Page 38 of Go Deep (A Bad Boy Sports Romance)
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Cassidy
Slade finally agreedto meet with me before practice a day this week. He was going to bring me what he’d prepared for our final write-up on the project, and I wanted to let him know that I’d managed to score a meeting with the owner of The Pet Adoption House for our pitch. Thanksgiving was around the corner, and although he was still avoiding me, the movement of time meant I was that much closer to graduating.
‘Hey, I’m waiting. Where’s the write-up?’I texted him.
We didn’t need a full meeting. There wasn’t anything left to discuss. I just wanted an electronic copy of what he had, and to do one run-through before delivering the pitch. There was still going to be some of the assignment to complete after we talked with the owner, but he’d said he would take care of everything up to that part for me.
Too bad he didn’t show up.
And he didn’t text me back.
It was radio silence.
I gave up and sent one more message that I’d try to catch him after practice.
Whatever was going on with him lately was obviously more important than his grades—and what I thought was happening between us. And to think, he’d worked so hard to get me to give him a chance, only to give me the brush off. I was running out of time to worry about it. I packed up my things and left the library for practice. There was a game coming up, and I needed to make up for the slack. I was not letting my senior year go to shit because of Slade Clark.
Instead of distracting myself from practice with thoughts of Slade, I used practice to keep my mind off of him today. I let myself get lost in the motions and movements, remembering how much I did enjoy the physical challenge of cheerleading, even if I wasn’t a fan of the superficial lifestyle that tended to accompany it. After practice, I hurried over to the field. I wanted to catch Slade before he left for whatever it was that occupied his evenings lately. He wasn’t out there. A few junior staff members were moving the cones they’d used for drills. All the players were gone.
My frustration was mounting. I wasn’t afraid to finish the project alone. I had no issue delivering the pitch myself too. That wasn’t what was bothering me. It wasn’t about the damn project. This was about us. Slade wasn’t showing up to work on the project because of me. He wasn’t answering my texts because of what I’d said. He was avoiding me because I’d messed with his fragile ego. That’s what I needed to fix. The project was fine. If he didn’t show up to do the pitch, Dr. Taylor could find out, but I could cover for him. The problem was us.
There wasn’t supposed to be anus. We were supposed to have a friendly agreement not to like each other. We were supposed to always be at odds with each other. We were off limits by virtue of my friendship with his brother. But that hadn’t worked out. We’d gone against the natural order of things by sleeping together. And by almost sleeping together a second time, we really screwed everything up.
Sex with Slade was just supposed to be sex. He didn’t want anyone to feel anything for him, or from him. That’s why he was keeping his distance. I was breaking a rule. I wasn’t sure how to feel after sleeping with a guy I’d tried so hard to avoid for so many years. I suspect that he was feeling something for me the night I shut him down. I shouldn’t have done that. Or I should have done it differently.
I decided to walk over to the frat house. It was really only a mile or so up the road. I got there and found his friend, Evan,thewide receiver. He was sitting outside with a couple of the unknown non-player frat brothers.
“Well, if it ain’t the Ice Princess herself,” he called out to me. “Cassidy Greyson has decided to grace us with her presence, guys. We should be mighty, mighty grateful.”
“Yeah. Whatever.” I stood on the bottom step of the house, waiting for him to stop talking so I could ask where Slade was.
“Your buddy Slade isn’t here, but maybe we can entertain you.” He got out of the chair on the porch and came down the steps to stand beside me.
“Do you know where he is?” I asked, ignoring his feeble advances and addressing the rest of the guys still on the porch.
“Nope. He disappeared right after practice, and no one has seen him since.” He stood right behind me now, being a dick as usual. I could feel him brushing up against me. “Maybe there’s something I can help you with.”
“As if,” I replied, taking a step up.
“Well, tell me something.” He was right in my ear, whispering. “Have you slept with him yet?”
Everyone was wondering the same damn thing lately. Had we slept together? I groaned. “None of your business, Evan. Just quit being a dumbass and tell your other dumbass friend to get in touch with me about our project.” I was going to regret insulting Slade later, but hell, I was sick of trying to get him to talk to me.
“Well, that’s a shame. Hey, do you think you might give him the goods before the semester’s up? I mean, since you’reworkingtogether and all?” He looked at the other guys and laughed.
“What the hell is wrong with you?”
“That’s a yes, boys. You heard it here first. The Ice Princess is considering sleeping with Slade ‘Slaughter’ Clark,” he announced, going back up the steps to his seat.
“What the hell?” I laughed at them. They had no idea we’d already slept together. And there was a pretty good chance it would happen again if Slade didn’t mess everything up by being a resentful prick who held a grudge.
“Hey, since you haven’t slept with him yet, can I interest you in something a little rougher than what the pretty boy has to offer?”
I leveled my eyes on him. He sat back in a reclining wooden lounge chair, his wavy black hair in a freshly-showered mess on top of his head. He wasn’t as broad or as muscular as Slade, but he was about the same height. His gray eyes had a deeper, darker expression in them than anything I’d seen from Slade.Something a little rougher? I was afraid to know what he meant by that.
“I hate to break it to you, Evan, butifI ever sleep with a jock, you’d be at the bottom of the list.”
