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CHAPTER1
NYLAH
With a huff, I hitch my bag onto my shoulder and head into the football stadium.
I don’t even want to be here, but one of the conditions of moving out of the house was that I come home every Wednesday night for dinner, and apparently catching an Uber to my parents’ house is an act against God or something.
Honestly.
I’m so over being wrapped in a cocoon, but I’m not sure how to get out of it without offending the people who have been there for me through thick and thin.
Smiling at the campus police who are doing their rounds, I swipe the card Dad gave me and head through the stadium gates.
Practice would have finished over half an hour ago, so most of the team will either be in therapy training or showering up. I wonder if I’ll be lucky enough to see any of them as they leave. A few weeks ago, I got some sexy winks and smiles… even a wolf whistle. I know as a girl, I’m supposed to be indignant about that kind of thing, but just quietly, it was a real confidence booster.
Muscly, sporty, smokin’ hot football players noticed me. And not because of my limp. They noticed me in a way that made one of them whistle, and I couldn’t deny myself a little thrill when I heard that sound.
I’m out in the world again!
I might be a year behind everybody else, but I’m doing it. I’m finally living out my dream of attending college. It’s not exactly the way I wanted it. If life hadn’t completely screwed me over, I’d be living it up at Stanford with my boyfriend, not single and nursing a wounded heart…and a limp that gets hard to hide by the end of the day.
Doing my best to walk normally, I defer having to interact with my dad and take the long route to his office. I know the place like the back of my hand. Ever since I could walk again, I’ve been down here when Dad needed to come in after hours. I limped these corridors for hours.
I can still hear my little sister’s squeals as my brothers chased her—her cries bouncing off the concrete walls, then dissipating as she hit the open field, the sound getting lost in the vast stands.
Glancing around me, I walk up the tunnel, my hope of seeing hotties dwindling. I can’t even hear any footsteps or shuffling of players.
Dammit.
There goes my eye candy for the day.
I mean, I shouldn’t complain. Nolan U campus is filled with guys I can check out. And it’s not like I’m some kind of leering sex fiend, but after having spent a year of my life cooped up inside, it’s damn good to be out and about, enjoying the view.
Well, mostly.
I had pretty high expectations when my parents finally agreed to let me enroll. I wanted Stanford, but they couldn’t handle me living that far away, so I gave up that dream. I guess it wasn’t too hard. The idea of bumping into my ex was kind of painful after the way he treated me, so it’s probably a good thing I’m here. I just wishherewasn’t on my parents’ doorstep.
Thank God I’ve finally moved into a dorm.
Although my roommate’s a little… I don’t know… high-strung?
Oh man, I hope things get easier with her. She’s probably annoyed that her first roommate bailed on her, and now she has to get to know somebody else. She seems kind of shy and twitchy even though I’ve done my best to be friendly.
I sigh, trying to shake off these blues before family dinner. I don’t want my mom reading into stuff and then insisting dorm life is too much for me and I need to move back home.
Ugh! It took me so long to get out of there. I can’t go losing the ground I made after only one week in a dorm.
I’m going to make this work, dammit.
I have to.
Limping out onto the grass, I smile up at the stands around me. Man, I love the stadium when it’s empty. It’s so vast and spacious and?—
A grunt from the other end of the field distracts me and I glance to my right, my lips twitching as I spot a guy with messy blond hair and a dark scowl collecting up the gear.
Well, hello, eye candy.
I definitely recognize him. He plays pretty regularly. What is his name again?