Page 54 of Lose You Twice

Wren’s mouth twitches, but she doesn’t look away from me.

I clear my throat. “You don’t exactly sound excited about the job.”

Her expression flattens.

I wince.

Way to put your foot in your mouth, dumbass.

“That’s what you want to start with?” she asks.

“What?”

“You ignored my text for two days, and now you want to talk about my lack of enthusiasm?”

The room goes quieter.

Not silent.

Lockers open and close, water continues to run in the showers down the hall, but the guys closest to us definitely hear her.

Weston whispers, “Oh, this is excellent.”

“Cooper,” Grayson warns.

I don’t look back, keeping my eyes on Wren.

“I didn’t ignore it,” I say.

Wren stares at me.

I try again. “I was busy.”

“Right. Class. Treatment. Film. Captain things.” She nods once, like she’s considering it. “Very demanding.”

I take a step toward her, really not wanting to hash this out here in front of everyone. “Wren.”

“No, it’s fine.” She says it lightly, which means it isn’t. “I figured you were swamped. Or trapped under something heavy with no access to your thumbs.”

A couple guys cough behind me, trying to smother their laughs.

I deserve that.

I deserve worse than that.

“I was going to answer after practice,” I say.

Her eyes narrow a little. “Convenient.”

My jaw tightens. “It’s true.”

Wren sees it and looks away first.

“Anyway,” she says, grabbing a stack of towels from the shelf beside her. “Not everyone has NIL money and scholarships. Some of us have to do things we don’t exactly dream about and be around people we don’t exactly want to see.”

Ouch.

She puts the towels in the cart, like she didn’t just say something that made the room feel too small.