Font Size
Line Height

Page 33 of Call the Shots (For The Arena #1)

JUNE

NO CONCHA

The hangover had my brain feeling like Swiss cheese and I groaned into my pillow, faintly aware of the knock at the door. What time is it? My phone was off, and my alarm clock was…unplugged?

Unplugged?

The door creaked open, and Bear glanced in, freshly showered, hair slicked-back.

The hangover took a backseat as sympathy coursed through me.

I had no idea that Bear’s nudes were leaked, but it was more than that.

While he’d been going through that, I’d been vacationing with his family, complaining that Bear didn’t want to join.

Something wasn’t adding up. I didn’t believe that Bear had been avoiding family time anymore. But what was the alternative?

It took me forever to fall asleep last night. I kept tossing and turning, thinking about him.

“What time is it?” I tried to swing over the bed, but the dull ache of my ankle stopped me.

“Eight.”

“ Eight? I unplugged my alarm clock?—”

“No, I unplugged it.”

“You—what?”

“You needed sleep.” He hesitated. “I’m sorry about last night. I haven’t…uh…talked about that in a while…”

“I won’t tell anyone,” I promise.

“I got you crutches and breakfast. I didn’t know what to get, it’s your Gianna’s order. Usually you just have one of those shake things, but we drank a lot last night, so?—”

Slowly, I inched off the bed. “Um—thank you.”

I tried to tell him I was fine but no matter how many times I repeated it, Bear kept hovering. He joined me while I hobbled across campus, but his legs were too long. For every five strides of mine, it was one painfully slow step of his.

“I don’t like the big gestures for help, okay?” I whispered, burning bright red. “They’re mortifying.”

My crutches caught on the grate outside of my poli-sci building and Bear snagged my backpack, grabbing my neck like a kitten to pull it away from me.

“ Bear! ”

“It’s fine, I have your backpack.”

“I don’t want you to have it!”

Bear just walked ahead and waited, beginning the torture again.

I thought I got rid of him after my first class but when I walked out, there he was, scrolling on his phone. I tried to quietly crutch myself down the hall, but his footsteps echoed behind me.

“Shit, shit, shit,” I whispered, crutching a little faster before my backpack was yanked again. “Bear!”

“You’re going the wrong way. It’s this way.”

“Because I’m trying to get away from you—what?” I frowned. “How do you know my class schedule?”

“I asked Cleo.”

“She gave it to you?”

“Well, I wasn’t a hundred percent truthful about why I needed it?—”

“I’m fine. Leave me alone. ”

Mortifying. Humiliating. Embarrassing. I had a headache that was dedicated to Bear when we walked into astronomy together. I took my usual seat and put my head in my hands. “Please stop following me around.”

The class was freed up from dropouts and students skipping, we were the only two people next to each other. “I’m sitting here in case you drop a pencil or something.”

“I’m not in a body cast?—”

“What do I do to even the score between us?”

“What are you talking about?”

“I’m trying to say I’m sorry!” Bear blurted out. “I’m sorry for being a gigantic shithead with asshole tendencies and flooding the dorm and saying mean shit to you and—and I’m sorry and I don’t know how to say it and I’ve never done this before and I’m sorry, June!”

As his words tapered off, the two of us glanced to see the class staring at us, silent. The blush burned, especially when Dr. Schulman shuffled into class.

“Well, Mr. Moreau,” he said. “If you’re done admitting to being a ‘gigantic shithead,’ I’d like to teach my course.”

“Sorry, sir,” Bear mumbled, eyes on the desk.

I felt awful for Bear. The embarrassment was overwhelming but so was the guilt. When I broke up with Xavier, I knew he lied to me. So why did I believe him about Bear?

I ripped a piece of paper and scribbled two words on it.

no concha

Bear wrote four words below that.

no concha - im sorry

I flipped to a fresh sheet of notebook paper to take notes while Dr. Schulman talked about the basics of matter. Bear jotted down something else.

i dont know how to do this

I motioned that it was fine, but he passed a new piece of paper.

how do i make it okay

I stole another look at him.

bear its fine i promise

Bear wrote something and erased it until the paper ripped. He froze. Quickly, he tore the rest of it to pieces, then swept them into his backpack.

My wish was granted. When class ended, Bear shot out of his chair, and I didn’t see him at my next class or on my way to the library to study with Montoya.

No matter how many times I asked privately, none of his teammates ever joined us.

Whatever. I had a killer hangover and papers to write.

With my upcoming trip to Austin, I’d gathered up alternative assignments from all of my professors to make up for the week of being gone.

The only one who refused to let me get the points was Dr. Schulman but that was fine, I had an A in his class anyway.

At the library, I had to get a head start on my homework, that was what was really important.

Except, when I saw our usual table, I stopped at the stairs.

Three other tables from around the library had been crammed against ours and extra chairs were added, leaving Montoya surrounded by Fridge, Denali, Elijah, Nick, and…Bear.

“June!” Montoya hurried up to me. “The guys are studying with us.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. The older guys.”

He vibrated with excitement, and without looking up, Bear pulled out my chair. I slowly sat down, gazing around at the Gladiators. They were typing on laptops and highlighting notes while Denali and Bear checked off their inventory lists.

Bear did this. I didn’t know what he traded for it, or what kind of threats were thrown, but I knew he put this together.

Quickly, I ripped out a piece of paper and wrote two words.

thank you

He slipped the paper in his pocket, frowning over his laptop. “That’s it for the inventory, Denali. We’re done.”

“Goddammit,” Denali muttered. “That can’t be it.”

“We have two boxes of tape left, how is this supposed to last us through the summer?”

Denali rubbed his temples. “We need to hold a meeting. We can’t keep going like this.”

We’d finished counting up the supplies in the Colo and it wasn’t looking good. I tried to convince my parents to become a sponsor for the hockey team, but that conversation didn’t go anywhere. Without Coach Vernon, the team was at an impasse.

“There she is,” Montoya whispered, sliding in his seat.

I bit back a smile. She was our real reason for studying in the library. The rest of the guys glanced at the figure skaters.

“Hey, those are the girls from the Colo,” Nick said. “Kid’s Toy has a crush.”

Montoya shrank down, which was impossible, he was too tall.

“Which one?” Denali craned his neck. “Did you ask her out?”

“I can’t do that,” Montoya whispered.

“Why not?” Nick demanded.

I smiled. “I’ve been trying to convince him…”

“She doesn’t even know I exist.”

Bear shook his head. “That’s not true, you ate shit in front of those girls when you flew into the bench.”

“ Bear, ” I chided him.

“Go get her number,” Fridge said.

“I can’t do that?—”

“Yes, you can. It’s easy.”

“You never made a move on that student reporter,” Denali pointed out.

“That was different,” Fridge shrugged. “Tallulah was interviewing us, I didn’t want to overstep.”

“I thought you were just talking to her?” Nick frowned. “You’re not really into Tallulah.”

“So you’re saying if you saw her again…?” Denali trailed off, nodding towards the table at the windows.

We moved as one, creaking our chairs to check out the table with editors and the reporters for the student paper. Tallulah hunched over her notes, sparkly headband glittering in the fluorescent lights.

Fridge rolled his shoulders. “Alright, Montoya. Watch and learn. I’ll show you how it’s done.”

One of Tallulah’s friends nudged her when Fridge walked over. Everyone swiveled to gaze at him, Tallulah gaped like a fish, but he didn’t flinch at the attention.

I couldn’t hear what Fridge said, but the longer he continued, the darker Tallulah blushed.

Elijah shoved Montoya. “Are you writing this down?”

“Huh? What do I write?”

“Just write stuff down!”

Montoya scribbled furiously until Fridge returned, flashing a sticky note with a number on it. Everyone was ecstatic except for Denali, muttering under his breath, and Nick, shell-shocked.

“How did you do that?” Montoya urged.

“You walk over, you’re nice, not too forward. Make your intentions clear. I told her I couldn’t stop thinking about her, and I wanted to see her again.”

I groaned. “You’re so good .”

“Thank you. I asked if she’s busy Thursday. There’s a park downtown that plays outdoor movies, we could bring blankets and a pint of ice cream.”

Denali rolled his eyes.

“I said her name’s beautiful and asked where it’s from.

She said it’s Choctaw, I asked if she’s Choctaw, she’s not, she’s Cherokee, I fucked up.

” He shrugged. “Her being native has nothing to do with her name, her mom picked it because she likes Hitchcock movies. That’s on me for assuming.

” Fridge relaxed in his chair, waiting for Montoya to finish writing notes.

“I said I’m sorry and the conversation kept going.

Don’t be afraid to apologize. That’s where most dudes fuck up.

If you can say ‘I’m sorry’ and wash your ass, you’re ahead of ninety percent of the competition?—”

“That’s enough.” Denali folded his arms over his chest.

“I want to learn,” Montoya whispered.

“Learn from somebody who won’t have you simping for pussy.”

Fridge narrowed his eyes. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means you’re doing too much. It’s cringy as fuck, dude.”

“ Cringy? ”

Denali turned to Montoya. “Even if you put in effort, girls will say no anyway, so you don’t?—”

“Wow.” Fridge whistled. “Are you single?”

Denali shifted. “Why would I want a relationship? I don’t have time to waste?—”

“Aw. Man.” Fridge tsked. “Montoya, don’t listen to Bitter Dude With A Shitty Attitude over there.”

“Listen to Denali about everything else but love,” Elijah warned. “Love is like floating on a giant garbage island but it’s the greatest thing that’ll ever happen to you. When you find that somebody…” He held up his fist and spread his fingers in a burst. “It’s lightning.”

I knew exactly who he was talking about, the waitress, Sloane, at Gianna’s . They had an on-again, off-again thing that drove Elijah’s twin sister crazy. I smiled. “Sometimes I forget how much of a romantic you are.”

“He hangs out with his girlfriend all the time,” Montoya said.

I paused. “Girlfriend?”

“There’s no way you have a girlfriend.” Bear chuckled. “I don’t believe it.”

Elijah cleared his throat. “Uh…”

“No, they’re dating, look. Her name’s Willow. She’s really nice.” Montoya showed a photo of Elijah, with a gorgeous Black girl pressed against him, cheek to cheek. I stared, confused. Elijah liked Sloane, so who was this? I didn’t recognize her.

“There’s no way you’re dating her, ” Nick laughed. “You two? How? ”

“Brain damage,” Bear said gravely.

“Nope.” Fridge shook his head. “Women date below their level if they see other attractive attributes. That’s why it’s good to have hobbies and be able to hold a conversation. You can look rough and still bag a hot girl if you’re funny.”

“I have fucking feelings, guys,” Elijah interjected.

My phone buzzed along with everyone else’s. We glanced at each other and checked the message.

“What fresh bullshit is this?” Elijah muttered.

I stared without comprehension at our main chat— Gladiators and Staff Official Chat . It was a picture of a flyer, hung up in one of the gyms.

“Oh, shit,” Fridge muttered.

“Are we in trouble?” Montoya whispered.

The flyer was a warning.

HOCKEY PLAYERS CAUGHT AT FRATERNITY EVENTS WILL BE REPRIMANDED BY FACULTY

Ad If ads affect your reading experience, click here to remove ads on this page.