Page 21 of Hard Count
“Five seconds,” Ozzy updates me.
My eyes catch Nash’s standing off to the side. His face is a muddle of emotions. He smiles as if he’s proud of me but his eyes are tight with worry or is that fear? Is it the fear of me winning and no longer willing to help? Or is it something else?
“Four seconds.”
Maybe he’s thinking the same thing I am. That working together will help Newhouse win games which will be amazing in itself but it also means…
“Three…”
We would be spending more time together. And for some reason I want to spend time with him. The guy who gets under my skin but also makes me feel something.
“Two…”
My thighs start to wobble and his eyes spark to life. “You got this. Hold tight for one more second,” he says.
His words should motivate me to keep going. Instead, I admit defeat because he was cheering formeto win. Eli and Gage grab the bar from my back and I fall into Nash’s waiting arms. His desire to win came second to me being victorious. I’ve never had someone sit in my cheering section before and that means more to me than winning ever could.
“You did so good, baby,” he mumbles the words against my ear. I must be hallucinating from overstressing my body. Is that even possible? It has to be because I know he didn’t just call me that. I desperately wish he would say it again.
“I didn’t win.” Regrettably I peel myself out of his arms.
“I think we both won this one," he says, brushing my hair out of my face. There goes that million dollar smile of his again.
I can’t deny his statement. This does feel a lot like winning with the way he’s looking at me right now.
8
NASH
“Why are we meeting here instead of the field?” Eli asks, taking a seat on the couch in our living room. We both expected to be joining her on our practice field by the gym. She texted me yesterday asking to move the training session to our house and to only invite a few key players on offense and defense.
“I don’t know.” She didn’t give a reason. I assured her no one would find out about our practices but she still insisted on it being here.
The doorbell chimes and I practically knock over the coffee table to answer it. My glare does nothing to cut off Eli’s deep chuckle.
“Morning,” Adrian, one of our running backs, enters the house carrying a box from The Round Table. Lucas and Chris follow close behind with their arms full of baked goods and boxes of coffee.
“What are you doing here?” I ask Trey when I notice him at the end of the line.
“I invited him,” Eli replies.
Trey’s eye is finally back to normal. I’ve kept my distance at practice and around campus the best I can. I sit at the opposite end of the table when we eat together as a team and ignore him at the gym. The only place I can’t avoid him is practice.
I don’t know what Eli was thinking letting him come into our house knowing Drew was going to be here too.
“Who’s idea was it to bring food?” Eli asks as they march into the house.
“Mine,” Drew yells, as she locks her car while balancing another box of baked goods.
“Did you leave anything for the rest of campus?” I race down the steps to grab the bags for her.
“I might have gone a little overboard.” Her eyes drop to the box in her hands and a cute blush coats her cheeks.
“It won’t go to waste. You didn’t have to bring food.” I place my hand on the back of her neck and give it a quick squeeze. My desire to have my hand—or a fucking fingertip—on her is growing stronger by the day.
“I know. I just…I thought it would help get the guys to like me.” Her eyes dart toward the kitchen where everyone is piling pastries onto their plates and putting cream cheese on bagels.
“B-Drew, they’re going to like you because you’re you. You’re here to help us in your free time when you don’t have to.” Dammit. I almost slipped and called her baby again. It feels natural to do it as if she’s mine already.Maybe she is.
