“No. I was in the shower, and she decided to use my treadmill. When I came downstairs, I startled her. She wiped out and her head bounced off the treadmill. If she hadn’t gotten hurt, it actually would have been pretty funny.”
“Why was she in your shirt?”
Shit. If Landon noticed it, then chances are someone at the hospital might too.
“I hope no one else picks up on that.”
Landon picks up his phone and types quickly. “I texted Carlos and told him to throw a sweatshirt on her. It’ll be fine.”
I sag back into my chair. “She was sore, so she hopped in the ice bath. She didn’t have anything else to wear. Her clothes are in my dryer.” I squeeze my eyes shut as if trying to erase the images of her hard nipples, her scooping her hair up, her in my robe. “It’s really innocent, but no one will believe that.”
Landon laughs. “I barely believe it, and I know you.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Anyone who knows you knows you’re honest to a fault. People think you’re rude, but you’re simply up-front with them. I mean, it comes out rude, but you’re not a liar. So if you tell me that nothing’s going on between you two, I believe you.”
I give my teammate a tight smile.
He continues, “Plus, she’s not the type to throw away her career by boning you. Andi Nichols definitely plays by the rules.”
“Maybe a little too much by the rules,” I mutter.
Landon laughs. “Bitter much? You deserved that card. Frankly, that kick was a red card offense in and of itself, and we both know it.”
I mean, Landon’s notwrongper se, but it’s not like I’m going to come out and admit that he’s right either.
“Whatever. Andi had an idea that if we work on a charitable cause or something, we can explain our time together that way.”
Landon nods. “Sounds good. What charity?”
I scrub my hand down my face. “We never quite got around to figuring that out. We spend most of our time arguing and pissing each other off. We could barely even find any common ground.”
“And what’s that?”
I sigh. I don’t like to talk about my family with guys on the team. Every so often, someone will use it against me, like Trevyon Wallis-Smalls did. We might be teammates now, but the league is transient, and we may not always be.
Opening up just puts ammunition in someone else’s gun.
“We both have complicated family lives.”
“Who doesn’t?” Landon laughs. “I can’t even come out to mine.”
“That’s fucked up, man. You need to tell them. You’re happy with Carlos, and they want you to be happy. That’s all that matters. But it’s different for Andi and me.”
Andi and me. Us.
Nope, I will not think of it like that. We’re here for one purpose and one purpose only.
“We both have siblings with serious shit.”
“That’s not a lot to go on.”
“Yeah, but it’s what we have. Her stuff is a lot worse. Her brother has a disease.” As soon the words are out of my mouth, I wish I could pull them back in. Weird, I never feel like that. Not that it’s a secret or anything, just that it wasn’t my information to share.
It does, however, give me an idea.
I type some keywords into the search bar on my computer, which is still sitting on my kitchen table. A few research papers come up, but not much else. Then I see it. I click on the link and read through it. It’s pretty much perfect.
