AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Why did Coach bring up Erika Beck?” Ellie asks.
I sigh. Was I hoping she was too drunk and distracted to remember? Abso-fucking-lutely. “I’m helping out at a youth camp on Sunday.”
“A youth camp?” Alexis asks. “You?”
I should probably be offended, but I’m not. It was a surprise to me I agreed too. “Yeah.”
“Wait—but what does that have to do with Erika Beck?” Ellie questions.
The cab pulls up outside our destination before I have to answer. It’s a club called Submarine that sits right along the canal. Unlike my outing with Natalie and London, the bouncer waves us right inside the packed space.
The inspiration for the name is evident as soon as we enter. The entire far wall is made from glass, and the dancing lights of the club reflect off the calm water. It’s brighter inside than I expect, Edison bulbs hanging overhead that fit with the industrial building.
Since I’m in the front of the group, I automatically turn toward the bar first.
When I push through the crowd of people to get to the long counter, I’m met by familiar blue eyes.
Beck and I stare at each other for a long moment. I recognize several of the guys behind him as other Kluvberg players and hear a few gasps from the other girls in my program as they stop behind me, recognizing the men as well. Despite practicing in their stadium six days a week, as far as I know, I’m the only one who’s encountered a Kluvberg player aside from the one day their practice partially overlapped with ours a few weeks ago.
“Scott,” Beck states. His tone is inscrutable, so I have no idea if calling me by my last name is an attempt to pretend he doesn’t know me or to tease me.
“Adler,” I reply, just as emotionlessly.
A ghost of a smile flitters across his face. “I thought you were going out with Sophia tonight.”
Okay, so we’re not pretending not to know each other.
“I had to cancel. We’re…uh, bonding.” I wave a hand toward my companions vaguely.
Beck doesn’t say anything at first. He just studies me, letting his gaze drop to what I’m wearing. Azure eyes darken to near-navy.
“Have fun,” is all he says before walking toward a sectioned-off area raised slightly above the rest of the club. His teammates follow.
I turn to the bartender and order a drink, suddenly in desperate need of something to do. I have no idea who chose the venues for tonight, but I’m currently two for two on people I wouldn’t choose to run into on a night out. Yeah, the entire team was at that restaurant, but I’ve always prided myself on being the player coaches could count on. Coach Weber didn’t seem overly enthused about my participation in the camp. Is it because she correctly guessed it means I’m involved with Beck?
But I’m more concerned with the most recent encounter. I had no intention of anyone knowing about my involvement with Beck. With one bar-side run-in, any hope of that is gone.
“You know Adler Beck?” Olivia asks incredulously. All the girls in the group are staring at me expectantly.
“We’ve met a couple times,” I reply casually. We play in the stadium plastered with his face. Running into him there is believable, right?
“Are you interested in him?” Olivia raises one eyebrow. A challenge is dancing in her brown eyes.
“No,” I lie. Or maybe it’s not a lie. Interested seems like too small a word.
“So…you don’t mind if I go talk to him?”
“No,” I repeat. I don’t think Beck will take her up on it, but I don’t care either way. Or rather, I shouldn’t care. Same thing.
I turn back to the bar to grab my freshly made drink. A dark-haired guy sidles up next to me and begins flirting. The first few sentences are in German, but after one clueless expression, he switches to English. I think he says he’s a medical student, but I’m only able to catch every other word he says thanks to his accent and the noise in here. He’s very attractive, and I’m much more focused on that than whether he’s a doctor or a dropout.
He asks what I’m doing here, and when I tell him I play “football,” his eyes light up.
I should see it coming, but I don’t.
The next ten minutes are spent gushing over Adler Beck, and any attraction seeps away like water in a sink with an open drain.
I down my drink like a shot as he continues to praise Beck’s performance last season. He’s not even asking for my opinion. He’s just the sort of insensitive male I usually like to shred for sport, but tonight I’m not in the mood.
