Page 116 of Colliding with Ten

He set down a wing bone, wiped his fingers on a napkin, and eyed me. The chewing slowed. “I gotta be honest with you, I was shocked when you hit me up for this.”

“For picking an outfit?”

“For anything. You’ve been in a mood all week. The guys have seen it too.”

I kept my eyes on the rack. “I’ve been focused.”

“Nah, you’re different when you’re focused. This was—” He searched for the word. “Mean. You’ve been mean.”

“I haven’t been mean.”

Maybe he was right. In the week since I’d last seen her, anger and confusion had turned me into someone my teammates didn’t recognize. Admitting I was struggling was hard.

“You made the rookie almost cry.”

“I just gave him a correction.”

“You told him his effort in the game was an embarrassment.”

“It was.”

“He’s twenty-one, Lennox. Dropping the ball happens sometimes.”

“Were you that bad when you were twenty-one?”

Jace shook his head. “We won’t bring that up.”

I pulled the charcoal blazer off the rack.

Jace leaned forward. “The guys have been taking bets, by the way. On what’s wrong.”

I looked at him. “Bets?”

“Theo thinks you lost money. Simmons thinks you’re fighting with your agent again. Tre thinks—” He stopped himself and shook his head. “You don’t want to know what Tre thinks.”

“They’re taking bets on my personal life?”

“They’re concerned. We communicate through money.”

I shook my head and turned back to the rack. My annoyance flared, but I was too exhausted to care. I’d spent seven days thinking about a woman whose behavior made every defensive scheme I’d studied feel simple by comparison.

I sighed, facing him. “It’s Ayla.”

I hadn’t planned on telling Jace, but he was one of my best friends and would understand.

Jace’s mouth twitched, and he pressed his lips together, trying not to smile.

I wanted to throttle him. “Don’t.”

“I didn’t say anything.”

“Your face is saying plenty.”

He held up a hand. “I’m neutral. Switzerland. Go ahead.”

“Why are you smiling?”

He gave up the pretense as the grin spread wider across his face. “Because I knew it. I knew it was the girl.”