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16
Practice went smoothly for once. I’d had years of training in shutting out the rest of the world when I played. For those two hours, I could push Parker to the back of my mind, but the second Coach blew the whistle, I became immediately aware of him.
As we headed to the locker rooms, Mac slung an arm around Parker and Noah kept pace beside me. A hotshot and a human wall stood between us, preventing me from doing something stupid, like licking the droplets of sweat off Parker’s neck.
I bit my lip. That wasn’t my usual kink, but I could almost taste the saltiness on his skin.
Noah bumped me with his shoulder as we entered the tunnel. “Got any plans for tonight?”
My eyes narrowed at his easy smile. “I have a feeling you already know the answer to that.”
He shrugged. “You could do worse.”
Heat filled my cheeks. “Thanks.”
The guys peeled off to their locker room, and I felt the weight of Parker’s gaze on me. I met his eyes as he backed through the door, and he quirked an eyebrow. A challenge not to dawdle. As if I wanted to waste any more time.
I’d be happy skipping the stupid paper completely and diving crotch-first onto Parker’s lap. First, though, I needed to stop by the apartment and have a talk with Eva.
The flood of texts had indeed been from her, but she’d been gushing about a cheer award TU had won. I was happy for her—they worked hard for their competitions—but part of me was glad she’d been distracted.
When I came home to change this morning, Eva had already left for her classes, but there was no guarantee she knew I’d been missing all night. Most Mondays I left before her to clock some extra time in the weight room.
Two nights in a row, she’d notice. I didn’t want her to worry—or worse, ask the other guys about it.
As expected, Eva had planted herself on the couch to review video of her squad. She was scarily similar to most of the good football players I knew in her obsession with improvement. I plopped down next to her and watched the screen for a minute.
I didn’t have a lot of experience with competitive cheer, but they looked good. Really good. I couldn’t imagine tossing a whole person around the way her teammates did without someone ending up with a concussion.
The view panned to the side, and there was Eva. A black guy with the same build as Mac launched her into the air, catching all her weight on one hand. Eva didn’t wobble once. She lifted a leg all the way up, popped back to the first position, then spun down in a dizzying dismount, where the guy caught her.
“Damn, Eva. Why don’t you do stuff like that when you’re cheering for our games?”
She paused the video and shifted to face me. “We do. I forgive you for not noticing though, since you’re playing in the game. What’s the plan for dinner tonight? Or have you finally forgiven Shaw for whatever he did to piss you off?”
I tucked my legs under me and hugged one of the throw pillows to my chest. “He didn’t do anything. I just needed some time apart.”
“I’m getting a coffee. Want one?”
I shook my head. “Still don’t drink coffee.”
“I’ll convert you one day.” She disappeared into the galley kitchen to grab a Frappuccino out of the fridge and raised her voice. “So what’s going on? You usually do your own thing after practice unless our illustrious quarterback shows up.”
“You and I eat together almost every night,” I reminded her.
“And you ignored my question about food to answer the one about Shaw, so that’s what we’re talking about.”
I silently cursed. She’d used her evil mind powers on me again. “I wanted to warn you I’d be gone tonight. Again.”
The fridge door slammed shut, and Eva skidded around the corner fighting to get the lid off her glass bottle.
“You spent the night with Shaw!” Her high-pitched squeal made me wince.
“It wasn’t like that,” I lied.
She scoffed so hard she nearly spilled her coffee. “Yes, it was. Though I appreciate the stone-cold lie to my face. You and Parker disappeared halfway through the movie and never returned.”
I pinched the bridge of my nose as she joined me on the couch again. “I spent the night with him. We didn’t have sex. We probably will tonight. You can’t tell anyone.”
