Campus Player

He squints before cocking his head. “That might be so, but she needs you more than she needs your protection.”

I shift my weight as a flutter of nerves explodes in the pit of my belly. Maybe I should have been honest with her from the very beginning, instead of trying to hide my past. “She might not forgive me.”

“You’re right, but you won’t know until you try.”

With a jerk of my head, I hit the showers. It’s a painful admittance to realize that I might have fucked up the best thing in my life, because I was too scared to open up and tell her the truth.

Coach is right. It might be too late to work things out, but I won’t know until I try.

40

Demi

The apartment door whips open, and Sydney races inside with excitement dancing in her eyes like it’s Christmas morning and her birthday all wrapped up into one. I haven’t seen her this ecstatic since...

Well, never. I’ve never seen this level of elation from her. Sydney is usually lowkey. Unless she’s angry. Then watch out.

When I raise my brows, she crows, “I have the best flipping news ever!” I don’t get a chance to bombard her with questions before the words explode from her tongue. “Annica broke her ankle over the weekend! She’s out for the rest of the season!”

My mouth falls open. No matter what I thought she might say, that certainly wasn’t it.

Holy crap!

“Yeah,” she nods enthusiastically, “I know, right? I have to say, I didn’t really believe in karma before, but this has totally changed that line of thinking.” She drops onto the overstuffed chair across from me before throwing her arms wide. “I’m a big believer now!”

“Then you should be careful,” I warn. “I’m pretty sure karma doesn’t appreciate when you revel in the misfortune of others.”

Sydney makes a big show of rolling her eyes. “Listen, Annica deserves it and karma, that glorious bitch, realizes it as well.”

“How did it happen?”

“I guess she was really drunk Saturday night and tripped down someone’s front porch steps. When she couldn’t put pressure on her foot, her friends made the boneheaded decision to take her to the emergency room.” She turns gleeful. Kind of like the Grinch anticipating Whoville’s disappointment on Christmas morning. “Get this—not only did she break her ankle, she also got a drinking ticket too, and now has to face sanctions from both Coach and the university. Triple whammy.” With a pause, she counts out something on her fingers. “More like quadruple whammy.”

My eyes widen. “That’s terrible.”

“No, she’s terrible, and you,” she stabs a finger in my direction, “of all people should know it.”

With a shrug, I glance away. Yeah, Annica has turned out to be a real pain in my ass, but that doesn’t mean I wish her any ill will. Fine...maybe a teeny-tiny shred of it. But it sounds like she got the motherload in one fell swoop.

“You know,” Sydney says, breaking into the chaotic whirl of my thoughts, “she caused a lot of friction with the team. It’s like she thrived on it.”

That’s true. Annica did seem to enjoy the discord. Most people understand that a team can’t succeed unless they band together to achieve a collective goal. Does that necessarily mean every player’s personality will mesh? Of course not.

Guess that wasn’t a lesson that Annica learned early in life like the rest of us.

“With her out for the rest of the season, maybe we can get the team gelling again.”

If there’s anything good that comes out of the situation, it’s that we pull the younger girls back into the fold and get them to buy into the idea of working together to bring home a championship. At this point, it’s not too late to turn things around. I think that’s what we all want.

Now that Sydney has shared the good tidings, she huffs and rises to her feet. “All right, I’ve got to head over to the library for a couple of hours.”

I perk up. “Want some company? I’m not busy, I can come with you.” It would probably be a good idea to get out of the apartment for a little bit. It’s been more than a week since the breakup, and I’m still all sad bastard. Even I’m tired of being around myself.

“I wish you could.” A scowl twists her pretty face. “Unfortunately, I’m meeting up with Brayden to work on that stupid project.”

“Oh.” Their strange interaction pops into my head. I’ve been so focused on my own situation, that I almost forgot about her run in with Brayden. “He’s a nice guy, I’m surprised you have such a problem with him.”

She straightens to her full height and stares at me like I’ve grown a horn on my head. “How can you even say that?”

Ummm...

“I don’t know.” I’ve never had an issue with the handsome wide receiver. He’s always treated me like a little sister. Out of all the guys on the team, he’s probably the one I trust most. Clearly, Sydney feels differently—which is strange. As far as I know, nothing has ever happened between them to bring out such animosity in her. “Most girls would be thrilled to be partnered up with him.”