Hard Pass (St. Louis Mavericks 3)

“Organically?”

“Yeah, like the other night when we were all out. Next time I’ll offer her a ride home. One thing can lead to another…”

“And it won’t seem at all suspicious to her that you just happen to know where she is yet again?”

“It’ll be fine. She’s warming up to me.”

He grunted. “She won’t be so warm when she finds out you’ve been scamming her.”

I looked over both shoulders to make sure no one had overheard him.

“Don’t say shit like that when people are around,” I hissed. “No one knows but me and you, asshole. And I’m not scamming her.”

“Lying to her is better?”

“I’m working on it, okay? I just don’t want to ruin everything.”

He was about to respond when we had to make an abrupt stop behind Alvarado, who had stopped skating and was bent over at the waist.

“Fuck,” Alvarado muttered.

“Are you okay?” Lars asked.

Alvarado put out a hand. “I’m fine. Leave me alone.”

He leaned back up and took off on his skates, flying toward the chute.

“Where the hell are you going?” Coach yelled.

“Bathroom!”

“I wonder if he has that stomach flu that’s going around,” Boone said, stopping beside me and Lars.

“He might,” Lars said. “The doorman at our building has been very sick with it.”

“Nah, I don’t think it’s serious,” I said.

Lars scoffed. “Are you a doctor now? How would you know?”

“I’m not a doctor, but if I wanted to play one on TV, I think I’d do pretty great.” I cleared my throat. “Get me a CBC, chem panel, and a pelvic exam, stat.”

Boone laughed. “You’re such a dumbass.”

Lars’s brows were lowered in a serious expression. “I think I will just grab my bag after practice and go. I don’t want that flu. Sheridan stopped her birth control and she could get pregnant anytime, and I don’t want to get her sick.”

“Yeah?” I clapped him on the shoulder. “That’s fucking awesome, dude.”

“Not if I get her sick with the flu.”

“Don’t worry about that.” I waved a hand. “Alvarado doesn’t have the flu. I put laxatives in his water bottle.”

Boone roared with laughter. “Oh damn, I wish I could be in that locker room right now.”

“We may not be able to see him, but we can listen to it later,” I said. “I put an audio recorder in the bathroom.”

Arching his brows in amusement, Boone said, “Remind me never to get on your bad side, bro.”

Chapter Fifteen

Sariah

* * *

I’d started packing for the big move to my new apartment and I was exhausted. It was actually a relief to go to work. My goal was to pack one box each night after work and then pack as many as possible on my days off. I also found myself sorting through stuff I didn’t need anymore, which made the packing process take even longer. I took perverse pleasure in throwing out things that had been Theo’s, like a can of shaving cream in the back of the bathroom cabinet and an entire box of his daily contact lenses. There were also books, magazines, and a ton of knickknacks I hadn’t even noticed until I’d started packing.

I’d signed the lease on my new apartment, and though it was small and had fewer amenities, it was going to make my bank account much happier. One of my goals was to be able to hire a cleaning service once I got settled. With the schedule I worked, I rarely had full days off to catch up on cooking, cleaning, and doing laundry.

When I got into the office on Monday, after packing and purging the day before, I was sore. I’d stopped at Starbucks on the way to work, but this was the kind of day where I secretly hoped Nash would show up with a coffee for me after practice. I was going to need all the caffeine I could get my hands on in the coming weeks.

My phone was ringing as I sat down at my desk and I grabbed it absently. “Sales department. This is Sariah. How may I help you?”

“Hey, it’s Mo.”

“Hey, girl!”

“There are two huge bags of fan letters in my office that need some love and attention. You wanna come to my office and go through some with me? I need to tell you the latest about Tony and this gives us an excuse to hang out and talk.”

“Sure. Give me a few minutes.”

“See ya.”

I disconnected and took care of some emails that needed my attention. I’d just gotten up to head to Mo’s office when I noticed a familiar pair of blue eyes peering at me from across the room.

Nash.

Holding coffee.

“Hey, Nash.” I smiled at him.

“Hi. How was your weekend?” He held out the cup of coffee and I took it.

“Thank you. You have no idea how much I appreciate this. I’m getting ready to move so I spent most of the weekend cleaning and packing. I’m going to need to mainline caffeine the next few weeks.”