Page 1 of Enemy Games

Chapter 1

Presley

Any second now, I was going to wake up from this dream. From the private car that picked me up from the airport to the enormous house recently renovated just for us, this was all too good to be true.

“I can’t wait to see the arena,” Chris, my new roommate, muttered while taking in the modern, white kitchen.

She swung open the fridge doors, and a wide grin spread across her lips. “Oh yeah. This is going to be a great couple of years.”

I slipped in next to her to take in the fully stocked shelves. We had endless choices of fruits, veggies, and meats, as well as premade meals we could heat up. Those would be a lifesaver after tough practices when we’d be too tired to cook anything.

If this was what we had, I could only imagine the men’s house. It wasn’t a secret their teams always got the best hookups. For some unknown reason, the population preferred to watch guys play sports, which meant they brought in the money and were rewarded.

It was certainly that way at my old school, Green Lake University. Our team was barely an afterthought. We got the leftovers. The hand-me-downs, really, of the men’s team.

So, if this was what we were getting, I didn’t want to see the luxury they were living in. They probably had a personal chef coming in every day to cook them healthy and balanced meals.

“Check this out!” Chris waved at me from the hall, and I followed her to the last room.

“A theater?” I gasped. There was no way. We had to be in the wrong place. Was this a prank? Did the guys set us up? Was this really their house?

“It’s not just a theater. It’s our team room. We can watch tapes here and have meetings.” Karly, our team captain, appeared behind us. She wore team warm-ups, with her straight brown hair brushing over her shoulders. She reminded me of my high-school captain; no makeup, no fuss, and always smiling. “Come on, I’ll show you guys your room.”

We followed her out to the staircase that led upstairs and grabbed our suitcases from near the front door before heading up.

“Almost everyone is here. We’re only waiting on two more girls. I checked on the freshmen earlier today. They’re settled into the dorms. Luckily, the six of them were all put on the same floor, so they can watch out for each other.”

“That is nice,” I replied, only half paying attention. This house was too beautiful to be ours. The craftsman style made it feel homey despite the large size. I counted doors as we walked down the hall and got to eight before Karly stopped.

“This is yours, guys. Let me know if you need anything before we head over to practice.” She glanced down at her watch. “We’ll walk over in about an hour.”

Chris opened the door and pulled her bags in behind her, and I trailed behind.

“Wow.” I took in the gray hardwood floors, white bedding, and light gray walls. It was calming and classic and way too nice for college students.

“I can’t help but wonder what the catch is,” Chris said, mostly to herself, but I’d been thinking the same thing.

“I know. I keep waiting for someone to come knocking and tell us there was a mix-up and a broken-down house a few miles from campus is really our housing.”

“Right?” She chuckled. “There’s no way a women’s team has these accommodations.”

“Not women’s hockey.” Maybe gymnastics or cheerleading, but not our often-forgotten sport.

I pulled my first suitcase onto my full-sized bed and began filling the closet on my side of the room with my belongings.

Since finding out a few weeks ago that we were going to be roommates, Chris and I had texted and called each other a few times to make sure we didn’t double up on anything we could share, but more was being provided for us than we’d expected.

“This room is at least twice as big as the one I had in Connecticut,” she said, while adding a rainbow blanket to the foot of her bed.

“Oh, easily. And we have more than one outlet!” I cheered. “My old roommate and I had to come up with a schedule so we could charge everything we needed.”

Chris burst out laughing. “Okay, you win.”

“Thanks, but it’s not exactly a contest I’m happy to win.”

“I don’t understand how you lived like that.”

I sent her a picture of my previous room during the holiday break when she didn’t believe me. She was convinced it was a prison cell.