Masters’ mouth twitches. “Everyone has their reasons.” He shifts to Jack. “What are you doing tonight?”
“Thought I’d take Ellie out. Maybe go downtown.”
“Nah. There’s got to be a party around here.” He leans toward the quarterback. “Ace, what’s the drill for tonight?”
Ace jerks a thumb over his shoulder. “Hammer’s throwing a party.”
Masters stretches his long arms across the table, circling his tray and reaching across the invisible center line that separates his space from mine.
“We’re going to Hammer’s party.”
The words spread like a wave from one player to the other. Ace might be the quarterback, but Masters is the leader of this squad. I suspect that if he told the squad to strip and run naked in the quad right now, they’d jump up and start ripping off their clothes without a moment’s hesitation. He holds them in his large palm. As his smile pulls up at one corner, I feel like I’m there too. That’s far too dangerous of a place for me.
I jerk back. Maybe Jack’s back isn’t big enough for me to hide behind. I think I need to put distance between myself and temptation. “I think I’ll stay in tonight. I have a lot of unpacking to do.”
Jack, like the good brother he is, doesn’t point out that I’ve already unpacked everything. He tosses his napkin on the table. “Sure. I’ll walk you back to your apartment.”
Masters stands as we do. “Bring her to Hammer’s party. She’ll enjoy it.”
It’s an order, not a request.
6 Knox
So that’s what scurrying looks like I think as Eliot Campbell runs away. I shake my head. Eliot’s all wrong for her. Her brother calls her Ellie. Ellie fits better, but it’s still not quite right. Maybe mine?
“Hard to believe those two came from the same family. Do you think one of them is adopted?” Telly asks as we watch the Campbells exit the dining hall.
“Kind of plain. I barely noticed she sat there.” Hammer appears out of nowhere. For a big guy, the lineman moves like a ninja.
“She’s got a nice ass.” Telly rubs his chin as if seriously considering all of Ellie's well-hidden charms. Tonight she wore what I guess is the baggiest T-shirt she owns. I didn’t like seeing her in a guy’s shirt, even her brother’s. I had to stifle all my instincts when her brother put his arm across the back of her chair.
Seeing her with another male—no matter how little of a threat he is—rouses a very deep response in me.
As for plain…shit, these boys are blind. Ellie has the prettiest brown eyes that spit fire when she argues, and those lips? Holy hell, I’d like them pressed against me and wrapped around my dick. Whenever she pushed them together, I wanted to pry them open with my tongue. Still do.
“How can you tell under the tent she has on?” someone else asks.
“You are men of little imagination,” I murmur. I check my watch. It’s a little after seven. I should be able to call my brother before I hit Hammer’s place. “What time are you opening the doors?” I ask him.
He’s staring at me. They all are. I may make out with a random girl here or there at parties, but I’ve never shown any serious interest. While my sexual status was a joke when I was a freshman, my ability on the field has made it something of a holy artifact. Half the team believes our success is the result of my intestinal fortitude. “I thought sisters were off limits,” he stammers out.
“They are to you, Hammer.”
•••
Matty Iverson, our weak side linebacker, is in my apartment drinking a beer when I get home. The house we live in is one of eight in a block. A booster bought them and gave them back to the university for subsidized athlete housing, but only the starters live in the Playground, as it’s called. I’m not sure who named it, some alum four teams ago or something.
I’ve got my own place on the third floor, but most of the time one of my teammates is up here.
“Why weren’t you at dinner tonight?” Eating together every Thursday night is a team tradition. It’s not mandated by the program, but you better have a damn good excuse for not showing up. Better to bring your sister, as Jack did, than not come at all.
“The parental units are still in town. They cleared it with Coach at the last minute. I texted you.” Matty lifts his phone to show me his text. I pull my own phone out of my pocket.
“So you did.” I find the sheet coach gave us of players to watch for and find Jack’s number. I punch that into my contacts. If Ellie doesn’t give me her number tonight, I’ll have to get it from her brother. “You still hungry?”
One dinner a night doesn’t really satisfy anyone’s appetite, not when you’re working out three to four hours a day.
“You know it. What you got?”
I rummage around in the freezer. “Burritos?”
“Hammer having a party tonight?”
We look at each other and then the burrito. I toss it back into the freezer. “Right. Nothing says sexy like ripping one while you’re trying to close the deal. Hot Pocket?”
“Yeah, I’ll take two.”
I throw two in the microwave. “Three minutes, bro. Be right back. I’m calling my brother. You need anything else?”
He throws his feet onto the coffee table. “Nah, I’m good.”
I shut the bedroom door and flip open my computer. My brother, Ty, answers the video call on the first ring. He must be watching porn or game film on his laptop.