Page 86 of Playing Dirty

“Shit.”

He’s abandoned his task in favor of pacing across the floor in a tizzy, and if it didn’t set an edge of irritation beneath my skin, I’d almost find it funny.

Almost.

Because…fuck, what does it matter? I mean, honestly? Miles and Torin caught him doing the walk of shame out of my room the first time we hooked up, but at least he was fully clothed when it happened. I was butt-ass naked just now.

I slip into my underwear and sigh. “Will you just sit down? It’s not abig deal. He didn’t even know who I was.”

But Theo being Theo, he completely ignores me and continues to wear down the laminate beneath his feet like he’s trying to start a fire.

“What did he look like?” he asks after a few moments.

Seriously?

Crossing my arms over my chest, I pin him with an annoyed glare and bite out, “Well, after he blinded me by turning on the light, I think he had brown hair.”

“Logan,” he concludes, his pacing coming to a halt. I visibly watch as all the tension leaves his body when he turns to face me. “It has to be Logan. He’s the only one who wouldn’t know what you look like. And if it were anyone else, there would be an intervention happening right about now.”

“Because heaven forbid you get some with a guy from your rival school,” I surmise bitterly.

There’s a beat—a single breath—before his face falls. Regret forms instantly, swirling in his eyes while he shakes his head and crosses the room to me.

“I know you think it’s silly—”

“Try ridiculous.”

“—but it’s just part of being a Timberwolf.”

A tight smile tugs at my lips. “And Timberwolves can’t be caught consorting with Falcons. Got it.”

He reaches for my arm, but I pull away before he can make contact and head over to finish changing his sheets.

I shouldn’t care, I know I shouldn’t. If he wants to let some stupid rivalry be his end-all be-all, then who am I to tell him otherwise? But Idocare, and I think that’s the most irritating part.

Theo’s gaze bores into the space between my shoulder blades for a fewseconds before he crosses the room to the other side of the bed. Together, we wordlessly finish the task he’d abandoned during his freak out, neither of us mentioning the drastic mood shift or my roommate run-in.

“You’re telling me this shit isn’t just as serious over at Blackmore?” he finally asks, breaking through the silence. “That they wouldn’t be outraged to hear their captain is screwing around with a guy on the rival team?”

I drop down onto the end of the freshly made bed and stare helplessly at him.

“Of course it is. There’s a reason it’s tradition. Some of the guys over there get so riled up when it’s a rivalry match up, no matter the sport. But as for this?” I ask, motioning between us, “Well, that really isn’t their business.”

“Soyou’rethe one who doesn’t buy into it?”

I sigh, feeling equally exasperated and disheartened. “Of course I do, Theo. You were there at the party last month when everyone was talking shit—myself included. You’veseenit every time we’re on opposite sides of the diamond. I give my all every game, but especially the ones against Leighton. And as for the Penny Play, if I didn’t buy in, then I wouldn’t have crashed your raid to begin with.”

His gaze bores into mine as he takes a tentative step toward me, then another, until he’s standing between my legs. My hands wrap around the backs of his thighs instinctively, and the heat of his skin through the fabric is enough to ground me.

Reaching up, he sinks his fingers into the hair on the back of my head before prompting me to continue with a single word.

“But?”

“But I also think it’s a lot more nuanced than everyone makes it out to be,” I reason, searching his eyes for any sign he may understand where I’m coming from. “Two things can be true, even if they’re contradictory.I can be loyal and dedicated to my team, my school, the rivalry we’ve built for over a century, but still remove myself from it enough to want you.”

God, the only thing that’s ever come close to holding me back is my mom. And even she wasn’t enough.

Surprise briefly flashes across his features, and I’m not sure if it’s from the blasphemy I just spoke or the little slip I made about wanting him. Honestly, I don’t really care. It’s all true, and neither bit of information is something I’ve tried to hide.