Page 5 of Savage Truth

In her cheer uniform, Piper looked like someone else’s wet dream. I could recognize how beautiful she was, but there was no spark between us. Maybe there had been at one time, but it was long since dead. She stepped close and put her hands on my chest.

“Back off, Piper. You have no claim to me.”

Tears misted over her big blue eyes as my teammates parted around us, continuing to the locker room. “But I love you.” Her lower lip quivered. “It’s you and me and always has been.”

I got what she was saying—she was the girl I hooked up with. It was casual, and I knew she wasn’t sleeping around. It made things easy, but I couldn’t do that anymore. Obviously, she’d caught feelings, but there would never be anything there for me.

“Think, Piper. You like being seen with me, and sometimes I like fucking you. But there is no relationship. I made that very clear. And to put something else out there, I don’t plan on getting married. So don’t get any ideas.” She used to talk about it. I knew it was her long-term plan. “At all. As in never. I’m not interested, so back the hell off with the bullshit possessiveness.” I shifted, forcing her hands to fall away. “Go back before you get in trouble for stepping out at halftime.”

Cheerleading didn’t matter to me, but I knew it did to her. With each step away from her, I scanned every face, searching for Riley. I swore I’d seen her.There. I found her not far from the entrance, her warm brown eyes glittering with a challenge.

I sensed rather than saw Piper behind me, watching everything play out. I didn’t like how cruel she and the other girls were to Riley, even though I’d inspired it. That was my role alone.

When Eliana Defrieze slipped into an open space on my right, I realized the timing couldn’t be more perfect both to discourage Piper and to take the heat off Riley.

“Hey, Cole. Are you coming to my party tonight? It won’t be as good as the last one you threw, but”—her tongue slid along her bottom lip as she fixated on mine—“maybe we can find a quiet place and get to know each other better.”

I’d known Eliana since second grade when she moved to town. I caught Riley’s eye, holding it as I leaned down and brushed a kiss across Eliana’s mouth. “Sounds good. I’ll see you there.”

One of the last to enter the locker room for halftime, I walked past Riley without even looking at her. Her presence stuck in my mind, taking up entirely too much space.Why is she here?I joined the guys as the coach went over what he expected for the next half, but my head wasn’t in the game.

Halftime was short. We came out to catch the tail end of the show. Dad was walking off the field with the other old-timers who got to relive their glory days with the ceremony. I grunted at Dad’s slap to the back.

“Great game. Let’s see some more of it.”

Then he was gone, and I attempted to tuck away how different his demeanor was from the other men who came off the field. I hated to say it, but he had the same driven expression that I felt inside me with each play, and Mom’s comment from last year resurfaced, throwing me off balance even more than Riley had.“You know your father was invited to the draft. He had several teams talking to him and would have played in the NFL if he hadn’t changed his mind at the last minute and chosen to open a law firm after college.”

Something wasn’t sitting right.

“Cole!”

Coach’s shout snapped me out of it, and I took the field with the rest of the team, thinking that I’d refocused. But I hadn’t. As much as I tried to keep my head in the game, I was off. I over or underran passes, missed blocks, and fumbled in the red zone, so Coach benched me. It was all Riley’s fucking fault. Damon went in to save the lead I almost single-handedly gave away.

After the win, the locker room was loud, and everyone except my brother and cousins gave me a wide berth. Phoenix put his helmet in the locker next to mine then sat to remove his cleats. It was coming. I didn’t even try to stop him.

“What the fuck was that?”

I curled my hand into a fist and forced myself to relax. It wasn’t his fault that Riley was in my head or that her being there near the locker room at halftime had flipped some switch in my mind, taking me from driven and focused on the game to reliving everything about how she felt and tasted. It wasn’t his problem that I wanted to get her under me at all costs. I was fucking obsessed with her, and it needed to stop before the price was my future. “Riley was here earlier.”

Phoenix stared then blinked. I’d succeeded in shocking him too.

“Yeah, I don’t even know how to process this shit.”

“You’re turning into Shane.” His words were cold and harsh.

A wave of anger rushed through me, but I held back. He was right, after all. Shane was so whipped that he didn’t even realize that Tracey wanted his potential career more than she wanted him.

“You’re going to throw everything away for a piece of ass. Just like my brother.” Phoenix stood inches from my face. Fury crackled between us. “Get her out of your system. It doesn’t matter how. Fuck her or someone else. Whatever it takes. Because if you don’t, that scout here earlier won’t bother coming back.”

Damon dropped down on the bench, and not even a second later, Shane did too. The other players drifted to the showers or were dressing to leave. We kept our voices low. This wasn’t anyone’s business.

“This about Riley?”

I leveled my brother with a look that would have made anyone else run for cover. “What if it is?”

“You need to figure out how to let it go. You want to take it out on her mom? Go for it. But Riley isn’t that bad.”

“What’s changed that’s got you on her team?” It bothered me, but not nearly as much as I thought it would.

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