Page 16 of Second Position (Astor Hill #2)
Grant
The steady beat of whatever song Andy turned on hums through the pretty empty locker room, most of the guys having awkwardly beelined to the showers after the loss we suffered today.
A loss I contributed to by letting Gen cloud my head.
Will barely looked at me when he was called back to the coach’s office, the one I just left with luckily only a slap on the wrist. Part of me wishes I didn’t leave Gen alone out there, wonders what was said.
The other part is stuck on how I let myself lose control at all, how this girl seems to have barreled into my life and crowded all available brain space.
Today, out on the court, I felt like I was under some sort of spell, like she possessed me, the need to defend her impossible to ignore.
It was obvious that she came to see if I was okay, which just barely made up for the fact that she, again, acted like I didn’t exist when she saw Will.
Still, there was this thick tension in the air that only a total moron would fail to notice.
Will is a lot of things but sadly, stupid isn’t one of them.
I saw as his eyes marked Gen and I, suspicion so prevalent in them that I swear Gen turned a shade of red I didn’t think humanly possible.
I swipe the towel I’m holding roughly over my face, needing for one of the showers to open up so I can physically scrub this feeling away.
Will comes out of the coach's office, swinging open his locker only a few away from my own. All the starters are in the same area of the locker room, for team bonding or some shit. I’d rather be with the rookies than next to some of these assholes.
“Yooo.” Josiah comes in, freshly showered in a pair of sweatpants and a towel still clutched in his hand. I’m opening my own locker to grab my body wash when another hand slams it closed beside me. Fucking Scott.
“That fight was insane! What even happened out there?” Josiah's tone does not match my mood or Will’s.
“Grant, you fucking stud!” Scott slaps my chest and I look down at him, my jaw set in a hard line.
“You knocked that bitch out! You gonna get some tonight?” He winks, smiling so wide that part of me feels bad for him.
I’m not sure if Scott was dropped on the head as a child or what, but he’s the worst. Somehow, for a man who's likely never gotten laid, he feels he can disrespect any woman who crosses his path.
“Incel,” Will says under his breath and I can’t help the slight upward tick at the corner of my mouth.
“Hey, not for long man—I’m about to get it after the Athletics gala.” Scott shuts his own locker and takes a long sip of his water bottle wiping his arm sloppily over his wet upper lip.
“Your hand doesn’t count, Scotty,” Ben says, appearing from the hallway leading from the showers. He playfully claps Scott on the shoulder before moving to his own locker beside mine. I watch as Will immediately tenses, arms crossing.
“Not my hand, dude. Genevieve.” Scott waggles his eyebrows and I have to force myself to relax my fist which seems to clench anytime one of these men even utters her name, instead busying myself with unlocking my locker—yet again.
Will snorts, turning to grab his towel. “Scott, if you actually end up bagging Gen, I’ll do more than sit out a few games. Hell, I’ll give you a million dollars.”
“Hey, miracles happen! Besides, it’s not like I have any competition.
Don’t see a line down the street to sleep with Genevieve Dupont.
” Scott cackles and the force in which I slam my locker stuns the room silent.
I turn, my entire body rigid with the sheer willpower it’s taking me not to push Scott’s entire stocky frame into the wall.
“I wouldn’t be so sure, buddy. Looks like you're not the only one trying to win this bet,” Will responds to Scott’s question but his eyes pointedly meet mine, as if to say your move.
I know he wants to know. Needs to know exactly what Gen’s up to.
What he noticed in the hallway is killing him; it’s obvious in the slight bob of his throat, the curiosity peeking through the look he’s hoping comes off intimidating.
“I’m going to say this once,” I growl through clenched teeth, throwing my towel around my neck and squaring my shoulders to show Will just how much bigger I really am.
I walk toward him and he narrows his eyes slightly, the flicker of fear passing over him almost making me smile.
“I’m not a little boy, William , so no—I’m not participating in your little ‘bet’.
If I want to fuck Genevieve, I just will.
” I push past him walking toward the hallway leading to the showers .
“So there is something going on then, isn’t there?” He calls after me, the nervous edge to his voice seeming to reverberate through the room.
I turn to face him, winking as I casually walk backward, and give him my cockiest grin. “Nope. Nothing at all.”