Page 14 of Foul Line

“Hey, Sunshine,” Chase says.

I bite my lip and sit next to him with my tray. It’s becoming apparent that I’m going to be seeing the Huntington Lacrosse players at every meal. The camp personnel probably only want to serve food three times a day instead of breaking us apart and serving at different times.

I blush when he uses such a sweet nickname for me. I’m not completely immune to things like a pet name, even when it’s uttered by Chase.

“Did you sleep well?”

I shrug. The truth is, the mattress sucks, but I came prepared. I brought a foam thing to roll over it this year. I swear I’m not trying to be prissy about it, but sleep is so important. “Not bad. You?”

“Would’ve been better with you.”

His words should shock me, but they don’t. I know why he’s laying it on thick. Shaking my head, I smile over at him.

“You nervous about camp?”

Now this is comfortable conversation territory. “Yeah, no. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but I’m pretty good at basketball.”

The rest of the lacrosse guys hear this and laugh. It ricochets around the room and after that, I’m pretty sure I can feel the strain of at least a few pairs of eyes on me. Thank God I’m sitting facing away from them or else I’d be tempted to sneak glances at their table throughout the short meal.

Ten minutes prior to our scheduled run, I stand. I only managed to eat some eggs and drink a little bit of juice, but I really want to come out strong on this run. “You leaving?” Chase asks, a frown forming on his face.

“We have a run,” I explain.

He reaches out to place his hand on my hip, taps there a few times almost dangerously close to my ass, and says, “Go get ‘em.”

I can tell he’s loving every second of this. His teammates are looking at him with appreciation though, so it makes me smile.

However, when I turn around, it’s a whole different story. I’m almost thrown back by the amount of hostility coming from the opposite corner of the room. Hayes stares where Chase is touching me until I step away and his hand falls off naturally. Then, his gaze moves up to my eyes where they keep staring until I’m the one looking away. I told him I was probably going to do this. And if it’s truly affecting him, so what? He should’ve thought about that before he took Lake’s side.

I place my tray near the return, smile at the lady next to the dishwasher, and head back out into the main area. My dad is there talking to a few of the coaches. He waves me over and introduces me to them. We never have the same set of coaches. He switches them up every year, bringing in people that will help us in different areas, and help us in different ways, too. When we get to the last coach, my eyes go wide.Holy shit, I recognize this guy.

My dad laughs. “Yes, it’s Jacquin Sellers.”

“Wow,” I say. “Nice to meet you.” I reach out to shake his hand.

“Jacquin, this is my daughter, Tessa. One of the best shooting guards in our state.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard of her,” he says.

I realize then I haven’t pulled my hand away from shaking his, so I do so now, my cheeks flaming. Jacquin just got drafted out of high school. He’ll be playing for the Cavs next season, and he’s all anyone can talk about in the basketball world right now. People are debating whether he should’ve gone to college first instead of straight to pro. Regardless of his decision, that’s a great position to be in. I envy him.

He also looks like a scrumptious piece of milk chocolate.

With that thought, I quickly excuse myself and go outside to stretch before the run starts. My dad never runs the long distance runs with us because of his knee problems, so it’ll be one of the other coaches leading us this morning. I make sure to stretch everything out, limbering up as much as possible in preparation. I don’t know if they’ll decide to go easy on us right out of the gate or try to test us. It could go either way.

Soon, others join me. First, it’s some of the other players from around the state, but then a familiar body stands next to me. I look away, avoiding Sloan Ivy’s gaze. He doesn’t seem to have that problem though. “Any idea where Hayes went last night?” he asks, an almost humorous lilt to his voice.

He’s got that stupid politician-like smirk on his face too. He probably fucking knows Hayes came to see me last night. Hell, Hayes probably told him all about it. When I look over at him again to give him a sarcastic answer, I notice the shadows under his eyes have lifted a little. Relief floods me, then another bout ofWhat the fuck? Why?!I should feel nothing in reference to him. “I’m sure you could just ask him, and he’d tell you,” I say.

“Probably. It’s just funnier this way.”

“Yeah, funnier than a bunch of Baller Bitches throwing panties around, claiming they’re mine.” Oh yeah, that still happened. They didn’t have my personal panties for the rest of the season, but that didn’t mean they didn’t claim to.

His face turns red.Good. Asshole.

“You know I never told them to do that.”

“Do I though? And why the fuck are you even bothering to talk to me, Ivy? You’ve made your feelings crystal clear, I think.” He opens his mouth to say something, but Lake just now is walking out of the main building with his brother. “Shh,” I tease. “I wouldn’t want you to get into trouble with your master.” With that, I turn and move as far away from him as I possibly can.

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