Page 21 of Nailing Heat

She’s right, I don’t. Cassie makes a good point,Damn it.

“So, him and Jase hit it off, huh?”

“I think so. Which is nice for Dex; this way he has some friends in Tampa. Other than August.”

“August knows him from college. Is it from the same one that he met you at?” Mac asks Hendrix.

“No, he met him when he was at Brown. Not with me at UNC,” she replies, her tone letting us all know that she still doesn’t want to talk about the time she spent with August in college.

“Sorry, just curious,” Mac tells her.

“I know, but if I would have known anything about him, I would have told you,” she insists.

“Just maybe a be a bit nicer to him tonight when you go home,” Cassie says, changing the subject back to me. “Might help him settle in a bit more. Besides, he might talk to you, and you might find that he’s an alright guy.”

“Uh-huh,” I say. “I’m going to get in the water, it’s so fucking hot out here.”

I rise up and adjust my deep blue bikini bottoms on my hips. “Anyone want to come with?”

Cassie and Mac rise up to join me.

“Come on, Henny, we don’t want to leave you here by yourself,” Mac says holding out her hand to help Hendrix to her feet.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll come along.” She hops up and we call walk down to the water together.

The warm water of the ocean laps up at my legs. “This is something that Istillcan’t get used to. How can the water be this warm all the time?”

Mac laughs and nods, “Yeah, not quite the refreshing dip that you were looking for, huh?”

I shake my head. “Not in the least. But it’s the beach and that’s more than I would have if I were home in North Carolina.”

“You didn’t live near the beach?” Cas asks me.

“North Carolina is a big state. You can easily live in it and not be near the ocean,” I tease her.

Cas sticks her tongue out at me. “Have you eaten today? Because, my god, are you bitchy today. No wonder Dex acts the way he does around you.”

I splash water in her direction. “Keep it up and I’m sending him to Jase’s house so that he can be the biggest cock block you’ve ever seen.”

She laughs and splashes water back at me. “You act like having someone in the room would stop us.”

“Uh, unfortunately, I can attest to that,” Mac says, shaking her head. “We’ve had them over and they practically humped in the pool.”

“We, huh?” Hendrix teases her. “You living with Danny boy?”

Mac flushes, “No, I’m still at the team housing.”

“Talking about it, though?”

Mac turns away from Hendrix and says with a smirk, “Maybe, guess you’ll have to wait and see.”

“Great, yes, do that. Move in with Danny. Then I can send Dexter, “Mr. I’m Not a Serial Killer,” to live in your old apartment.”

Mac sticks her tongue out at me in reply. “Stop it, the man seemed perfectly nice.”

“Sure” is all I say.

We’re now out in the water to our chests, so I ease onto my back. I look up blue sky and white clouds as I float. It’s really a beautiful day here in Tampa. I’m happy that I was drafted here. It’s nice to have the ability to play soccer professionally and spend time at the beach with my friends. Not all players are lucky like this. Some never get the chance, which makes me wonder if Dex ever got the chance or if he was sidelined too, like Danny was.