Through a curtain of hair, I saw her smile. I cleared her hair away. I kissed her cheek. “But I’m awake. Are you awake?”
She rolled over, her eyes heavy with sleep and desire. “I’m awake.”
The next time we woke up, it was because Hadley’s phone was ringingshrilly.
I glared at the cat on principle, and it returned to looking out the window.
“What is it?” Hadley’s voice was rough and sexy. “Yes, I’m sleeping. Slater’s sleeping.” She looked over at me. “We were sleeping, Savvy. What time is it?” She sat bolt upright. “Shit. Dustin!”
Hadley dropped the phone.
“You’re late for practice.”
I checked the time and swore. “Fuck!”
Hadley scrambled around the covers and found her phone again. She watched me get dressed, listening to whatever Savvy was saying on the phone.
“Dante’s got what you need, but you need to run,” she told me as I pulled on my shirt.
I ran to the door and then back to her, kissing her firmly. “I’ll see you later. Catch the cat!”
I ran down the stairs and heard her shout from behind me, “Asshole!” I laughed all the way to the stadium.
Dante was pacing when I reached the front door. I had no pass, nothing. The first thing he noticed was my hands and the scratch marks the cat had left.
“I don’t want to know.”
I rolled my eyes. “It was the cat.”
“Yeah. Right.” We hurried to the locker room. “He believes you stayed at your mom’s overnight; the fact that you’re wearing nice clothes helps. The fact you smell of sex doesn’t.”
“I’ve always been very close to my mother.”
Dante stopped, shaking his head. “Wrong. So wrong.” He laughed despite his best efforts. “Your head in the game?” he asked before he opened the door.
“Never doubt it.”
We walked in, and Sutherland was on me.
“Where the hell have you been?” He marched toward me, and Dante pressed a bottle of water into my hand.
I took a quick drink as Dante stepped in front of me.
“Coach, he’s been driving for three hours, he’s here, and he’s only forty-five minutes late. I told you, there was an accident on I-65.”
I gulped water, composed my features, and hoped Hadley hadn’t left any visible marks on me. “Hey, real sorry about being late.”
He seethed.
I waited.
Dante took a step to the side.
Sutherland looked between Dante and me. He pointed at me and said, “Don’t bother changing, you look like shit. You’re too tired for training. Go to your dorm and sleep. I’ll see you here tomorrow at six.”
“I’m fine.” I protested.
“Spence, Matthews, you can go too.” He turned and walked away.