Page 3 of Hot Receiver

Even though we’re separated by hundreds of people and a huge dance floor, I can still feel the heat of his rage-filled gaze. It makes my blood bubble in my veins.

He’s the demon I’ve run from for the past eight years, the one I thought I buried.

But now he’s here. Breathing the same air.

After all this time, he still has the power to make every last cell tingle with pent-up need.

I can’t get away from him fast enough.

I whip my head in the opposite direction and scout the room for my date, Anna Taylor. She’s a pretty famous Victoria’s Secret model, so it’s not a shock that she’s surrounded by most of my teammates. All she needs to do is flash her million-dollar smile, and they all turn into fucking stupid prepubescent boys fawning over the hot as hell blonde bombshell.

All of them except me.

Because even though she’s gorgeous and has a rocking body, I wouldn’t give her a second look.

And only one person in the world…who also happens to be in this room…knows why.

Tonight, we’re all here to support the new foundation that two of our fellow teammates, Jase Maxwell and Lucas Bentley, recently started. After being put on suspension for a bullshit social media hoax, they were forced to do community service at a homeless shelter called Project Renewal here in Cincinnati. And after they were reinstated to the team, they decided to give even more back to the community.

Squaring my shoulders, I walk back to Anna. Jase is the second guy on our team to come out, and to be honest, it still kinda shocks me. Then again, I can’t say I really knew him all that well since he had a pretty strong dickhead façade built around him. It did a good job of keeping people out, and now that Lucas blew it open, I can’t get over the change in Jase. I mean, he’s actually not a total prick. Who the fuck would’ve guessed it? Definitely not me, that’s for sure.

I guess people deal with being closeted differently.

Me? I just bring out the female arm candy, and everyone is so distracted by tits and ass that they don’t pay a shred of attention to me.

Talk about the biggest façade of all.

I rub the back of my neck and decide to stop at the bar before I head back to Anna.

Goddammit, why can’t I want to fuck her senseless like all the other guys crowded around her?

Everything was absolutely fucking fine for the past five seasons. I graduated college and got drafted by the Crusaders. I didn’t ever have to see Zak Kacey again. I was free from all of the guilt and regret—for the first time in years.

I was wrong for letting things happen, sofucking wrong.

But I also had way more to lose than he’ll ever know.

And now my past has caught up with me, just like I knew it would.

The bartender smiles at me, and I immediately pull my eyes away from his curious ones. “Bullet old fashioned, neat,” I grunt. “Hold the old fashioned.”

Out of the corner of my eye, I see him nod and back away to pour the bourbon. He’s hot, but I don’t feel a damn thing, not a single twinge or tingle. There are plenty of hot guys wandering around here, but none of them affect me, not like Zak.

It was always only him who got my blood simmering with the kind of heat that could singe every brain cell and make me do stupid, reckless things. And I did. Too many times until someone figured out the secret we’d been keeping.

I didn’t have Zak’s thick cushion of thousand-dollar bills to fall back on, though. I was young, stupid, and scared. The only way for me to survive was to self-protect.

So I did.

Unfortunately, that meant someone else had to suffer.

“What are you doing all the way over here?” Sean Holmes, one of the defensive backs, claps a hand on my shoulder and nods toward Anna. “If you dodge her any longer, one of the guys is gonna try to take her home.”

I pick up the glass the bartender sets in front of me. “I’m not worried. She knows what she’s got.”

Sean snickers. “Damn, man. You parade around models and actresses like you’re actually a star player or something. Who the hell are you trying to fool?”

Forcing a smile, I grip my glass tight. He doesn’t know how close to the truth he is.

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