My training sessions were long and tedious. At the end of the day, after running myself into the ground, my muscles ached, and I was dying for a shower. But we had to attend another team meeting first. The sun was low on the horizon when we headed back to the buildings of the training center. Coach switched on the light when we walked into the training room even though it was still light out.

“Right. We’re coming up to our first games, and I’m proud of what you’ve achieved,” he said. “We’re a few more practices before the game, but now we’re focusing on form. They’ll be watching you, and losing you to the first-string team is the only thing that would make me happier than keeping the lot of you all to myself.”

Some of the men chuckled. I had grown fond of Coach Daniel. At first, I’d thought the guy was all business and no humor, but he was serious about getting us where we needed to be, and I appreciated someone as serious about my future as I was.

Coach Daniel produced his clipboard and ran through the list of names of the players who were going to play in the first game. My hope dwindled as one name after the other was called, and it wasn’t mine, but Coach ended with my name last on the list.

This was perfect. By playing in the first game, I could start off on the right foot. They were going to be watching, so I wanted to give them something worth their while. I had been working so hard, I knew I had what it took. It was only a matter of making an impression now.

When the meeting was over, Ryan and I walked to our cars together.

“What do you think about the team Coach chose for the first game?” Ryan asked. His name had been on the list, too, and I was happy for him.

“I think it’ll work. I think Cam is too big for his boots, but we’ll see how it goes. Maybe someone will knock him down, and he’ll realize he’s not all that.”

Ryan chuckled. “I don’t think taking a real hit would be enough, but we’ll see.”

“This is it, man,” I said. “This is where they notice us. I can feel it.”

“Don’t get your hopes up too much,” Ryan answered. “The chances are good, but the Sharks have a pretty solid team as it is.”

I pulled up my shoulders, accepting the truth. It wouldn’t be easy getting a spot as a first-stringer. But I was positive I would get there in due time. All it took was for someone to notice me. I knew I had what it took.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Ryan said when we reached our cars, and we clapped each other on the back before heading in our respective directions.

Hailey was on my mind. Every now and then, she flashed before me, the face of an angel, and it had taken all my concentration not to get distracted on the field today. But thinking about her was a good distraction. I didn’t mind it at all.

I was exhausted after training, and I desperately needed to wind down, but I didn’t have to do it alone. I wanted to spend time with Hailey. I needed to see her again.

Everything about her drove me crazy. I had been after women my whole life, charming them until I got what I wanted. It had been fun. In fact, it was a hell of an ego boost every time it worked. When it didn’t, I chalked it up to taste and the women not having any. I was an arrogant bastard, and it had worked for me.

With Hailey, everything was different. I didn’t want to bed her and be done with it. Sure, fucking her left me satiated and infatuated for days, but it wasn’t about that. I wanted to be with her as a person, and she was the first woman who did that to me, the first woman I wanted to know. And I wanted her to know me too. That was rare. I’d never opened up to a woman before, not like the way I did with her.

I wanted to see her tonight.

I dialed her number and waited for her to pick up, for her honey voice to come over the speaker.

When it did, I smiled.

“Are you busy tonight?” I asked.

“Never too busy for you.”

It was a line I would have used on women before, but hearing it directed at me made me feel warm. Go figure.

“Come out to dinner with me,” I said.

I could hear the smile in her voice when she said, “okay.”

We agreed on a time I would pick her up, and I hung up. I arrived home shortly after and drank an after-training shake before heading to the shower to get ready. I could lounge in bed for the rest of the night after I saw her. Priorities.

I was ready to leave less than half an hour later, and I drove to Brad and Carly’s place. When I stopped in front of the garage, the front door opened, and Hailey came out. She had been waiting for me. She wore a dirty-pink dress that made here porcelain skin look tanned—or maybe it was the Miami sun that had done that—and her blond hair hung straight down her back. I climbed out of the car and kissed her, pulling her against me.

When I let her go, she was breathless.

On the way to the restaurant, she asked how my training was, congratulated me on the game I’d been selected for, and I realized how few women I had been with before who cared about the career that was so important to me. Maybe it went both ways. I’d never cared about them that much either. But it was a great feeling that someone was rooting for me the way Hailey was.

The restaurant was a casual place with booths that made our little party seem private, and we talked about trivial things for a while.

“I’ve been thinking about what you said,” I said finally. “About growing up in Fort Collins.”

Hailey looked up at me, and I couldn’t place the look on her face.

“What are the odds, right?” I added.

Hailey chuckled and looked down at the plate in front of her.

“What school did you go to?” I asked. Maybe I had run into her once or twice when we had played against other schools and hadn’t even noticed it.

Hailey looked hesitant. She played with her glass of wine, turning it around and around on the table.

“We were at school together, Nick,” she said. When she looked up at me, her eyes were a brilliant green.

I frowned. “What?”

She swallowed hard even though she hadn’t taken another bite of food.

“We were at the same school,” she said again.

I shook my head. “I would have remembered you,” I said. Someone as hot as Hailey would never have slipped past me. “Are you messing with me?”

Hailey shook her head, and she looked way too serious for this to be a weird joke. In fact, she looked nervous.

“You’re messing with me, right?” I asked again.

Hailey shook her head. I was starting to feel uncomfortable. I didn’t like this.

“Why don’t I recognize you, then?” I asked. I would have known if I’d met Hailey before. I would have been as blown away by her as I had been when I’d met here in Miami.

“I’ve changed a lot since school,” she said. “I lost weight, my braces came off, and my skin cleared up. I looked completely different at school.”

“This doesn’t make any sense,” I said, shaking my head. I didn’t understand it. How could someone change so much?

“I’m Hailey,” she said, stating the obvious. “I tutored you for a full year. Don’t you remember?”

I stared at her. What the hell was she talking about? There was no way she could be that little freak who’d tutored me. She was too beautiful, too normal for that. But I looked closely at her. The slope of her nose, the way her lips curved when she smiled. When I looked down at her hands, I ran cold.

I knew her hands. When she had tutored me, I had spent hours studying the hands that showed me the work, the way she’d held the pen or pointed out my mistakes. She was telling the truth.

“Oh my god,” I said.

“What are the odds, right?” Hailey asked with a chuckle, but she looked nervous when I looked at her.

“How did you find me?”

“I didn’t find you. We ran into each other.’

I shook my head. “You were my tutor in high school, the one with a huge crush on me, and suddenly you appear in Miami looking the way you do, reeling me in. The coincidence is too great.”

Hailey shook her head, frowning. “How would I know you were here?” she asked.

“Google tells you everything, doesn’t it? And everything else you’ve asked about me, why did you do that?”

“Do you think I’ve been stalking you?” Hailey asked, and she seemed horrified. But it was exactly what I’d been thinking. I was freaked out. She had been a dream that had suddenly turned into a nightmare.

“Why did you keep this from me?” I challenged. “You could have said something from the start.”

“I thought you might recognize me,” she started.

“Right,” I cut her off before she could carry on telling me more lies. I wasn’t interested in hearing another word she had to say. Once upon a time, I’d had to stick around to get through those shitty classes so I could play ball. I didn’t owe her jack shit now.

I got up and walked away.

“You can’t just leave!” she called after me.

I stopped and turned.

“You’re right, I haven’t paid,” I said. I pulled out my wallet and threw a few notes on the table before turning around and walking away again.

“Nick,” she called with a thin voice, but I kept walking. It was wrong to ditch her this way, and I felt like shit about it. But I had to get away from her.

I remembered her now. She had been the weird girl in high school, the one who’d had a crush on me. I had laughed with my friends about it so many times. The girls in our group had commented how cute it was that she was aiming above her station, mocking her. It had been a fat joke then. Now, it wasn’t so funny.

It was all messed up.

She should have told me from the start. What other reason could she have had for keeping it from me than that she was stalking me? How much had she found out about me? People like that creeped me out. I didn’t understand the obsession with a person, and I had heard terrible stories of people finding out everything, hoarding information about someone like it was a treasure. I was becoming famous now, so maybe this would start happening more, but I wasn’t going to indulge it. I should have connected the dots, but she had played me so well.

The playboy had been played. Go fucking figure.