Fourth and Goal (Game Time #5)

Chapter One Saylor

Chapter One

Saylor

Fearing the boredom of too much free time might cause me to do something jail-worthy, I returned to MSC about a week before classes started after winter break.

I planned to ski with Piper and maybe do some pre-semester partying with some of the guys from the frat.

Possibly, they’d give me an idea of what they wanted for decorations.

The fraternity I was a little sister to, Sigma Chi Rho, would be hosting the big Greek Mardi Gras party this year, and I was on the decorations committee.

Smiling at the text Piper had sent, I fired off a quick response and headed into my bedroom to change.

Though I’d only been back on campus for an hour, I was more than ready to go out.

With the temps flirting with deep winter, I pulled on a thick pair of black wool tights.

Then I shimmied into my favorite burgundy sweater dress and tossed a black-and-burgundy plaid cashmere scarf around my neck.

Knee-high black snow boots completed my look.

Even with their three-inch stacked heels, they had the best traction of anything in my closet except for my hiking boots.

My off-white puffy-coat duster, paired with my matching knit cap and fur-lined suede gloves, finished my outfit. Snagging my clutch and the keys to my SUV from the end of the kitchen counter, I stepped out into the frigid January evening to meet up with my friend at Stromboli’s.

The pizzeria was the preferred hangout of the Wildcats football team.

Even though we had another week until classes resumed, it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out Piper expected to run into some of the players—or, rather, one specific player: Wyatt “Bax” Baxter.

After their one-night stand at the beginning of last semester, she’d been pretending the two of them weren’t headed to somewhere serious for months. It was pretty comical to watch.

Having arrived ahead of me, she stood up from a booth near the back, close to the team’s favored one, to give me a hug when I walked in.

“Hey, girlfriend! How was your internship?” I asked as we sat down. After reading her texts about the disaster that was Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with her family, I knew better than to ask about that.

“Chess’s dad is the absolute best. After working with him for a week, I almost want to open my own hardware store.” She grinned.

I snorted a laugh. “Yeah, I can totally picture you convincing some burly contractor to buy power tools.”

She glared at me. “Why? Because I’m a girl?”

“No. Because he’s not going to hear your spiel over your purple hair.”

The server interrupted before she could twist off on my astute observation. “What can I get you?”

“I’ll have a lemon drop martini,” Piper said as she flipped her gorgeous mane of brunette hair with its purple highlights over her shoulder. She shot me a narrow-eyed glare, and I grinned before giving the server my undivided attention.

“I’ll have whatever stout you have on tap. Can we get a basket of mozzarella sticks with a side of ranch, please?”

She nodded. “Coming right up.”

Returning my attention to my friend, I asked, “The internship went well?”

A wistful expression ghosted over Piper’s face as she stared after the server walking past the empty back booth.

“Chess and her dad are so close, so protective of each other, yet completely chill. They flip each other shit all the time, but it’s always with love, you know?

” Glancing back at me, her shoulders slumped.

“Of course you know. You have that kind of loving relationship with your parents too.”

Reaching across the table, I covered her hand with mine. “I’m sorry your parents are such dicks.”

Sighing, she said, “Me too.” Shaking off the melancholy her voice betrayed, she plastered on a smile and changed the subject. “On New Year’s Eve I coaxed Chess into karaoke and dancing on a tabletop. I’m telling you, Saylor, we lit up her tiny town’s one and only hangout bar.”

A giggle escaped me. “I wish I’d have been there.”

She whipped out her phone and pulled up a video. Judging by Chessly’s slightly uncoordinated dance moves, Piper had videoed her near the end of the evening. Either that, or she wasn’t used to dancing on the top of a wobbly table. Whichever, it was highly entertaining.

“Yep. I definitely wish I’d been there.” I peered closer at her screen. “Who’s the jerk trying to look up her skirt?”

Piper’s head rolled with her eyes. “Some guy from Chess’s high school class.

He kept trying to hit on us all night even after both of us shot him down.

Total ass. From what Wyatt texted me, Finn was ready to hop in his truck and drive all the way to Harlo in a raging snowstorm to shut the guy down.

” The tiniest of smiles tipped up the corner of her mouth when she mentioned Bax’s name.

“You so are hooking up with Wyatt Baxter,” I accused.

The server arrived with our drinks, and Piper took a long sip of her martini before she answered. “Not like dating or anything.”

“Harrumph!”

“But I did give him my number.”

My eyebrows shot to my forehead. “You what? You finally gave in and gave him your number?” Shaking my head at myself, I said, “Of course you did. How else would the two of you be texting? When did this happen?”

“I had a weak moment on Christmas Eve after all the ugly with Pippa and Charlie.” Her sister truly was the worst. The sadness in Piper’s voice made me want to slide in beside her and give her the biggest hug. Apparently, she sensed that, because she glared and shook her head.

“Honestly, I probably would have given in to his begging even without all the Christmas drama with my family. There’s just something about him, you know?”

Heaving a sigh, I said, “No, I don’t know. But what’s this about Chess and Finn? I thought she blew him off.”

Piper’s eyes twinkled wickedly. “She pretends she doesn’t, but trust me, she’s got a thing for him.” She sobered. “If not for the jersey chasers, they’d probably have hooked up already.”

“Finn does seem to attract more than his share of underclass groupies.” I sipped from my beer and noticed I’d need another right at the same time as the server arrived with our appetizer.

We ordered a second round of drinks and tucked in to the hot and gooey cheese sticks the server set on the table between us.

Though she tried to be surreptitious about it, I caught Piper checking the back door more than once.

Since several of the players on the team had a Name, Image, and Likeness contract with the restaurant, it was common for them to hang out at Stromboli’s.

Even after their semifinal loss in the playoffs, no doubt some of the players were back on campus for winter conditioning.

Though I’d hooked up with nose tackle Jeremiah Fitzgerald once last fall, I’d never actually dated any football players.

But I loved football and the team, so like every other fan, I paid attention to their schedule. It seemed my friend did too.

“You expecting someone?” I asked as I dragged a yummy morsel of fried cheese through the pond of ranch dressing in the cup the server had left us.

A pretty shade of pink tinged my friend’s cheeks as she guiltily glanced away from the back door after about the tenth time of checking it. Her hasty, breathy, “No!” gave her away, and I grinned around a mouthful of food.

With the exception of game nights, when they wanted to bask in the love of the fans, the guys on the team didn’t usually come in through the front door.

Keeping a low profile meant they might be able to enjoy a meal in relative peace.

On casual Friday and Saturday nights in the offseason, they often used the back door.

Being fans and regulars at Stromboli’s, both of us were aware of the players’ habits.

“If you text him, I bet he’ll show up five seconds after you hit ‘send.’” I smirked. “In case you haven’t noticed, the guy has it bad for you.”

“From what I saw at that last party we went to on Jock Street, Jeremiah Fitzgerald has it bad for you.” She popped a bit of mozzarella stick in her mouth and smiled around it.

I could have called her on her deflection tactics, but I’d made my point.

“Jeremiah is such a hottie. That James Earl Jones thing he has going with his voice is panty-melting all by itself. But when we were alone and I invited him to kiss me—pfft!” I flicked my fingers in an imaginary fizzle.

“Nothing happened. For either of us.” Over the rim of my glass, I shot my friend a long-suffering stare.

“Honestly, Piper, it should have been off-the-charts hot, what with his dark-skinned handsomeness, football-god prowess on the field, and his quick mind. But physically, we had zero chemistry.” I pulled a face.

“So weird. And highly unfortunate, what with all my friends dating Wildcats these days.”

I shot her a narrow-eyed stare, and her eyes slid away from mine for a second before she said, “I can’t speak for Jamaica, though we all know how hard she fought her attraction to Callahan.

Chessly seems to be only flirting with the idea of Finn.

But Wyatt is everything Charlie wasn’t.” She slugged back half her second drink.

“He’s definitely better in the sack. Might be a football thing.

” She winked. “Your experience with Jeremiah Fitzgerald is probably an outlier.”

“Not really a problem since I’m not looking for a partner.

A good time? Absolutely. Someone to cuddle up with on cold nights and share breakfast the next morning and kiss goodbye outside of class?

Not so much.” I finished off another cheese stick and wiped my hands on my napkin.

“Watching my friends go all starry-eyed over football players is entertaining enough. I don’t have to join you. ”

Piper eyed me with a speculative gleam. “You think we’re all in danger of giving up our goals for some guy, don’t you?”

I wrinkled my nose. “I don’t know. Are you in that kind of danger?”

She snorted. “I gave Wyatt my number. NBD. Chess hasn’t even been on a date with Finn.

Jamaica is smart enough—especially after what went down with that skank Tory Miller last semester—not to blow any scholarship opportunities she earns so she can go to law school. You don’t have to worry about us.”

“I’m not worried about you. I’m worried about who I’m going to hang out with if you all start spending all your time with Wildcats players.”