Page 88 of Colliding with Ten

I nodded, motioning for her to go on.

“The problem was that they knew about each other. And instead of talking to me, they both thought that if the other one got out of the way, I would have no choice but to pick whoever won.”

“That’s not how that works.”

“Duh. But they were seventeen, and they had just won a big game.” She paused. “So after the semifinal win, they got into a huge fight in the parking lot.”

“Over you.”

“No.” She pointed a finger to stop me. “Over the idea of me. Neither of them knew me,” she continued.

I nodded. “How bad was the fight?”

“Bad. One of them ended up with a split lip and a suspension. The other had to sit out the final games of the season. Which they lost.”

This story was turning out the way I thought. “And AJ?”

“AJ was furious about the situation.” She shrugged. “We had the biggest fight we’ve ever had. Before or since. He didn’t blame me for the fight, but he was being picky about my hanging around so close to the team.

“What did he say?”

“He said a lot of things. But the biggest was that he didn’t want his life to get tangled up with mine.”

“So does that mean you’d never date a football player?”

“I don’t know.” She looked at me. “I think it depends on the football player.”

I held her gaze. “That so?” The question shouldn’t have come up, yet I hoped she’d make an exception for one particular football player. So much for the rules I made for myself at the beginning of the season. I’d been disciplined, and one night with her had me wishing I was the one.

She looked away first, smiling. Her fingers played with a loose thread on the throw blanket.

“Your turn.”

“My turn what?”

“I have to ask you a question.”

“Yeah, shoot.”

“When I got injured, someone from the Stallions was checking on my progress . . .”

She searched for the words, but I knew what she was asking before she finished.

“Were you the one checking on me?”

There was no point lying. “Yeah.”

Her breath caught.

Whatever she decided, I wanted her to know. “It was me. I needed to know if you were okay.”

She stared at me wide-eyed.

“I asked my trainer, Mateo, to check in. I kept asking because every time I got an answer, I still wanted more.”

Her face twisted in concentration as she listened.

“I didn’t want anyone making a big deal out of it. Didn’t want the team in my business. So I kept it quiet. But yeah. It was me.”