Page 113 of Thunderstruck
“You were happier in Oregon.”
Shaking my head, I look out along the Malibu coast as it glitters in the sun. “I may have been happy in Oregon, but I’m happierhere. This is where I grew up. This is where my family is.”
“And your friends,” Derek adds, raising an eyebrow.
“I said what I said.Family. And Carissa is here.”
“You really like her, don’t you?”
That gets a laugh out of me, mostly because I don’t remember a time when Derek wasn’t the first to be in the know about celebrity gossip. I swear he has a whole team of people who keep him updated on anything of note, particularly when it relates to one of us, so he has either been talking to Freya for too long to have been informed about my adventures last night, or he has been avoiding things entirely. I don’t know what’s up with him today, but I have a way to cheer him up. At the very least, I can distract him from whatever he’s probably overthinking.
“Maybe you should see what’s trending onHot Scooptoday,” I say. “I think you might find it interesting. But first, give me the number of whoever can help me spend a whole lot of money on a so-so rugby team.”
Curiosity burns in Derek’s eyes, and of course he pulls up the tabloid first and finds the latest article right off the bat, his eyes reading quickly before he pulls up the video.
It might be the first time Derek Riley is left truly, completely dumbfounded.
The guys are on fire at practice. They’re riding high after their win against Portland, but Coach Galvin is nowhere in sight and Moxie showsup halfway through on crutches, so it’s good things all around. Mel and Carissa both get after Moxie for not taking it easy, but it’s clear they’re both happy to see him. Especially Mel.
It takes a lot of concentration to keep my focus on practice rather than the woman with blonde curls who laughs and jokes with the team as they get taped or discuss certain stretches or workouts to help with whatever trouble spots they have. Carissa looks like she’s in her element now. Like she belongs here.
And when I say I keep my focus on practice, I really don’t manage it at all, which is how a laugh from Carissa pulls my eyes to the sideline where she sits with Moxie, right as Loren slams into me and knocks me flat on my back in an impressive tackle.
I shove him off of me as he laughs. “Thanks,” I grunt, sitting up with a good deal of struggle.
“You’ve got it bad, Stitch.”
“Yeah.” My eyes flit to him. “What did you just call me?”
“He called you Stitch,” Wyatt says and holds out a hand to help me to my feet.
“Why?”
Both men chuckle and move back to run the play again.
“No,” I growl, holding my hands up instead of taking the ball from Freddie. “No, you can’t just give me a new nickname and not tell me why.”
“Would you relax?” Wyatt says. “It’s a good thing. It means you’re one of us.”
Gaping, I look around to the other backs to make sure I heard him right. “What?”
Some of the forwards must have noticed my bewilderment because they come over from the other side of the practice field and gather around us. Grayson puts an arm around Wyatt and grins at me. “Did we break him?”
“Apparently he doesn’t like his new nickname,” Wyatt replies, rolling his eyes.
I groan, folding my arms as if that might intimidate them into explaining. Now that the forwards have joined in, I am all too aware that I am nowhere near the biggest guy here. “I never said I didn’t like it,” I grumble. “I just don’t understand why—”
“Don’t overthink it or we’ll go back to calling you Rihanna.” Wyatt steps forward, shaking his head at me. “Dude, just accept that you are part of the team now before we change our minds.”
“But you don’t like me.”
The group erupts into laughter.
“Maybe not a week ago,” Grayson says, “but you’ve made yourself weirdly likable.”
Weirdly likable?I can’t tell if that’s a compliment. “You said we aren’t friends,” I argue, though I know those two things don’t have to go together.
Grayson and Wyatt look at each other, shrug, and Wyatt says, “You’ll have to take that one up with Carissa, Stitch. We were just following orders.”
