Total pages in book: 129
Estimated words: 121233 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 606(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 121233 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 606(@200wpm)___ 485(@250wpm)___ 404(@300wpm)
It was different with Giana.
She was on the sideline, too, fielding reporters and camera crew with a cool, steel reserve. It shouldn’t have made sense, how well she handled professionals at least five years older than her, some more than that. She also wrangled us as student athletes, which was akin to herding cats. But somehow over the last year and a half, she’d found her voice, her confidence. She spoke clearer and louder, knew what she was doing, and had the ability to look as cool as a cucumber while she did it.
It was hard not to watch, to admire — especially when I also knew how to unravel that well-put-together woman when it was just the two of us.
Zeke catching the ball down at the ten snapped me back to the present, and I watched him zoom almost thirty yards before he was taken down. I kept my focus on the field as Holden ran out with the offense next, leading them in a myriad of plays that got us well within field goal range.
But we didn’t need it.
Leo Hernandez took a snap that should have just been a short run, but he found an opening and bolted, juking every defender who caught up too slowly to do anything but watch him fly past them.
And just like that, we scored a touchdown with mere seconds left on the clock.
It was just enough time for Riley to kick the extra point, and for the Bandits to get one Hail Mary play in that resulted in nothing.
We won.
And I was convinced we were fucking unstoppable.
Even a long, piping hot shower couldn’t thaw my bones after a freezing cold game in the sleet, but I felt marginally better once I was dressed in my sweats. The team was jovial as we showered and dressed and got ready to get on the bus, one that would take us to our hotel for the night. I had no doubt the team would be going out to celebrate.
I, on the other hand, had much different plans.
“So, what shithole bar are we hitting tonight?” Leo asked, towel around his neck as he waggled his brows at me.
“I found one called The Looney Bin,” Riley answered, showing her phone with the reviews she’d been reading. “College bar. Apparently pretty strict on fakes, but that’s never stopped us before.”
“Look at Novo getting in the spirit,” Leo praised.
“After a win like that?” Riley threw a thumb over her shoulder. “We’re essentially guaranteed a bowl.”
“Not just a bowl game,” Zeke added, tossing his arm around her before he kissed her temple. “The bowl game.”
I started bobbing my head, drumming out a beat on the lockers as I did. “Ship. Ship. Ship. Ship.”
I chanted and danced until the rest of the team joined in, and before long, there were hollers and screams ringing out, guys standing on the benches or literally hanging from the rafters. It was absolute chaos in the most incredible way — the way only a team on the brink of greatness truly understood.
I was wrapped up in watching it all unfold when a pair of cool hands covered my eyes.
I smiled, ready to whip around and drag Giana into me for a kiss that I’d been dying to give her since the beginning of the game. But it wasn’t her voice that cooed, “Guess who?”
It was Maliyah’s.
I stiffened, peeling her fingers off me before I turned with a bored expression on my face.
She was freshly showered, her long blonde hair in a wet, messy bun on top of her head, and oversized cheer sweats covering her from neck to toe. Despite my non-enthusiastic greeting, she held a wide smile, bouncing on her toes a bit.
“Great game, babe.”
I grimaced at the nickname, but chose to ignore it as I turned back to my locker and began packing up my bag. “Thanks.”
“So, when do I get that date?” she asked, leaning between me and the locker to block me from grabbing my cleats. I frowned at first, confused before I remembered the stupid fucking team auction.
“You do realize it’s not a real date, right?”
“That’s what I paid for,” she argued as I politely scooted her to the side so I could finish getting my shit together. “Besides, we haven’t had any real time together since I got to NBU.”
“And whose fault is that?”
Her expression flattened, but she shook it off, forcing a smile. “I’ve missed you. It would be good for us to have some alone time. Time to talk.”
“I don’t have anything to talk to you about.”
“Clay—”
“Look, you can have the picnic voucher and take someone who actually gives a fuck about you,” I said, slamming my locker shut before I shrugged my bag over one shoulder. “Or you can take me and we can sit there in silence. Your choice.”