Maverick

“WHO’S IN TH—”

The girl’s eyes bugged as I stared down at her, anger rolling off me in unmistakable waves. “I was taking a piss,” I ground out, my cell phone burning a hole in my jean pocket.

She steeled her expression and ran one hand up the door jamb, her mouth curved in a seductive smirk. “You weren’t texting your girl, were you? Because you know the rules.” She arched her brow waiting for my reply.

It didn’t come. 

“Move,” I barked. It was bad enough my own girlfriend was pissed with me. I didn’t need to take shit from a complete stranger too.

“It’s true what they say about you then,” she mused.

“And what’s that?”

“You’re a moody sonofabitch.”

“Whatever,” I grumbled. “The guys are waiting.” I flicked my eyes to her limb-barricade, and she dropped her arm. But she didn’t budge an inch, so I squeezed past her.

“And Prince?”

“Yeah?” I glanced back.

“I’m Dana, see you around.” Her eyes glittered all kinds of shit I wasn’t interested in and I kept on walking.

The ‘team thing’ turned out to be a party and so far, there had been no sign of the stupid fucking initiation tasks Jamie had mentioned. But I wasn’t dumb. Anticipation rippled in the air. The new guys kept an eye on their surroundings and the senior players smirked on. 

Everyone felt it. 

Tonight was about giving us a false sense of security. Welcoming us to the team and then ripping the rug out from under us. I’d watched Zac Lowell all night. The guy was as shady as fuck. Walked round as if he owned the place and everyone in it. 

“Hey, Prince.” Speak of the devil. “Get over here. I want to introduce you to some people.” Zac gave me a smug look waiting to see what I did. But if he was expecting a fight, he was shit out of luck. I came here tonight to play by the rules and feel him out. Not to start a war.

Even if I was itching for a fight.

“Vinnie, Balor, meet Maverick Prince.” He slung his arm around my neck as if we were old friends and his two friends tipped their chins in welcome. Interesting, they didn’t tell him we’d already met.

“What is it they say about you?” Zac went on. “Best point guard out of Wicked Bay?”

“State.” 

“What’s that?” he said sporting a dismissive grin.

“Best point guard in the State.” Okay, so maybe I wanted to rattle his feathers just a little. But who could blame me? The guy was a complete dick, and although he was team captain, his track record was nothing to shout home about.

“Now now, Prince, no one likes a show off.” He laughed, but I saw the tightness around his jaw. “We missed you Friday night.”

“I was busy.” I shirked out of his hold and stood cross-armed, vaguely aware of everyone around us starting to take notice.

“Too busy to hang with your new team?” He stared me dead in the eye. “It’s got me wondering, what was so important?”

“My girl,” I said without hesitation.

“You chose your girl over the game? Ouch.” He rubbed his cheek with the pad of his thumb.

“No.” I pulled to my full height, aware that he was drawing me in. Baiting me. “I chose my last night with my girl over some frat party.”

“Some frat party?” He swung out his arms making a spectacle of his reply. “Some frat party? Delta Pi isn’t just some frat party. It’s life. What is it?” He bellowed.

“LIFE.” The word echoed around the room as most of the guys began to chant ‘Delta Pi, Delta Pi.’

Zac ushered the crowd into silence and settled his narrowed gaze on me once more. “Delta Pi isn’t just some frat, Prince. It’s the frat, and if you want to play on my team, pledge or no pledge, it’ll be your frat too. You feel me?” 

“Not going to happen. I came here to play basketball; that’s all.”

His eyes blazed fury, and I readied myself for his comeback, but Vinnie stepped up close and whispered something in his ear. Zac nodded and then addressed the room. “Enjoy the rest of the party, I have shit to take care of.” He started to leave but paused as he reached me. “And Prince... my team, my rules.” As he shouldered past me, I clenched my fists at my sides, forcing myself to stay put. 

With Zac gone, everyone went back to what they were doing before. But Jamie came up beside me and blew out a breath. “Whoa, that was intense. But I gotta ask, why’d you go up against him like that?”

“Are you kidding me? The guy is a dick. I’m here to play basketball. Nothing else.”

“But he’s Zac Lowell. Captain of the Steinbeck Scorpions and heir to the Lowell fortune.”

“And?” I went to a cooler and helped myself to a beer.

“You’re not like most guys, Prince.”

“That a good thing or a bad thing?”

Jamie regarded me then cracked a wide grin. “I haven’t decided yet, but watch your back with Zac. He’s not the kind of enemy you want or need.” But his warning was wasted on me because I had a feeling Zac Lowell had already marked my number. Which meant Coach Callahan was right about everything.

My year just got a whole lot harder.

“So, what’s your story?” I asked Jamie. I still hadn’t decided about him, but he knew things. About Zac Lowell and the hierarchy in the Scorpions. I figured until he gave me a reason not to trust him, he was someone worth knowing. 

We were teammates after all.

From a quick glance around the room, it appeared everyone else was more interested in get wasted and getting laid than making a good impression.

“I hail from Arizona.”

“You’re a long way from home.”

He shrugged. “Couldn’t wait to get away. My old man wasn’t too happy I chose basketball over law school.”

“I know the feeling,” I grumbled at the memories. My piece-of-shit father. A man I would never talk to again.

A man who wanted to blackmail his own son into a future he didn’t want.

“Hey, man, you okay?” Jamie’s voice cut through the red mist descending over me and I nodded tightly.

“So why aren’t you over there?” I flicked my head to the group of guys taking shots from between a girl’s tits.

“It’s not really my scene. Besides, I have a girl back home.”

“Oh yeah?”

His face lit up. “Jenna. We’ve been dating for three years.”

“Childhood sweethearts, nice.”

“Something like that.” He stared off into the distance, lost to his own memories, and silence settled between us. “She’s great but she’s small-town. Didn’t want to leave her parents.”

“And yet, here you are.”

“SU is my shot at playing college basketball. And I needed out of that damn town.” Jamie raked a hand over his head and let out a shaky breath. But then his smile slid back into place and he said, “It’s a story for another day. Hey, now Zac has gone, do you want to get out of here?”

My brows pinched, and he laughed. “It sounded a lot worse than I intended. There’s a coffee shop on campus that stays open late. If you’re in?”

I scanned the room again. Everyone was half cut, laughing and joking. Guys pawed over half-naked girls. “Let’s go.”

I didn’t even like coffee, but it was a damn sight more appealing than staying here.

~

WAKING UP WITHOUT LO beside me sucked ass. But waking up without Lo beside me and knowing we weren’t on good terms, made me want to beat the shit out of something. I lay in bed, staring up at the ceiling, curling and uncurling my fist. Pre-Lo, I’d have gone straight to the warehouse and taken my frustrations out on some faceless meathead. But I wasn’t that guy now. I didn’t use my fists to solve my problems. So it was ironic the reason I quit all that was the reason I woke up ready to kill.

Kicking back the cover, I swung my legs over the bed and sat up and checked my cell. Nothing. No text. No missed calls. Lo was ignoring me. I didn’t blame her. I would have lost my shit if I’d have called her up to find out she was at some party without telling me. It wasn’t about not trusting her. I trusted her. I just didn’t trust drunken idiots to keep their hands to themselves. I knew drunken idiots—hell, I’d been one before now. So yeah, Lo’s silent treatment was justified. It just didn’t make it any easier to swallow.

I snatched my cell up and sent her another text.

Me: Waking up alone sucks

When she didn’t reply, I pulled on my shorts and padded into the bathroom. She couldn’t ignore me forever. Lo needed me the way I needed her. Like I needed oxygen. Maybe it was unhealthy, the way we’d become so dependent on one another over the summer, but we were a product of our pasts. The secrets and lies and pain we harbored.

Splashing water over my face, I stared back at myself. Last night, after the party, I’d gone to the campus coffee shop with Jamie and we’d talked some more about Lo and Jenna, about our lives back home. The more I knew about him, the more I liked him. Plus something told me, with Zac gunning for me, I needed allies. Friends, even. My cell vibrated but when I jogged inside to grab it hoping it was Lo, I was disappointed to see my stepbrother’s name flash across the screen.

“What?”

“Is that any way to greet your brother?”

“Stepbrother.” I reminded him.

“Ah, you say po-tate-o, I say po-tart-o.”

“Did you call for a reason?”

“Someone got up on the wrong side of bed. How’s college life?” He sounded far too chirpy for eight-forty on a Tuesday morning.

“I’ve been here for three days. It’s hardly enough time to make a qualified opinion.”

“True, but I heard there was a party.”

“She told you?” Not that I was surprised. Lo and Kyle were tight.

“I was there when she called you. Dick move not telling her, dude.”

“It wasn’t like that.” I dragged a hand down my face. “Zac Lowell—”

“The guy Coach Callahan warned you about?” All the humor disappeared from Kyle’s voice.

“Yeah. He’s on some power trip. Jamie, a guy from the team who's staying in my dorm mentioned some hazing bullshit.”

“No shit. What will you do?”

“I haven’t figured it out yet, but I don’t want to give Zac a reason to come after me. Not any more than he already has.”

“Watch your back, Rick. We all know jealousy is a powerful motivator, and you’re the best player the Scorpions have now.”

“You don’t need to worry about me,” I said flatly, and he scoffed.

“Don’t I?”

“Anyway, what’s happening back home? Is she...” I swallowed. “Okay?”

“Lo’s Lo. You know how she gets. But things are rough at the house. She hasn’t said much but I can tell it’s killing her having Stella and Beth there.”

“Yeah, I thought it would.” We all did. Deep down, even Uncle Rob knew what it would do to his daughter, but Stella and Beth were going to end up homeless thanks to her piece-of-shit ex. It wasn’t like he really had a choice. But Lo didn’t quite see it that way. Not when things were still so raw.

Silence echoed over the line. Kyle cared for Lo almost as much as I did and we both knew her new living arrangements could tip her over the edge.

“You’ll look out for her?”

“As if you even have to ask. If things get too much, she can stay with Laurie or at the pool house.”

“She won’t. Not while I’m not there.” I’d already asked her.

“Don’t be so sure.”

I didn’t like Kyle’s tone. I didn’t like anything about this situation but there wasn’t much I could do when I was here, and she was there. Changing the subject, I said, “Did she tell you anything about the job she was going to apply for?”

“Oh come on, Rick. Don’t do that. Don’t put me in the middle.” He sounded panicked. Too fucking panicked.

“Stone, start talking.”

“You should speak to Lo first.”

“I would if she’d fucking answer my messages. But you’re here now and you know something, I know you do.”

“It would be better coming from Lo.”

“Stone, if you don’t tell me what’s going on right now, I swear to God, I’ll get in my car, drive home and beat the living shit out of you.”

“Geez, keep your panties on, Prince. I’ll tell you... on one condition.”

“What?”

“You don’t do anything stupid.”

“Fine.”

“Promise me. I need you to promise, Rick.” His voice was dead serious, and I grumbled.

“I promise.”

“Shit, she’s going to kill me if she finds—”

“Stone,” I growled.

“Fine. She got a job at that sports bar on Sunset Drive.”

“I’m sorry,” I choked out. “I don’t think I heard you correctly because it sounded like you said my girlfriend’s going to be working in a sports bar.”

“They serve food.”

“And that’s supposed to make it better? What the fuck is she thinking?”

“She’s desperate, Rick. You left. Me and Laurie have major plans for after graduation. Stella and Beth are a reality now. Her life is imploding. A job gives her some stability. An escape. It’s a good thing.”

When he put it like that... but, a sports bar?

“She couldn’t have just gotten a job in a coffee shop?” I mumbled under my breath and Kyle chuckled.

“If it’s any consolation she tried like three places before calling Hitters.”

“I really don’t like this, Stone,” I admitted.

“Yeah, I don’t either. But we don’t have to like it, we just have to live with it.”

Easy for him to say. It wasn’t his girl working there.

“Thanks, for telling me.”

“Just go easy on her, okay? She doesn’t need you going all possessive unhinged boyfriend on her.”

“I am not possessive.”

“Whatever you say, Prince. Listen, I have to go. Keep your cool, okay? And don’t let that douche canoe Lowell get to you. You can’t afford to screw things up. SU is your ticket to the NBA.”

“Good chat, Coach,” I mocked. “I’ll text you later.”

“Yeah, okay.” He paused a beat. “And Rick?”

“Yeah?”

“You promised, no crazy.”

“You should know better than to trust a Prince,” I said, and hung up before Kyle could get another word in. We both knew remaining calm wasn’t my strong suit. And when you thought about it, any stupid decisions I was about to make, were his fault for telling me the truth. Kyle knew better.

But then, so did I.

The difference was, I just didn’t give a shit.