Page 3 of Trick Play

And I am. More serious than she can imagine.

CHAPTER TWO

Piper

McAdam’s eyes feel like a brand on my back, but I resist the urge to turn around again and see if he’s really still there, or if I’m just imagining him watching me.

“Oh-oh,” Dani, my roommate, says, nudging me with her elbow. “Don’t look now, but I think Cal McAdam’s decided you’re his prey for tonight.”

Snorting, I shake my head, refusing to look around for him, no matter how much I might want to. “His prey? Is he a predator?”

She lifts one shoulder and holds her liquor in her mouth as she contemplates the question. Swallowing, she nods. “Yeah. Pretty much. He picks out a girl and stalks her like a big cat before singling her out, isolating her from her group, and going in for the kill.”

I raise my eyebrows. “Are you speaking from firsthand experience?”

She snorts and brushes a hand over her plain T-shirt and jeans. I convinced her to go with her black, fitted V-neck tonight, at least. I tried to get her to go for something a little more girly, offering to let her borrow something of mine—it’s a party, after all—or at least do her hair and makeup. Our coloring is similar, though her skin is a little darker than mine, and I have some eye shadow palettes that would make her eyes pop if she’d let me. But she declined, opting for pulling her dark brown hair back into her usual ponytail and putting on plain chapstick instead. “Me? The tomboy? Hardly. Cal goes for pretty girls who own things like hair straighteners and makeup.”

My brow furrows. “You own makeup.”

She gives me a look. “I’m not sure lip gloss and an old tube of mascara my mom bought me in high school really counts.”

Pursing my lips, I shake my head. “Whatever. You’re hot. Just because you don’t wear makeup or own a hair straightener, doesn’t mean you couldn’t get with someone like McAdam.” It’s true. She’s gorgeous. She just tries to hide it under her tomboy, one-of-the-guys persona, and I’ve been trying to figure out why since I met her at the beginning of the semester when we moved into our dorm. When I opted for a potluck roommate assignment—not that I had a choice, since I don’t have any friends here—I figured I’d end up with another transfer student. But Dani’s been here since last year. She just prefers hanging with guys, and her roommate last year moved off campus I guess. Apparently they got along fine as roommates, but weren’t exactly friends. I kinda assumed we’d have the same sort of relationship—friendly, but not really friends—but she’s been convincing me to come hang with her and her friends the last few weeks. She says I spend too much time cooped up studying and it’s not healthy.

Dani almost chokes on her drink at my statement, her eyes sliding to the side where her friend Eli stands next to her, apparently oblivious to our entire conversation. He’s a tight end on the football team and the reason we knew about this party. Because my brother sure as hell isn’t going to invite me along to a party, even if he doesn’t try to make me leave.

In fact, if I were a betting woman, I’d bet that Gray won’t go anywhere until after I leave. He takes his older brother duties of keeping an eye on me seriously. Even more seriously now than he did when we were kids, actually.

That’s my own fault, though, to some degree. Less than a year out from under everyone’s watchful eye, and I almost get expelled from SCU. I’m the reason we’re both here, back home in Spokane, attending Marycliff University. Me, because after what happened in California, my options were extremely limited—namely, go to Marycliff where my parents can keep a close eye on me, or get a job and move out. Gray, because he wanted to help act as a buffer between me and Mom and Dad. See? Serious protective older brother vibes.

Being back in Spokane is working out better for Gray than it is for me. He’s the starting quarterback of the newest Division I football program, getting lots more press than he would’ve gotten back in Ohio, where he’d been recruited out of high school, even if he would’ve been the starter there too. Because here, how good the team is doing is even more impressive since it’s a relatively small school with a new coach and a new starting quarterback.

I should be happy he’s here. He’s the reason our parents didn’t force me to live at home. If not for him, I wouldn’t be able to go to any parties at all. But I can’t help thinking he’s trying to keep an eye on me just as much as Mom and Dad.

“Anyway,” Dani says, oblivious to my wandering thoughts. “My point is, Cal McAdam has his eye on you tonight. Rumor has it that it’s worth letting him catch you, as long as you know it’s just a one-time thing.”

“Noted.” But despite whatever rumors might be floating around about McAdam’s sexual prowess, I have no intention of letting him catch me.

For one thing, that guy’s got trouble written all over him.

For another …

Well, that’s reason enough right there, isn’t it?

My goal is to stay out of trouble, keep my head down, and graduate as fast as possible. I already escaped this town once. I’m determined to do it again. And I’m still kicking myself over the fact that I got dragged back here so soon after my first escape.

And while, yes, I’m aware that I’m responsible for vandalizing the Alpha Nu house, those actions were triggered by a guy a lot like Cal—pretty, popular, able to get any girl he wants. And for a time, he wanted me.

Too bad I didn’t know what that really meant. If I had, I wouldn’t have gotten myself into the mess I’m in now.

So no. I won’t be going anywhere near McAdam, not even if he keeps talking to me in that deep, sexy voice that I’m sure makes straight women everywhere cream their panties.

But despite me dismissing Dani’s claims that McAdam has his eye on me, I can’t deny that his eyes seem to be tracking me for the rest of the night. Or the way my blood heats every time I catch him looking at me. Or the relief I feel when he leaves without taking another girl with him.

None of that matters. Nope. Not a bit. Because I’m definitely not going there.

* * *

Huddled against the mid-November wind, I keep my head down as I walk across campus, keeping my pace brisk, because I’mcold.I didn’t realize it would be this cold when I left my room and only put on my lightweight fleece. But the wind cuts right through it, making me shiver.

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