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“Well, boys. Are we buddies now?”
I pat Gage on the back with a big-ass smile on my face. “Best buddies,” I tell him. “Can’t wait to do this again, Gage.” I look at Coach before walking off. “See ya at practice tomorrow.”
“Sure thing,” Gage says, spreading the icing on my lie.
“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Coach curls his fingers, calling me back over. “We aren’t finished yet.”
My shoulders sag as I walk back over to him.
“Shake on it,” Coach orders.
I extend my hand to him and Gage clasps it in a firm shake before releasing it. I let out a heavy sigh, pissed at myself for not realizing what this asshole was doing sooner.
He doesn’t give a shit about Elodie. He just wants to crawl between her legs to send me into a rage that’ll get me kicked off the team permanently. All so he can have his time on the field.
“Listen up, boys,” Coach stammers. “Any more of this BS and it’ll be a whole lot worse.” He points his finger between the two of us. “Remember, we’re a team.”
I nod in response, ready to get the hell outta here.
“You can go now,” Coach growls, and I don’t hesitate to jog back to the locker room.
You wanna fucking go, Gage. Let’s fucking go.
As soon as I get inside, I slam the door to one of the open lockers.
“What was that all about?” Luke asks as he dries his damp hair with a towel.
I bite my lip, nostrils flared as I raise a finger. “I’m gonna fucking kill him, man. Once this season is over, he’s dead.”
“Don’t tell me this is about Elodie.” He tosses his towel on the bench to lean against a locker. “She ain’t worth it, Rome.”
I glower at him. “Who said this has anything to do with Elodie?”
“Come on.” He claps a hand to my back, but I shrug it off. “I’ve seen the way you look at her. But even more so, I’ve seen the way you get when another guy looks at her. She’s just a piece of ass, man.”
Luke smirks like he normally does when we talk about sharing a girl or passing her around. But that’s the thing. Luke can already see Elodie means more than that to me, so he really should have seen this coming.
I roll my neck, cracking it before balling my fist and bringing it straight to his face.
Luke curls over, cupping his nose as blood drips onto the white linoleum. “What the fuck, Cromwell!”
I take a deep breath, feeling the weight of what I just did heavy on my shoulders. But I don’t think he gets it, and if I have to spell it out for my best friend, then maybe we aren’t as close as I thought.
Leaning down in his face, I make myself crystal clear. “Talk about my stepsister that way again and it will be more than just your nose next time. Got it?”
His brow furrows, so I get closer, the threat more than obvious.
“Okay, okay, man,” he grumbles, stepping back.
“Do me a favor and tell Coach you slipped. Don’t need him making us do buddy laps at practice tomorrow.” Luke glares at me, but I just smile. “Catch ya later, bro.”
With that, I book it out of the locker room and straight to my car.
I’ve gotta go. I need to get the hell out of here.
CHAPTER 25
ROME
