As I tore my gaze from the clear outline of his junk, I said, “Y-yeah, yes. I’m well rested.” I winced. It hadn’t sounded convincing. My cock pushed into the warm bottom of my cup. Fuck me, I had to hold it together. I glanced at Tex, watching us with a smirk resting on his face.
He said, “Dude, who was that guy you hooked up with? You knew him already, right?”
My heart pitched, and I stood. “I, uh, have to make a phone call home. Let me know when you want to start breakfast.” I couldn’t listen to this. No fucking way. I fled the room and rushed into my bedroom, shutting the door behind me, and leaned against it.
“Yeah, I knew him from a class last year,” Malik’s voice snuck through the door.
He hooked up with the guy on IG last night? As nausea balled in my gut, I slid down the door, my knees folding into my chest. As I held my arms around my legs and my coffee, I pressed my forehead to my knees and breathed through the squeezing in my throat. Why did Malik’s hookups with women not bother me much, but hookups with men? Holy hell, it hurt.
I could use my headphones to silence him and not hear any more of this shit. With a deep inhale, I rose, grabbed myheadphones from my nightstand and stuffed them into my ears. There, now I could pretend all was well.
After breakfast and a shower,I plopped onto my bed because, yes—I was hiding from Malik today—and found Ella’s contacts in my phone. I’d distract myself and make Dad happy at the same time by FaceTiming her.
I held the phone’s screen to my face and called. They were a few hours behind us, so she’d be up and around by now.
The call picked up, and Ella appeared, her blonde hair in a high ponytail and falling in waves past her right shoulder, a pair of large Gucci sunglasses hiding her big brown eyes. A smile quirked on her red lips. “Greyson, I was wondering when you’d call.” She tilted her head, and a Starbucks coffee shop showed behind her, tucked into an older building. The leaves of a small tree fluttered to the side of her. She was outside, maybe seated at a bistro table?
“Yes, well, I spoke to Julie, and she said she ran into you.” She’d told Julie how interested she was in me, knowing it would get back to me. Again, that was how things worked. I gave her my best grin. “How’s the summer going for you? When do classes start again?”
“Mid-August. I’m enjoying my freedom for now.” She sipped her iced coffee. “You know, I was thinking about visiting Phoenix with a friend before school starts. The hotels have pool parties in the summer.”
“Yeah?” Fuck, how could I dissuade her? “I…start practice on Monday and next week, we’ll be up in Payson for camp. I don’t think I’d be able to?—”
“I saw that online. You could get me tickets for your scrimmage in Payson, maybe?” Her brow lifted above her glasses.
“Uh…” I twisted my lips. How do I get out of this? “I don’t know how to get tickets for that. I have my first meeting with the team tomorrow.”
She pouted. “Okay, well, it was a thought.” She looked away for a moment and returned. “Maybe I could come down there for Thanksgiving?”
“Yeah, maybe that would be better. I think we have a game that Friday. I can check the schedule.” I should have it memorized by now, but I’d been too busy fooling around with Malik, literally.
“I already checked. You have your last home game against the University of Arizona. It looks like a big rivalry game.” Her shoulders twitched. “It sounds like fun.” She gave me a charming smile.
“Yeah?” Shit, I had to agree to this, didn’t I? “Okay, I’ll see what I can do about getting tickets for you.” My throat grew tight. This felt like a big mistake, and I didn’t know why.
“Great, I’ll make some plans. Your friend Malik is bi, right? I could travel with a friend, and maybe they’d hit it off.” She sipped more of her drink.
“Yeah, sure.” I chewed the fingernail on my thumb. Now I’d made a bigger mess of things. Would Malik even want to meet her given our current situation? “Let me talk to him about it first, though, okay?” I choked out a chuckle. “I mean, who knows, maybe he’ll be seeing someone by then.”
“Sure, let me know what you find out.” Her lips curled into a smug grin. “I’m happy you called me, Greyson. I feel like this could be the start of something special.”
“Yeah…” Or just another waste of my time. But I had to give it a shot. “I’ll text you with any information about Thanksgiving and call you again soon.”
“Okay. Have a great Sunday and be careful over the next few weeks.” She inhaled deeply, her chest rising, and then she finished her drink. “Bye now.”
“Bye.” I ended the call and held my phone to my chest. I wasn’t sure about Thanksgiving. Hell, I wasn’t sure about anything except keeping my distance from Malik.
SEVEN
MALIK
Things were strained between Grey and me. We’d gone the entire week barely talking to one another, and he’d kept to his room a lot. We’d only hung out at the gym with Tex, plus at team practice. He’d wanted to start my routine to bulk up, and I’d helped him with it. This was not how I’d pictured our senior year together. I packed my duffel, resting at the foot of my bed, with my toiletries. We needed to be on the bus for Tontozona in an hour.
“Hey.” Tex entered my bedroom, his bulky frame wrapped in a team t-shirt and shorts. “Got a minute?”
“Sure.” Huffing a sigh, I zipped my duffel and faced him.
After surveying the hallway, he closed the door and planted his hand on his hips. “What the hell is up with you and Grey? You’re both avoiding each other.”