When Gracie is humiliated after following her best friend's brother to college and finds he's moved on without her, she grows closer to his rival--the captain of his basketball team--the infamous Kalen Rush, and suddenly Gracie wonders just what len...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"Tell me again why we're doing 'team bonding' instead of practicing?"
The scent of coffee swirled in the air while I scoped out the best place to eat with the least amount of people bothering me.
"Uh, probably because it was your best friend's idea and you have to listen to other people eventually? Or because you want to set a good example for the freshies?"
"Yeah, yeah. Sure."
Because it wasn't enough to hardly attend the parties just making sure everyone was acting right, or to double check beds every morning at five that every player was up and ready for practice.
It wasn't enough to check in on the Sophomore who's mom had cancer and was riding the bench despite the fact that he was the best in his year.
It wasn't enough to watch the drinks of each player's girl I passed in the parties I did attend, watching eagle-eyed as they sat on their boyfriend's laps because one more infraction like the one that happened at the parties I didn't attend, and we'd lose our house privileges.
It paid to be the money-maker for the school, but another incident where a girl I couldn't protect from the guys in my own house at a party got attacked and we'd lose those privileges no questions asked, and with good reason.
It wasn't like I was the only one looking out for everyone—Calvin was in charge of the over-indulgers, the players who took the drinking games just a little bit too far.
Even Hart—that self-righteous prick who thought he could walk in and take my spot like it was owed to him—took care of the freshman and showed them the ropes while I was busy scheduling practices with Coach and working on finding my own management on the side, not that I made that information public knowledge.
So, there I stood, stuck in a cafe with the scent of carbs I didn't need to indulge in wafting through the air and an annoyingly chatty Colby Hart trying to talk to me about our practice schedule.
"I mean, yeah, two-a-days is a little ambitious, you gotta admit that, Kalen."
Turning betrayed eyes to my best friend, Calvin only shrugged after agreeing with Hart's opinion before turning his attention to the menu before us.
"The only way I'll be able to swing that many practices is if I—"
Hart cut off mid-rant as his gaze focused somewhere else in the cafe, eyes zeroing in on two women having lunch at a table in the middle of the restaurant.
It was all innocent enough—two women just chatting and meeting for lunch in a cafe. I couldn't see what the big deal was—until the woman facing me laughed and used her shoulder to flourish her hair behind her in such a way that caused bile to rise up in my throat.
Because that wasn't just some random woman from out of the blue, no.
