofy. His mom is a stand-up comedian and his dad is a car salesman.
And yes, there is a joke in there somewhere, but I’m too tired at the moment to find it.
I take a seat and twist open the top of my Gatorade. After a long gulp, I set the drink down and meet their gazes.
“What’s up?” I ask. They’re looking at me weird too. “Do I have something on my face?”
A giggle behind me makes me turn. A curvy brunette waves her fingers around a can of Diet Coke.
I nod and force a smile, then start to turn, but before I do, she mutters, “I’d like to climb you like a tree, too.”
“That was weird,” I say. I have a sudden fear that I did something stupid last night that I don’t remember. I do a quick replay of the night as I remember it, but nothing jumps to mind.
“You haven’t seen it?” Lucas asks me, then turns to Teddy. “He hasn’t seen it? How have you not seen it?”
“Seen what?” I ask.
Brogan Six, a sophomore wide receiver, drops onto the seat next to me. A deep chuckle rumbles in his chest as he gives me a side glance. “Walters, my man, you are a legend.”
His buddy, Archer Holland, sits across from him and Brogan makes sure to give him enough of his face, so he can read the words.
Archer is a tight end, also a sophomore.
He’s deaf, lost his hearing when he was a kid.
He wears hearing aids and he can read lips really, scarily well.
Thanks to him, the entire football team knows how to sign a lot of really inappropriate things.
He and Brogan are always together. The latter is a cocky, troublemaking shit, but he’s good at making sure Archer doesn’t feel left out of any conversation when the rest of us forget to be as considerate as he is.
“Tell me something I don’t know,” I mumble, then I pause and say it more carefully for Archer. While I’m repeating it, I realize I can’t remember the last time Brogan gave me a compliment. “Wait. I know I’m a god among men, but why are you suddenly a prophet?”
One of his brows quirks up.
“He hasn’t seen it,” Lucas tells him.
“What the fuck is going on?” My gaze bounces around the table. Seriously, we were all just together fifteen minutes ago. What could I have possibly missed in that time that is this important?
It’s silent for far too long.
“You are all over social media this morning,” Teddy says with a smile that’s more like a grimace.
“I left my phone at the house.” Coach has a strict no-phone rule in all practices, workouts, and meetings. “What is it?” I ask, scanning the room again and noting that a lot of people are looking my way now. What the hell did I do?
Lucas unlocks his phone and then taps on the screen a couple of times before turning it toward me. I don’t know what I expected, but it wasn’t to see Dahlia on the screen.
I take the phone from him, watching as the video begins. She’s standing with her friend Jane in our house, wearing the white tank, cutoff jean shorts, and sexy heels she had on last night. She’s holding her thick blonde hair in one hand and fanning her face. Fuck she’s pretty.
“Felix is in a completely different league. He makes genuinely hot girls look meh by comparison. Those arms and that hair.” She laughs—a sound I’ve never heard out of her, but instantly want to hear again.
“He just looks at me and I start sweating and my mind goes blank. He’s stupid hot.
As in he makes me totally stupid. I lose brain cells every time he speaks to me.
I would probably die of sensory overload if he kissed me.
Or if I saw him shirtless. Forget about it.
I’d like to lick every inch of his body and climb him like a freaking tree. ”
At first, I’m flattered. I met Dahlia last year through a buddy, Gavin. Dahlia is his girlfriend’s roommate. She seems cool, but every time I try to talk to her, she shuts down, and barely says two words to me. She’s shy, I know that. My sister, Holly, is a lot like that.
But after she sprinted away from me last night, I was finally prepared to accept that her disinterest in me isn’t because she’s shy.
So it’s a welcome surprise to hear that I was wrong and she is into me.
But the longer I watch and the more she goes on and on, I realize that she has no idea she’s being recorded.
“Who posted this?” I ask. My stomach twists with anger. Not for me. I don’t give a shit what people post about me. For Dahlia.
“No clue,” Lucas says. “It’s been reshared so many times it’s hard to tell where it started.”
“Fucking Bethany.” I slam my fist on the table.
“You think?” Teddy asks. “Between fighting with you and screwing Armstrong on your bed, when would she have had the time?”
“And why?” Lucas adds. “It isn’t like you’re hooking up with this chick and she’s jealous or some shit.”
They’re good questions that I don’t have answers to, but it still reeks of something my manipulative ex would do.
“I think it’s awesome.” Archer smirks. “She’s hot. If you’re not gonna let her climb you, then mind if I text her?”
I think my blood actually starts to boil under my skin. I like Archer and that’s the only reason I don’t tell him to fuck right the hell off. Or sign it, because it’s one of the few signs he taught us that I’ve perfected.
“Ooooh shit.” Teddy chuckles. “You’re poking the bear, Holland.”
“Wait.” Brogan swipes Lucas’s phone from me. “Now I recognize this girl. She’s the one you were talking to last night.”
Saying that we were talking might be a stretch. More like I was trying to ditch Bethany, so I could finally speak to Dahlia alone without her friends, and she was trying to flee as fast as she could.
“The one you almost trampled, you mean?”
“I didn’t see her. Besides, you were all too happy to swoop in and save the day.” He takes a bite of food. “I have never seen a chick run from you so fast. Which makes this video extra curious. Did you screw it up before or after she said she wanted to lick every inch of your torso?”
I grunt.
Brogan keeps on grinning at me.