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I leaned back against the counter and studied her. She wasn’t enthusiastic about this. That was pretty obvious, but she did it anyway. She didn’t want me kicked off the team. It would’ve been so easy for her to tell me to fuck off too. "That’s…really nice."
"What?" She glanced at me and her eyes shot back up to the ceiling. "Would you put on some pants?!"
On my way to the bedroom, I caught sight of the clock. "Piper, it’s five in the morning."
"I know."
"You made me think I was half an hour late."
"I wouldn’t let you be half an hour late—we have a coffee date."
"Huh?" I leaned back to catch sight of her in the doorway and it took her a moment for the words to sink in.
"Not like that." While I pulled clothes on and slipped my wallet into my back pocket, Piper explained. "Ryan and Kassie caught up with me in the lobby and they want to see us at Gianna’s before practice. And…they were super nice and I—I don’t want to miss it."
Adorable, sweet Piper had run into the two bozos that’d ruined my chances at the behavioral hearing, the same two bozos that she followed on social media. Piper wasn’t talking about missing practice. She was worried about missing coffee.
She doesn’t give a shit about my spot on the team.
"Wow, Piper." I chuckled.
Piper slipped out with me and frowned when I simply closed the door. "You don’t lock it?"
"I can’t. One day, you’ll decide to come in and I can’t have a lock jeopardizing that."
She rolled her eyes. "Oh, nice."
I almost agreed until we stepped into the elevator. Beyond waking up way earlier than I was used to, nothing about the day had changed. Same old, same old. But the three feet between us in the hallway was different than the three feet between us in the elevator.
Out in the hallway, there’d been room and the wide open spaces of a dorm that catered to its athletes. In the elevator, my breathing slowed. I glanced over to see the ice princess but I found her gazing up at me too. She jerked away and began to stare right at the door. I copied her.
My hand twitched at my side, the kind of unnatural convulsion you’re never really prepared for and I folded my arms over my chest.
She wasn’t looking at me. I wouldn’t look at her.
The elevator doors opened and I cleared my throat. "Ladies first."
Piper didn’t say anything, just strode right out of the elevator with her head held high, like she always did. I was left trailing behind her, not like a guy who would be heading into the NFL after his college contract was up, but like a puppy.
My right hand twitched again, watching her.
Somehow…I felt like I had all those years ago in the bathroom at the high school party, hyping myself up in the mirror.
But that was a lifetime ago. I knew how badly people could hurt you and how none of that mattered anyway. Piper could go the extra mile all she wanted, but doing that was for people with their heads shoved in the clouds or the gutter, pick your poison.
Gianna’s was a short walk away from the athletics loft and I reached over her to grab for the door.
"You don’t need to hold it open for me."
I grinned at her sharp remark. "It’s a better view this way."
The exasperated look made me snicker, but then her eyes widened. "They’re over there."
At a table with six chairs, Ryan, Kassie, King, and June sat around the table with half-empty plates. I bypassed the hostess’s podium and Piper hurried behind me.
"Give me some concrete ideas, King," Kassie urged, snapping a piece of bacon in half and tossing the rest into her mouth. "I need something for Ryan’s birthday."
King raised an eyebrow.
