Saturday
The second the blinds hit the windowsill, I flee.
If I’m being honest, it was always going to lead here.
I just didn’t want Nox to witness my retreat.
Maybe he won’t come running. Maybe he wasn’t waiting for me.
Maybe he was just waking up to train and I happened to walk in at the same time.
But if there’s any chance he’s on his way over, I’ve only got about a minute to evade him.
I run to Willa’s room and throw open the door.
“Surpri—”
The shout dies on my lips the second I take in the scene on the bed.
I assumed Nova would be the one in here with her, but hell was I wrong.
Grant’s ginormous frame is sort of hard to mistake.
Their position is innocent enough. He’s sitting up against the headboard.
Willa’s curled against his side. They’re both clothed.
Her cochlear implant is still secured to the side of her head.
It’s almost as if they fell asleep mid-conversation—almost, but not quite.
Because she’s got his T-shirt clutched in her fist like a lifeline.
And one of his hands is tangled in her curls.
The clues are subtle, yet I can’t help but feel I’ve interrupted something intimate, something I was never meant to see.
Do I stay?
Do I leave?
Every instinct urges me to back out slowly, pretend I was never here, but then I remember the possibility of Nox running down the hallway behind me and I’m stuck.
Grant makes the decision for me. His military-trained ears are too sensitive. He blinks twice, alert in an instant despite the early hour.
A frown knots his forehead, but then he grins. “Clara?”
Willa grumbles incoherently into his chest and rolls herself closer. Morning person, she is not. Grant gently tries to rouse her. “Look who’s here.”
“Ryan Gosling?” she murmurs.
He snorts and shakes his head. “No.”
“Then I’m not waking up.”
“It’s better than Ryan Gosling.”
“Better than Ryan Gosling?” Willa asks dubiously, rolling over on her back and squinting in my general direction. The second her brain catches up, her eyes go wide and she sits up. “Clara! You’re here!”
“Told you,” Grant teases, but Willa has already launched off the bed and flung herself into my arms.
“You’re here!” she cheers. “You’re really here!”
We jump up and down, spinning in a circle as we hug with the enthusiasm of two best friends who haven’t seen each other in the flesh in over a year.
“Look at your face.” She grabs my cheeks as we part. “You’re so tan!”
“Look at you,” I tease. “You’re so hungover.”
She snorts and rolls her eyes. “Guilty.”
“But still beautiful,” I coo with a smile. Then I glance between the two of them. “I have to ask, though, what the hell did I miss?”
“Oh, this?” She turns to look at Grant. A beat of silence passes as she pulls her lower lip between her teeth. Suddenly there’s not a doubt in my mind that something happened, I just have no idea what.
Grant comes in with the save. “Logan and Nova took my room, so I needed a place to crash.”
The natural follow-up is probably, Why didn’t you take my empty room? Instead, one word shoots out of my lips like a rocket. “WHAT?!”
“Logan and Nova,” Willa says by way of explanation, as if it’s commonplace news.
Again, I repeat, WHAT?!
My utter shock finally registers.
“You know, the stupid scheme to make her ex jealous…” Willa stares at me expectantly.
The pieces slowly begin to click. I vaguely remember Nova saying something about a plan to pretend to hook up with Logan to get back at her ex, but I didn’t think she was serious. It’s so flawed on so many levels. “She actually went through with that?”
“Mm-hmm.”
Willa and Grant share a knowing glance.
Seriously, how much did I miss last night?
“Honest question,” I say, eying them. “If I walked in on them right now, would Logan be asleep on the floor or would they still be going at it like rabbits?”
Willa and Grant share another look and burst into laughter. He runs a hand over his face, as if to wipe away the uncharacteristic outburst, but I like it. The wide smile looks good on him.
“Honest answer,” Willa says through her mirth. “I have no fucking idea.”
I shake my head ruefully and sigh. “Do we think there’s any place to get coffee at this hour?”
“I’ll figure it out.” Grant rolls to his feet. “You guys take some time to catch up. I’ll be back soon.”
He’s gone before we can protest. Willa tosses a wistful stare at his back as he disappears through the door. “I think he might be the nicest boy in the entire world.”
“And one of the hottest,” I prod.
She slides her gaze to me with a sly expression. “There is one thing I’ve always wanted to know.”
I arch a brow in question.
“What it would feel like to run my fingers through his hair.” She closes her eyes with a sigh. “Do you think he likes it soft and gentle? Or do you think he’d totally lose it if I ripped the hair tie out of his man bun and just grabbed a fistful right then and there?”
I tiptoe closer. “Only one way to find out.”
Her eyes pop open. A guilty look flashes across her face before she grins and pokes me in the ribs.
I stumble back with a giggle and trip over my feet, crashing into her bed.
She flings herself into the open spot beside me, and we naturally curl up just the way we used to for a morning debrief.
It used to be sober-me filling in all the blanks for Nova and Willa, but now I’m the one listening intently as she explains all the gossip and drama I missed from the night before—who hooked up with who, who broke up, who got laid off, who landed that amazing job.
Grant comes back half an hour later with a tray of coffees.
I pester him about his first year playing football professionally.
He asks me about my research. Willa keeps us thoroughly entertained when she describes, in horrifying detail, the number of times she’s had to express a dog’s anal glands in vet school, among other truly glamorous endeavors.
It’s past nine thirty when Nova and Logan finally push their weary way through the door.
“I heard you have—” Nova freezes when she sees me. Life floods her bleary eyes and she straightens her shoulders. “Clara!”
I don’t have time to extricate myself from the blanket before she’s on us, jumping into the heap and throwing her arms around my neck.
“I do have Clara.” Willa laughs.
“Where did you come from?” Nova murmurs into my neck, giving me one more squeeze before wiggling her butt into the space between me and Willa, making room for herself. “How long have you been here? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“We, uh, weren’t sure if we’d be interrupting something,” I mutter, sliding my gaze to where Logan still fills the door.
He’s clutching the frame over his head, lifting his shirt just enough to reveal the ab muscles disappearing into his slate-gray waistband.
When I glance back to Nova, her gaze is glued to the spot, cheeks a little flushed.
“Please.” She rolls her eyes, trying to play it off. But I don’t miss the way she pauses to swallow, as if her throat’s gone dry. “He slept on the floor.”
“Yeah,” Logan reinforces, stepping fully into the room with his trademark grin. “What kind of fake boyfriend do you take me for?”
“Shh!” Nova immediately reprimands. “Someone might hear you.”
“Then I guess we’ll just have to be more convincing.”
He winks at her. She takes off her flip-flop and chucks it at his head.
“You guys hungry?” Grant asks, ignoring Logan as he dives to avoid the projectile. “The cafeteria opened about an hour ago. And I’m starving.”
“Yeah,” Logan says with a laugh, scrubbing his brown hair out of his eyes as he scrambles back to his feet. “Let me just call—”
He freezes and slides his gaze to me.
Three more sets of eyes follow.
The name he’s not saying suddenly hangs there, heavy in the silence. I could pretend I don’t understand why they’re all suddenly staring at me, bug-eyed. But I won’t be able to avoid him forever. And at least this way, our first meeting will be on my terms.
“Call Nox?” I supply.
Logan offers a sheepish grin. “Maybe?”
“Go ahead.” They all swap not-so-subtle glances, so I try again with more conviction. “It’ll be good to see him.”
Maybe if I say it enough times, it’ll actually be true. Judging by their faces, I’ve convinced no one…least of all myself.
“Are you sure?” Nova asks, frowning. “Because we could go old school. Girls rule. Boys drool. Fuck ’em.”
“You have my attention,” Logan murmurs.
Nova glares at him.
I cut them both off before things spiral out of hand. “No. I’m serious. Invite him. It’ll be good to catch up, you know, as friends.”
“My dear, sweet, naive Clara.” Logan snorts, unable to hold it back. “If there’s one thing you and Nox are not, never were, and never will be, it’s friends.”
I wrinkle my nose at him. “Just promise me one thing?”
He adopts an uncharacteristically serious expression. I glance around at all my friends, meeting their gazes one by one. Then I grin. “Don’t lock us in a dance studio to work out our differences this time. Okay, assholes?”
“Deal,” Willa agrees with a laugh.
“Deal,” Nova confirms, then hooks her arms through both of our elbows, pulling us to our feet. Over her shoulder, she calls back, “We’ll meet you there!”
We’re in the pancake line when the boys arrive.
I know it in an instant. An electric charge whips across the air and strikes like lightning.
The bolt whizzes up my spine. It’s all I can do not to turn my head.
But I don’t have to. Everyone else does instead.
It’s not every day three best friends who also happen to be three extremely gorgeous professional athletes with the publicity and the paychecks to prove it walk into the cafeteria.
The whispers start immediately. The stares.
Without looking at them once, I know exactly where they are at all times.