“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.”
I didn’t know why anger was licking its way so fiercely up my spine. Maybe it was my father’s voice in my ear, how he pointed out the manipulative tactics I never realized she used against me. Or maybe it was Giana, how she made me promise to put myself first and not be shy about it.
Either way, I had zero interest in playing this game any longer with my ex.
“I highly doubt we’d sit there in silence,” Maliyah countered, still trying to laugh it off. I saw in her eyes that she was about to reach out and touch me, but before she could, I ducked away and headed for the door.
She was hot on my heels.
“What the fuck is your problem?” she demanded, catching me by the arm and turning me to face her. I could have easily shrugged her off if I wanted to, but maybe part of me was ready for the fight.
“My problem?” I asked incredulously, and I didn’t care if half the guys left in the locker room had stopped celebrating now and were very tuned in to our conversation. I stepped into her, towering over her as she sank away. “I’m happy, Li.”
I paused, letting those words sink in as I breathed over her. Her narrowed eyes softened, something like pain flashing in those blue irises.
“Can you accept that and just… fucking let me be happy?”
I waited for only a moment to see if she had anything to say to that, and when she didn’t utter a word, I just shook my head and turned, leaving her and the rest of the team behind as I headed for the bus.
I waited until most of the team had gone out, until all the coaches had retired to their rooms and put Holden in charge of letting them know if anything went wrong. I almost felt bad for our QB, our captain, our most responsible leader. He wore a lot of weight on his shoulders.
But he wore it proudly.
“You sure you don’t want to come?” he asked me at the door of our hotel room, and I knew he was asking less because he wanted me to party, and more because he didn’t want to be alone with the motley crew we called a team — especially after such a win.
I smiled. “Sorry, man. I’ve got other plans.”
Holden smirked at that, but he didn’t make to head out. He just watched me, his eyes assessing.
“What?”
He shrugged. “Nothing. I just… I’m sorry, about what I said earlier this season. About Giana being a rebound. I can tell she’s much more than that for you.”