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“You okay?” Parker asked quietly as I walked past him.
I paused. “Do you check on Mac like this when he gets tackled?”
Parker’s jaw twitched, but he shook his head. “No. You’re right.”
“You have to trust your team. We know what we’re doing.”
He nodded slowly and jogged back to the group without answering. I hoped this little demonstration would be enough to convince him, but Mac’s enigmatic shrug didn’t inspire a lot of confidence.
* * *
“I can’t believeyou convinced me to come out here.” I tried to stifle my yawn, but I’d only left practice a couple of hours before. My body desperately wanted to be horizontal and unconscious.
Eva shimmied in place as if I’d given her a compliment. “It’s not even a big party, and I promise we won’t stay long.”
After the crap with Parker today, I wasn’t in the mood for coddling, so I waved her off. “I don’t need you to hold my hand. Go have fun. If I want to leave, I’ll call a rideshare.”
She eyed my jeans and tank top, a vast departure from her cute little sundress and sandals, then sighed. “Okay, but text me when you leave. And don’t take a drink from anyone. And stay away from Duke if he’s drunk, he doesn’t know his own strength.”
I smirked at her. “Yes, I’m aware of Duke’s strength.”
Eva sent me a playful glare, but her attention had already been claimed by a guy at the beer pong table. “Text me if you need me. I don’t mind hand-holding.”
She sounded distracted, but I’d learned with Eva, her friends came first. “Go.” I nudged her toward the guy and made my way toward the kitchen.
The house stank of beer and weed, and my head throbbed with the deep bass beat of the music. I wanted a water and somewhere to be relatively alone, preferably in the fresh air. Plastic cups littered every surface, along with chips and pizza crusts, but no one else was in the galley kitchen.
Liquor bottles sat in a sticky puddle on the counter next to half empty juice containers. None of the drink options looked appetizing, and I sure as hell wasn’t going to take my chances with the keg. House parties weren’t known for their discriminating beer tastes.
I grabbed a cup that looked clean and filled it at the sink. Most of my headache was from stress. The constant pressure to never show any weakness unless I wanted it broadcast across the university’s social media network. A tiny bit was probably because I’d skipped dinner in favor of soaking in the tub until we ran out of hot water.
Fine. That was probably the larger portion, but stress played a part too. Parker’s angry face flashed across my mind, and I had to agree with my subconscious. I blamed Parker too.
In lieu of nasty table scraps, I chugged my water and refilled the cup. By the time I’d finished a second glass, the throbbing had abated. Usually, I took better care of myself. TU had a fancy nutritionist on staff that I planned to visit, but I hadn’t made time.
My stomach grumbled, and I searched the pantry for anything even slightly edible. More chips, Pop-Tarts, a package of toaster waffles that definitely should have been in the freezer—nothing I wanted to eat. As I stood in the gross kitchen and eyed the chips, I realized I’d made a poor choice.
I should have convinced Eva to grab dinner with me. She’d have caved if I promised a rom-com movie marathon. A cheer went up from the other room, and I decided to humor Eva by being social for a few minutes so I could leave to get food with a clear conscience.
The living room was packed with bodies, but I was taller than most of them. At one end, lights had been doused and furniture shoved against the wall to create a dance floor. Not that anyone was dancing. People grinded on each other in the shadows, and at least one girl in there was topless.
Fantastic.
At the other end of the room, Eva lined up a shot at the beer pong table, her guy of choice long gone. Instead, Mac stood next to her, and Noah hulked in the background behind them.
Mac met my eyes over a sea of heads. “RJ!”
He threw up his arms, jostling Eva during her release. She missed and speared him with a glare, which he ignored while beckoning me forward. I shook my head. This was too much socializing. Eva would forgive me.
Beyond the beer pong, I spotted a sliding glass door open to the warm night. Eva elbowed Mac in the stomach, and he forgot all about me to take his shot. I made a beeline for the relative quiet of outside.
It wasn’t until I’d closed the screen door behind me and glanced back that I realized Duke was at the other end of the table. No wonder Eva had chosen this party—it was full of football players. Or maybe Mac and the others were here because of Eva.
The door led to a backyard that barely qualified as such. A set of concrete steps led down to a patio ending in a three-foot drop-off. There were no outside lights, no bonfire, nothing to draw drunk college students, and it was perfect.
I sat at the edge of the concrete with my legs crossed and leaned back to stare at the sky. One more week before our first game, and I was worried about the team. We had talent, but there was still too much second-guessing. Skill came from reps and muscle memory… and trust. I wasn’t sure we had time to foster the last one.
Maybe I’d made a mistake in missing the summer training camps.
