Page 5

“Woah.” Ryder laughed, catching me as I turned too fast and stumbled.

His hands settled firmly on my waist, and he lifted me slightly, spinning me in a small circle to keep either of us from falling.

“You alright?” he asked, one hand now braced against my lower back, his touch both grounding and electrifying.

I glanced over my shoulder, but the shadowed figure was gone.

Ryder wordlessly pulled my attention back to him, his presence too magnetic to ignore.

No longer wearing a helmet, his black hair was swept back and slightly damp from practice. Some of his tattoos curled out from beneath his collar, shaded ink against his tan skin. His pretty blue-grey eyes held mine as he gently released me.

“What were you looking at so hard?”

I blinked, stepping back when I realized how close our faces were. “Thought I saw something.”

He stared in the direction I had been looking. “I don’t see anything.”

“Well, obviously they’re gone now.”

“ They’re . As in a person?”

“It could have been anyone.”

“Right…” His tone was skeptical, but he didn’t push.

“Right,” I repeated.

He chuckled softly, and before I could say anything else, his hand reached out, his thumb brushing lightly over my neck. “Where’s my heart?”

My pulse jumped beneath his touch, and I prayed he didn’t notice. “I… I took it off to put it on a new chain,” I stammered and silently cursed myself. “Forgot to put it back on after I showered.”

His brow furrowed, the smallest crease of concern crossing his face. “Do it as soon as you get home. Can’t have anyone thinking they can take my place.” He said it jokingly, but his tone carried an edge.

“A necklace wouldn’t change that,” I pointed out with a scoff to cover the warmth spreading across my face. I had been thinking of that necklace all day long.

I couldn’t believe I forgot to put it back on. He had gifted me my half of the best friend’s heart when we went to our first middle school dance, one jagged, shiny piece of white gold with his initials etched into the back. He wore the other half with mine.

“Oh, I know, but right now it’s the only way I get to have my name on you.” His accompanying grin was confident, maddening.

“Not this again,” I groaned, turning away to hide the way my heart tripped over itself.

He laughed. “It’ll happen. One day, you’ll have it on you permanently.”

Secretly, I loved the idea, but there was no way I’d let that truth slip.

“I aspire to have your level of confidence,” I shot back, hoping it sounded dismissive enough.

Judging by the way he looked at me, the knowing curve of his smile, he saw right through it.

I gently shooed him away. “Go take a shower. You’re covered in sweat. ”

“Alright, but don’t forget—necklace. Tonight.” He jogged backward, then turned, meeting Cade and Xander halfway.

As they all moved toward the men’s locker room together, I checked behind me one more time, but there wasn’t anyone there.

I chalked it up to someone watching the guys’ practice.

I made it to the bleachers with my heart still racing, a leftover effect of Ryder’s simple touch.

I pushed it down with everything else, locking it away where no one, not even myself, could examine it too closely.

I was acutely aware of Brooke sitting nearby. She had never said anything about how close Ryder and I were. Neither had Ashton.

Regardless, I didn’t want to go out of my way to make either of them feel any more uncomfortable than they’d yet to admit to.

“Everything okay?” she asked once I was within speaking distance.

“Yeah. Ryder being Ryder.”

She giggled. “He’s so intense sometimes, isn’t he?”

I forced a smile, nodding in agreement. Deep down, I wondered how much of that intensity Brooke had truly seen, and how much of it he reserved just for me.

Selfishly, I wanted all of that to be mine alone.

It wasn’t fair to her, but the thought still lingered, wrapping itself around my heart like a guilty secret.

Of course, Roxxi chose then to open her mouth.

“Whatever he was doing. The whole hand placement thing was hot.”

Such a damn instigator. I should’ve thrown her ass off the bleachers. This was what happened when your friends knew you too well. I shot her a mock glare no one else could see and moved up higher, purposely avoiding Brooke’s stare.

“I’ll be staying at Ashton’s tonight,” I told Layla quietly once I reached her. “You can crash in my room like usual if you want.”

Her face softened with relief, her eyes reflecting a gratitude she didn’t need to vocalize. “You’re a lifesaver, Sanj. Thanks.”

“You know it’s no problem,” I murmured gently, squeezing her arm.

I knew it was hard for her to return home more often than not. Unlike our families that lived clear on the other side of H-H, her place was but a short drive to and from campus. Only a bit further than the rental that me and the girls shared.

I had asked her once before why she chose to stay there versus campus housing. I never got an answer, and she shut down, ghosting me for close to a week. I never asked again and stopped prying. Layla had to open up on her terms, or she got cagey.

I turned to Arianna, who was adjusting her cross-body bag over her shoulder. “You mind giving her a ride back to our place with you and Cloe?”

“That won’t be a problem.”

“Didn’t even have to ask,” Cloe seconded without looking away from her camera screen.

“I could’ve taken her. I am going to the same place, you know,” Roxxi interjected.

“She hates riding on your motorcycle. Plus, it's cold out here. Matter of fact, you need to store it and start driving your car.”

“Yes, mother ,” she replied jokingly.

Layla laughed softly, some of the tightness finally easing from her shoulders.

After a few more minutes of casual banter, Ashton emerged from the men’s locker room, weaving through a few teammates.

He wasn’t hard to spot, with broad shoulders, an athletic build, and a quiet sort of confidence that made people take a second look even though he wasn’t the tallest in the group.

If I had to guess, I’d say he was a cool 5’5ish, not much taller than me.

His golden-brown hair was still damp, curling slightly where it clung to his forehead.

His deep green eyes locked onto mine the second he spotted me. When he reached me, he didn’t hesitate, reaching out for my hand. His thumb brushed slowly across my knuckles.

“Ready to get outta here?”

I nodded, squeezing his hand back. We said our goodbyes, and then he guided me toward the parking lot.

His Porsche was parked right beside Ryder’s custom-built, blacked-out Denali.

The contrast between the two vehicles was almost laughable.

Sleek versus sharp, polished versus predatory.

Ashton’s was all flash and precision, every curve engineered to impress.

Ryder’s pick-up looked like it could survive a war.

I didn’t let myself linger on the symbolism.

He unlocked the car, and I slid into the passenger seat, grateful for the pre-warmed interior.

The leather was buttery-soft beneath me, and the air smelled like him—clean, mint-laced.

A scent I’d once thought meant safety and comfort.

He got in a beat later, shutting the door behind him with a muted thud.

Then, with a look I couldn’t quite read, Ashton reached over and touched my cheek, fingertips gentle, coaxing me to face him.

His lips moved against mine with a tenderness that made the weight of the day dissolve.

Then he deepened the kiss with a soft nudge of his tongue, coaxing rather than claiming.

A quiet sound escaped me, something caught between surprise and surrender, as his hand slid from my jaw down the side of my neck, warm and steady.

There was no rush, no urgency, just the steady pressure of his mouth against mine and the faint, velvety sound of lips parting, meeting, parting again.

When he finally pulled back, his green eyes were full of easy affection.

A crooked smile softened the edges of his face.

“You’re so damn pretty,” he murmured, his fingertips brushing one last time across my jawline.

“So are you,” I teased.

He laughed and righted himself in his seat. “What do you want to eat? I’m starving.”

I buckled my seatbelt and fished my phone from my bag. “I’m fine with whatever,” I answered, typing out my usual check-in text to my family.

Everyone got one, so there weren’t any hurt feelings.

My parents, grandparents, and baby sister.

It didn’t matter that we were still in the same town or that I visited every few weekends on top of seeing them at half our home games.

They were adamant that I keep in touch. Ryder and Cade usually came along when I went since their house was right across the street.

That Friday, in fact, we were heading back together.

“ ‘Whatever’ isn’t an answer,” Ashton prodded as he pulled out of the lot, glancing over at me.

“What are you in the mood for?”

He grinned. “You.”

I rolled my eyes. “That’s dessert.”

“Then we really need to find our main course.”

I smiled at the flirtation, telling myself, for what felt like the thousandth time, that this was what I needed.

Something easy, predictable, and soft enough not to bruise me.

He didn’t unravel me with a single look or make my lungs forget how to work when our eyes collided.

He didn’t lace through every half-formed thought and dream like an inescapable ghost. He didn’t have possession of parts of me I’d buried so deeply I pretended they didn’t exist—the parts that had always, without question, belonged to my best friend. That’s why I was with him.

And exactly why I never should have been.