Page 13 of Reverse Pass

“Different than?”

He smirks.

“The kind of women who usually find me.”

“Ah. And it didn’t work out for you?”

“Not really. I did help some friends though. I can look at your profile and matches if you want help.”

Great, now I have himandJoss thinking I need assistance. Am I really this pathetic?

“I’ll keep that in mind. Mostly I’m just trying to keep Joss happy.”

“Joss?” His brow furrows.

“She thinks I need to date. That it’s been too long. And I just want to stay focused on school.”

“Ah well, I can back you up on that. You can just tell her between your work and babysitting me, you don’t have time.” He winks at me, and his dimples show as he smiles.

And my traitorous little heart skips a beat as I smile back.

“Going to be that much trouble?” I ask, raising a brow.

“However much you need me to be.” His smile turns into a smirk.

And this man is shameless, which is going to be a problem if I can’t remember who we are to each other.

“Clever.” I shake my head. “Now, work on whatever that is so your sister doesn’t kill me for letting her down.”

“Yes, ma’am,” he whispers, glancing up at me with amusement on his face before he opens his book.

In the future when my friends ask me to take their pain in the ass little brothers in, I’m going to have to ask for more information. Details like, did he grow up to be a shameless flirt with a panty-dropping smile and a distractingly hot body? Because in the future, if the answer is yes, I am definitely not taking the job of babysitting them. I am going to be lucky to survive this one.

SIX

Ben

I meetJake and Colton at the gym in the afternoon the next week. They’ve been awesome about meeting me at the regular gym instead of the one at the athletic center, since I’m banned from it as part of my suspension. It sucks, but at least this way I don’t feel quite so isolated.

“So, how’s it going? The suspension and housing hunt and all that?” Colton asks.

“Still waiting to hear on housing. I don’t think how long it’s taking is a good sign though. The suspension sucks. How’s the team doing in practice?”

“All right, but it’s obvious you’re missing from the lineup. Going to make some of these games harder without the depth in that position.” Colt shakes his head as I help him get set up on the weights.

“Yeah. Fucking sucks.” Jake nods from the next bench.

“Better me than half the team though.”

“And thanks for that.” Jake nods at me.

“No sense in everyone going down.” I shrug as I spot Colt on his lift.

“Did you find somewhere to stay?” Jake asks.

“Yeah, a friend of my sister’s had a spare room in her place.”

“Sister’s friend, huh? She hot? Single?”