Page 7 of Matched (LSU #5)

J ogging out onto the pitch, I screwed up my eyes against the sudden brightness of the sun.

“Nate! Cone drills!” Travis shouted, and I shot him a thumbs up before heading over to where my teammates and second team members were forming two lines behind the sets of cones that had been arranged on the pitch.

My brows pulled together when I took in an unfamiliar head of tousled brown hair in front of me. Then the person turned to the side, and— “ Charlie ?”

“Oh, look, it’s my mugger. Or stalker. You do keep showing up at the same place as me.” Turning to face me fully, he gave me a bright grin, and my heart jumped from the shock of seeing him here.

It took me a second to regain my composure, but when I did, I stepped closer, cocking my head as I studied him. “Hmmm. You’re the one at my football training, so I think that makes you the stalker. What are you doing here?”

His lips curved into what had to be the worst impression of a pout I’d ever seen. “You don’t want me here? That makes me sad.”

“’Course I want you here.” Moving to his side, I threw my arm around his shoulders. “It makes it much easier to keep an eye on you for my nefarious stalking purposes.”

“Nefarious.” He snorted. “To answer your question, it’s part of my uni project. I’m looking at different training methods between different sports. I’ve looked at the uni rugby and hockey teams already, and my housemates sorted it out so I could train with the football team for a few sessions.”

I took in his slightly wistful expression as he stared out over the pitch, and his words from our first date came back to me. I really wanted to join the uni team, in fact, but I needed a job more . I squeezed his shoulder before removing my arm. “That sounds good,” I said.

“Oi! Nate! Charlie! Stop flirting and pay attention!”

My head snapped up to find the line of players had moved on while Charlie and I were talking— not fucking flirting, whatever my team captain said.

Charlie’s cheeks flushed, and he spun away from me, jogging across the pitch to the others, and after shooting Travis a warning look and ignoring his answering smirk, I rejoined the back of the line.

Charlie’s presence left me off-kilter throughout our training session, and I kept making stupid errors I’d never normally make. It was just having someone new there that I wasn’t used to, and it was Charlie Brooks , the person I’d been on two accidental dates with. Everything about it was bizarre.

Lifting my shirt, I wiped it across my brow. When I lowered it, I noticed Charlie’s gaze flicking away from me, his cheeks flushing. What was all that about? I tipped my water bottle to my mouth, downing the cool liquid.

My heart was pounding. Fuck, I’d overdone it today.

“Um.” Dragging his eyes up to mine, he licked his lips. “I forgot to bring any water.”

“Oh. Uh. Yeah. Here.” I shoved my bottle at him, our fingers brushing together as he grasped it. He visibly shivered.

What the fuck?

“Nate!”

We both turned at the new voice. I smiled, seeing my sister waving at me from the sidelines. She was standing with two of her friends, Daisy and Millie, and I nodded a greeting at them as I jogged over to greet Sophie.

“Don’t hug me. As much as I love you, I don’t love your sweat.

” Sophie ducked away from my outstretched arms, and I pretended to lunge at her, making her use Millie as a human shield.

Millie squealed, diving into Daisy, and when the three of them had collapsed into a giggling heap, I cleared my throat.

“Sophie, Daisy, Millie. Meet Charlie. He’s training for us as part of one of his uni modules.”

The three of them straightened up, and I grinned at the glare Sophie directed at me. It was my brotherly duty to make things as awkward as possible, after all.

I continued with the introductions. “Charlie, this is my sister, Sophie, and her friends Daisy and Millie. They all went to the same school and then followed each other to LSU.” I nodded towards the players on the pitch. “Daisy is Pete’s sister.”

“Hi.” Charlie smiled at each of the girls, giving them weirdly polite handshakes, and I wondered if he felt awkward, too, knowing that I was watching him interact with my sister. Especially because he’d admitted to me that he thought she was pretty and he wanted to meet her.

I stepped away, giving them some privacy, and Sophie shot me a grateful look. Watching them out of the corner of my eye, I moved into a series of cooldown stretches.

My sister’s bright laugh carried across the field, and my gaze snapped back to them. Charlie was leaning into her, tapping his fingers on her phone screen and saying something I couldn’t catch. Whatever it was, it caused her to flush and give him a half-shy, half-flirty look.

My jaw clenched, and by the time Charlie had handed Sophie her phone, my whole body was on edge.

Stop being so overprotective, Nate. Charlie’s a good guy, and Sophie’s a grown adult .

I forced myself to turn away, silently helping Travis to gather up the training cones before heading towards the changing room to shower.

I refused to look back.

“Seen Charlie lately?”

My brows rose at my housemate’s question. It had come out of the blue, right in the middle of a discussion about the latest Star Wars TV adaptation that we were currently watching.

“Huh?”

“Charlie. You know. The guy you had two dates with.” Jonas nodded at my phone. “All thanks to my app.”

“No thanks to your app, you mean.” Slumping further back into the sofa cushions, I kicked my feet up on the coffee table. “Speaking of seeing people, have you seen Joe today?”

Jonas shook his head. “Nope. I haven’t seen him in a few days. It feels like it’s just the two of us living here, most of the time.”

That was true. Our third housemate was rarely home, preferring to spend the majority of his time at his girlfriend’s place. Not that I blamed him—she lived alone, so they had privacy when they were at hers.

“Yeah,” I agreed. “He’s hardly ever here these days. As for Charlie, I saw him today, in fact. He’s training with the football team for one of his uni modules.”

“No more dates?”

“That would be a no, because in case you forgot, I’m straight, and so is he.” Jonas opened his mouth, and before he could say anything, I added, “He met my sister today. They seemed to hit it off.”

Jonas stared at me. “He met Sophie?”

“Yeah. She was at my training session today with a couple of her friends. One of them has a brother who joined the team this year.”

“Mate. What’s with the face?”

“What face?” I made a conscious effort to relax my posture. “I’m not making a face.”

“If you say so.” He rolled his eyes. “I can’t decide what it’s for, though. Are you pissed off at the thought of someone making a move on your baby sister, or is it because Charlie and Sophie seem to be into each other?”

“Wha— Why would I have a problem with any of that? They’re adults, and Charlie’s a good guy. I don’t have a problem with it. See?” Leaning forwards, I grabbed my phone from the coffee table and opened the message thread with my sister.

Soph:

Thanks for introducing me to Charlie today. He seems really nice *smile emoji*

Me:

He’s a good guy

Soph:

Is that you giving us your blessing?

Me:

Us???

Soph:

OK there’s no us yet, but I think he’s interested. Be a cool big brother pleeeeease

Me:

I always am

Soph:

I know. You’re the best, Nate. Love you

Me:

Love you too Soph

“Okay,” Jonas said eventually. “I’ll take your word for it. If you’re fine with all…that… you won’t mind giving my app one more go. Please?”

I groaned. “This had better be third time lucky, and I’m only agreeing because you’re probably my closest friend.”

“Probably. Wow,” he muttered sarcastically.

“Okay. Definitely. Whatever, you know you are.”

“Yeah.” He gave me a small smile. “Same to you. Probably.”

“Fuck off.” I elbowed him. “I’ll give the app another go, but only if you one hundred percent guarantee I won’t be matched with Charlie again. Or any other man, for that matter.”

“I promise,” he said.