-17-
JAY
I walked into my room, dropped my equipment bag on the floor with a thud, and put my ass in my desk chair. Kayla and I were supposed to chat tonight, and after the game I’d had, I was dying to see her.
Tonight, we’d see each other face-to-face. Our first official video-chat. Not as good as being in-person, but it’d been easier to get her to agree to this, rather than drive three hours north.
The dialog box on my computer screen leapt to life after I clicked on her icon, and the ringing started. I hadn’t texted her if she was ready. I was too impatient to see her.
Holy.
Shit.
The image popped onto the screen, and there she was. I ignored the colors and the logos. All that mattered was she was there, and wearing a goddamn cheerleading uniform. Every guy’s fantasy in the flesh.
Kayla’s hair was pulled back with a large red bow. Her uniform was white sleeves, gray top and skirt, and some red. I tried not to stare at her short skirt for too long and forced myself to look at the rest of the room in her apartment.
Her place wasn’t overly girly, and like mine, it was cramped. Her bed was lofted over a dresser that had a few knobs missing. A large, dry-erase calendar was tacked to a wall, with times scribbled on various days.
“Hi.” Her bright smile froze as she stared at her computer screen.
Shit. I hadn’t exactly de-Michigan-ed my dorm room. Or changed out of my blue warm-ups, decorated with a yellow M and a Nike swoosh. Well, fuck it. She’d need to get used to this aspect of my life.
“Hey,” I said. “How was your game?”
She didn’t blink. Her eyes drifted left and then right, slowly taking in my surroundings. Her door was open and a lanky guy walked by. What the fuck?
“Who’s that?” I demanded.
“My roommate, Chuck.”
“Chuck’s a guy? You live with a guy?”
She peered at me like I was being an idiot. “You didn’t figure that out before? Like, when I said my roommate’s name was Chuck?”
“I thought it was, I dunno, a nickname.”
“Yeah. It’s short for Charles.”
I couldn’t wrap my head around it. “How does that work?”
“Oh, right. He’s a guy and I’m a girl. We can’t be friends. We must be lovers.” She turned to the doorway and raised her voice. “Chuck, get in here! Jay thinks we’re lovers!”
A male voice came from beyond. “I just threw up in my mouth.”
“He wants me so bad,” Kayla deadpanned.
I didn’t know how to feel about it. Kayla was smoking hot, and she was living with another guy? Was he gay?
“We grew up together,” she said. “He’s family to me. And no, he’s not gay. Is that going to be a problem?”
Her conviction was absolute, and I sucked up my unexpected possessiveness. We had a big enough issue with the rivalry, I wasn’t going to add another. “No, no problem,” I said. “I heard you guys won today.”
She went as bright as the sun. “Was there ever any doubt?”
She reached back and pulled the bow out of her hair, letting her blonde locks fall over her shoulders. There was a defined ridge were the ponytail had been. I watched her go to the door and shut it, sealing her bedroom off from her male roommate.
But she never reciprocated my question. “You aren’t even going to ask me, are you?”
“I heard. Way to go.” Her voice was monotone.
“Hmm. Heartfelt.”
She gave a slight shake of her head, like she was annoyed. Was it with me, or herself? She tried again. “Sorry. Congrats! Better?”
“Yeah.” She’d at least made an attempt. My gaze zeroed in on her hands as they went to the side of her cheerleading top. “What, uh, are you doing there?”
“Changing.”
“Oh, yeah?” My voice was eager.
She smiled seductively, and lifted her top off. My pulse jumped when her hands went to the hem of her white long sleeve shirt. It was removed, revealing a plain sports bra beneath. I ignored the bra that covered way too much of her and focused on her toned, flat stomach. Before I could really enjoy it, the shirt sailed toward the camera and my screen went dark.
“Tease,” I joked, and heard her soft laugh.
Someone banged on my door. “Harris.”
“It’s open.”
The door swung open, and Darius stepped inside. The lineman was almost as wide as the doorway. He tossed his equipment bag down and crossed his thick arms over his chest. “You’re real funny, man.”
“Who’s that?” Kayla asked, her voice coming from the laptop’s speakers.
Darius glanced at my dark computer screen. “Aw, shit. Did I interrupt porn time?”
There was fumbling and the picture returned. Kayla had thrown on a t-shirt but hadn’t changed out of the sexy skirt.
“Cheerleader? Hell, yeah. She hot.” Darius moved closer to the computer, coming into view of the camera. “Doesn’t make up for that school she goes to, though.”
He was my only teammate who knew about Kayla. Half of the guys wouldn’t give a fuck, and of the ones who would, most would be smart enough to know to keep their opinions to themselves. But I had enough pressure right now. I didn’t want to make a big deal out of it. If Darius, one of the team captains, was cool with me and a girl from Ohio State, the rest would see and go with it.
“Kayla, this is Darius,” I said. “Linebacker. He’s my suite mate, and he thinks you’re hot.”
“Hi, Darius.” She gave him a tight smile. No doubt she was fighting her aversion to all things Michigan.
He leaned over me, getting close to the screen. “Damn, that’s one ugly birthmark on your face, girl.”
“Goodbye, Darius.” She rolled her eyes, pulled a wipe out of a dispenser, and scrubbed away the OSU temporary tattoo on her cheek.
He straightened abruptly and glared down at me. “Almost forgot, time for me to beat your ass.”
“For what?” Kayla asked. “Fraternizing with the enemy?”
“No.” He went to his equipment bag. “For this.”
He pulled out his sports bottle and held it up to the screen. The translucent blue plastic obscured it just enough not to be obvious. A fancy goldfish darted around inside, its mouth pumping furiously as it sloshed in the water.
“I drank from this, dude!” Darius snapped.
Kayla gave a choked-off laugh. “Awesome.”
“It was,” I agreed. Coordinating with friends and getting the fish into his water bottle hadn’t been easy, but it was worth it. “Did you think because you’re captain now, I can’t give you shit anymore?”
He scrubbed a hand over his serious face. “Payback’s gonna be a bitch.”
“Okay, Darius.” My tone was patronizing, because my pranks were epic and his were lame.
“You owe me a beer.”
“Yeah,” Kayla chimed in. “He needs to wash the taste of fish away.”
I pointed to my mini-fridge. “Help yourself.”
“No, asshole. Get dressed, we’re going out.”
“Phrasing,” I commented, but it was too late.
Kayla’s expression was smug. “Aw, you two kids have fun on your date night. Go paint the town red.” She faked seriousness. “I mean it, scarlet red. It’ll look much nicer when we get there in November.”
Darius ignored her and snatched his bag up off the ground. “I’m going to put this guy in fresh water, change, and we’re out. You got five minutes, Harris.”
I grinned. “I love that you’re keeping the fish.”
Because the whole team knew Darius had a big heart inside that enormous frame. He was probably already attached. Would he tear up if he had to flush it in a few days?
“I named it after you, man. This is Jay-Hole.” He held the bottle up again, and the fish stared at me with its vacant bubble eyes. “Five minutes.”
And then Darius was gone.
I swung my gaze back to the laptop. I liked hanging out with the guys, but I’d been looking forward to talking to her tonight.
“Sounds like you gotta go,” she said. Was there disappointment in her voice, or had I just wanted there to be?
“I’ve got time. It’ll only take me a minute to change. In case you didn’t know, I’m kind of fast.”
“Yeah, ESPN was telling me all about it.”
“What?” The team meeting had taken forever, and I’d barely looked at my phone after my shower in the locker room. Just long enough to send her a GIF message before heading into the postgame press conference.
“You made the leaderboard of players to watch.” She cocked her head to the side. “You didn’t know?”
“No, but it’s crazy postgame.”
“Okay, well, congrats. That’s really cool, Jay.”
This time she nailed the genuine tone, and warmth rolled through my chest. I wanted to touch her. If we’d been in the same room, I’d have her in my lap in a heartbeat, and my tongue filling her mouth. Shit, I couldn’t think about her mouth. My cock started to wake up. Down, boy.
“When can I see you?” I was so eager, it came out sounding like a demand.
“You’re seeing me right now.”
I shook my head. “No, for real.”
“If you’re up for the drive, you could come visit me.” She said it like a throwaway comment, but I’d take it as a real invitation.
“Cool. Next Saturday,” I said. “We’ve got an early game.”
She jolted. “You’re coming here?”
“You offered.” I grinned. “I accepted. When’s your game?”
“Uh . . .” She glanced at the dry-erase board, maybe hoping kickoff would give her an excuse to rescind my invite. “It’s an early game. But, I go out to dinner with my family afterward at the Buckeye Bar. It’s a tradition, so I might not be done until late.”
I brushed off her poor attempt at an excuse. “I probably won’t get there before ten. Is that okay?”
It was like she could barely form the word. “Sure.”
“Perfect. It’s a date.”
Her eyes went as white as her cheerleading sleeves had been.