Page 17 of Call the Shots (For The Arena #1)

BEAR

THACK THACK THACK

June left around five to collect the garbage bag, giving me the perfect window to escape my room. Denali hit me up to join in the second-floor lounge, and I walked in to see June dumping the bag. Her eyes flickered to me, a flush creeping up her neck. “Bear, you’re not invited.”

“The energizer bunny couldn’t make it,” I sighed. “I’m filling in.”

She glowered.

“My alternate captain needs to be here,” Denali said and June rolled her eyes. It didn’t matter, I wasn’t leaving. The three of us gathered around the papers and June put Cleo on a video call.

“What are we supposed to be looking for?” Denali asked.

“Anything out of the ordinary,” Cleo answered, typing on her laptop.

“Elicit tax documents, an email print-out of how he secretly hates Marrs, missed child support payments, porn screenshots—” June waved her hand, showing that she could’ve kept going. “Something worthwhile.”

“I don’t understand how him being an awful coach isn’t grounds for termination,” Denali muttered.

“It’s our word against him. That’s why whatever we find has to be really good,” June said, scanning the documents. “We need something Marrs can’t ignore.”

June sat back on her knees, sweeping her blonde hair in a ponytail.

Her lips pursed as she studied the documents, her fingers working through the strands of her hair.

The nape of her neck was bare, I could see the splash of faint freckles and two moles, kind of like the stars of a constellation, before her hair tumbled down, hiding them from view.

“Bear,” Denali interjected and my attention snapped to him holding a packet with my picture on it.

I thumbed through my stats. high school career, and emails from my trainers. “Doesn’t he need this?”

“These are copies,” Denali said but June licked her thumb and rubbed at the signatures, bleeding the ink across the page. Denali shifted back on his knees. “Uh…I thought they were copies.”

It wasn’t just my information either. At the bottom of the pile, we had the official and signed documents for every Gladiator.

“Cleo?” June broke the silence. “Riley isn’t here.”

Shit, she was right. I dug through the packets, but Townsend didn’t jump out at me. He was the only player we didn’t have information on.

“What does that mean?” Denali asked. “He didn’t throw it away or…?”

“I don’t know,” Cleo admitted. “But it’s the only thing we have to go on.”

The four of us prepared statements for the sudden pickup from the shredding company—an explanation for why the shredding company had come even if they obviously hadn’t dropped by the Colo in months.

Cleo even made a fake invoice. But Vernon never brought it up, never mentioned it.

That would take actually being in the Colo to see us.

It was the same with Riley. From the gym sessions he skipped to the practices he was late for, he was barely there too. So I wasn’t shocked when he didn’t arrive for the rage room.

It was fucking miserable in the scorching heat of Houston.

Because we didn’t pay for it, the team had to sit on the curb, waiting for a stockbroker company to finish up their bonding time.

More than twenty of us were sweating our asses off while June practiced flashcards with Montoya for his classes.

I watched her out of the corner of my eye, the ghost of the buzzsaw tugging at me. After hearing her use that, I couldn’t stop thinking about it, and it made regular jerking off pointless. Just not as good. If I could’ve gotten laid, maybe that’d take the edge off, but my brain wouldn’t cooperate.

The door opened, a guy in a neon vest poking his head out. “Are we ready?”

The rage room had dented washing machines, broken computer screens, chipped dishes, and empty plastic cups of beer from the last customers, leaving the floor a sticky mess. The idea was to break as much stuff as possible for fun, but it felt so performative.

“We’ll be taking videos for social media,” Cleo announced. “No cursing.”

My team exchanged looks. Nobody budged from our awkward ranks.

“Um, Cleo, do you want to go first?” June asked.

“I just got my nails done.”

June took a hesitant walk to the table of weapons. Crowbars, hammers, long pipes, she hefted them in her hands, looking out of place. Somehow, the pink Marrs shirt and shoes with little bows didn’t say she was ready to kick ass.

Finally, she selected the baseball bat and took her place at a glass window, mostly intact. “So…I guess I hit it.”

No one said anything.

The first hit made a thack sound, bouncing her back like a cartoon character. It was painful to watch, especially the startled look on her face. I pinched the bridge of my nose. “June. Harder than that.”

“Shut up, Bear.”

“This isn’t a beauty pageant, you have to hit it.”

June hit it with the baseball bat again. Thack .

I sighed. “June. Harder. ”

“Basil lines up her next swing…” Elijah called like a sportscaster. “Been hammering slow balls, let’s see her make a home run?—”

“Shut up, Elijah!”

“Want one of us to take over?” I pressed. More chuckles followed.

“What is this window made out of?” June tightened her grip and let the baseball bat soar.

Thack.

“Have you ever broken a window before?” Nick asked.

I stepped forward. “Change your stance?—”

“Goddammit!” she swore and hit the window again, harder, faster. She swore again and the baseball bat whistled through the air before thack— nothing. June hurried to brush at her eyes, and she hit from overhead— thack, thack, THACK .

Holy shit, is she crying?

“MOTHERFUCKER!” June screamed, slamming the baseball bat against the window before cracks appeared.

There was no way she noticed. She was too busy biting out curses until the window exploded outward in a million pieces.

June kicked away a hollowed-out microwave and the baseball bat flew like an extension of her arm, beating everything in a five-foot radius, reducing glass to pieces, breaking apart frames, leaving destruction in her wake.

Breathing hard, June whirled around, her ponytail undone, her face pink. Everyone stared. Silent. Stunned.

Montoya gave her two thumbs-up. “Nice job, June!”

The kid obviously didn’t pick up this wasn’t normal.

“Yeah—yeah.” June dropped the baseball bat, leaving for the door. “That’s how you do it.”

Cleo tried to follow but June waved her away. The other guys went to the weapons, selecting what they wanted, but I watched the door swing shut. Slowly, I pulled off my protective goggles.

I didn’t have a plan for how to talk to June. I just kept thinking about how shiny her eyes looked. The angry tears she hurried to wipe away. Scanning the hallways, searching for a hint of blonde hair, I caught sight of her on the curb outside, phone to her ear.

“This is self-preservation,” I muttered to myself, heading to the service counter. “June’s your roommate. If she snaps and murders someone, you’re the closest warm body.”

The cashier glanced up from his phone. “Yeah?”

“Do you have…?” I checked the snacks they had available, chocolate bars and bags of chips. June would shrug those off. “I don’t know. Something healthy?”

“We have smoothies.”

Great, June liked smoothies. I saw her get them at Gianna’s .

Actually…the more I thought about it, the more I realized those were the only things I could remember her buying.

That couldn’t be right. I wracked my brain, thinking of the last time I saw her buy solid food at Gianna’s.

Maybe…salads? I couldn’t even remember what she ate for breakfast.

Maybe June had a thing against eating around others?

Whatever. The smoothie would be a good segue.

Hey, got you a smoothie. You won’t take a hammer to my ankles, right? Or smother me with a pillow? Just wondering.

I watched the sliver of June through the window.

It looked like her social media went dark last semester but there was still plenty from before that.

I scrolled through her accounts this morning.

Always football games. Always with her arm wrapped around someone’s waist, where people commented about how blah, blah, blah wouldn’t exist without her.

June, in miniskirts, blue jackets, and eyeshadow so bright, it became the main focus of the picture.

To June, now. June, with her hair cut, draped below her shoulders.

Most days she didn’t have makeup on. I knew she put a lot of effort into it when she wore it, and it looked great, but there was something about her naked face that was hard to look away from.

How her lips puckered when she contemplated something, the tiny lines on the bridge of her nose when she gave one of those frowns that looked out of place because her face wasn’t meant to frown.

June was the most likely person in Roman Villa to have a nervous breakdown, but she was also…really pretty. Naturally gorgeous. Like someone would’ve taken a picture of her with the first camera, because that’s what cameras were invented for.

“Your smoothie?”

“Huh?” I jerked back. “Oh, yeah.”

I made my way to the front door, careful to keep the drink from spilling. No lids left, just my luck. I slowly pulled open the door?—

“Well, I love you, King.”

I froze. The door was only a few inches open, but I could clearly hear June.

“Uh-huh. Yeah. I can’t believe I missed paintball. Uh-huh. No. Um…maybe next time.”

My fingers curled over the door handle. She said ‘ I love you’ to King?

“I’m drowning in hockey,” June admitted. “I’m in way over my head. The moment my contract’s up, I’m never going near the Colo again.”

My stomach sank, and I fought off that feeling. Of all things, why did I give a shit? I already knew June couldn’t wait to say goodbye to hockey. It was obvious. This was a temporary solution to keep her on campus and once her contract with the Gladiators was up, she wouldn’t renew it. Fine by me.

“I was wondering if you wanted to do the relationship thing again. My parents are kind of hounding me.”

Was June seriously asking King out? She had a mental breakdown in the rage room, and her first thought was to go back to an ex? That couldn’t be a good thing. Even if it was, it made me sick thinking about it.

“No, I understand. It’s okay. I’ll be okay.”

King said no.

A breath of relief escaped me, one I didn’t realize I had bottled up inside.

“ What are you doing? ” a voice growled. I jerked around to see Nick, smirking, and the green smoothie sloshed up my shirt—oh fucking fantastic .

I grabbed for him, but Nick ducked away. There was only so much I could do without getting smoothie everywhere. The door whisked open to reveal June.

“Were you listening to my conversation? ”

Oh, shit.

“Yes, he was.” Nick smirked and strode away.

I wiped the smoothie into the cup. “I was going to talk to you but?—”

“You were eavesdropping.”

“No, I?—”

“You’re bright red, Bear.”

“I wanted to see if you’re close to a rampage. You scared everybody in there, killer.”

June stiffened. “I don’t take comments from people who look like a baby threw up on them.”

The whole reason I bought that stupid smoothie was for her . “No?” I asked, mock-serious. “Just exes to crawl back to?”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said coldly. “Which shouldn’t be an unfamiliar sensation to you.”

“Well, I said that wrong anyway. You can’t crawl back to somebody who doesn’t want you?—”

June put her hands on her hips. “I’ve been cockblocking you since I moved in!”

I paused, taken aback. “What?”

“Every time a girl finds out I’m living with you, all they want is Big Dick Bear’s number?—”

God, that nickname. That stupid fucking nickname.

“You want me all to yourself?” I taunted. “Can’t get enough?”

She yanked the cup away and splashed the smoothie in my face. Shit.

I smeared the leftovers off, and it dripped to the floor. “You finally got your aim right.”

“And I picked the perfect janitor. Clean this up.” She snapped her fingers to the gift shop. “Napkins are at the counter.”