The Wrong Play: A Football Romance (The Wrong Player Series Book 2)
The Wrong Play: Chapter 14

Rolling my neck around because it turned out that sleeping on a cold, hard floor was actually not that comfortable, I headed across the green to the athletic building for weights. Pulling out my phone, I scrolled through my text messages, blocking girls who had texted me. I was going to have to change my number or hire an assistant to block numbers full time because the amount of texts I received just through the night was ridiculous.

Now that I’d found the drama to my llama—my baby love to my…wow, I maybe should have spent more time sleeping and less time listening to the sound of Riley breathing. I would probably be making a lot more sense right now.

Ah, I’d missed some texts from Matty. He probably wanted to thank me for his fun night.

Oh…I’d missed a lot of text messages.

The texts ended there. Huh, I was just getting into it.

The weight room smelled like sweat and rubber, the clank of metal on metal filling the space as I glanced around for Parker and Matty.

Slackers. If you weren’t early, you were late. Or at least that’s what someone had said to me once. I’d definitely be late if it hadn’t been for Riley so lovingly waking me up this morning slamming her door as she left for class completely unaware that I was still in her room.

That reminded me. I pulled out my phone, checking to make sure she’d made it to her class okay.

I stared at the text I’d just sent her, hoping that it came across as more I’m hopelessly devoted to you than I spent the night under your bed.

Parker sidled in. My man looking very well fucked. “I hope you have a really good explanation for last night.”

“The turntables have turned, QB,” I told him as I laid down on the bench. He was going to love where I’d been last night. Possibly. Probably.

“What does that even mean?” he asked.

Before I could respond, the door burst open. Matty stumbled in like he’d been in a bar fight with a tornado, his hair a mess. He plopped down on the bench, a weird, haunted look on his face. He hadn’t even looked this terrified when we had to help Parker dig up that old woman for his Sphinx trial.

“What happened to you?” Parker hissed. “I was all prepared to save your life, and then you never texted me back.”

“Why didn’t you just track him?” I asked, confused.

They both shot me a look, Matty’s a little less friendly than necessary.

“I don’t know, Jace. Maybe because I don’t have a tracker on him.”

“Only on Casey?” I said, wiggling my eyebrows at him.

He grinned and winked.

“Can we focus?” Matty hissed, poking me in the chest. I moved around my pectorals, and he scoffed.

“Just giving you something to aim for,” I said, coughing and pretending to add more weights as one of the coaches came in.

Parker casually grabbed some weights and started doing some lunges.

“I just want you to know that you’re going to owe me for the rest of my life,” Matty hissed, and he started spotting me.

“Dropping this bar on me is not going to make you feel better, my dude,” I told him as I pushed the bar up.

“I’m not sure about that,” he growled, and I shivered. Matty was definitely being spooky sexy right now. “She was a fucking lunatic.” He glanced around like she was hiding in a corner and was going to overhear our conversation.

“Why are we whispering?” I whispered.

“Someone like that, you have to whisper about.” He shivered.

I blew out a breath as I did another set.

“First of all, who is she?” Parker asked, sounding miffed because he didn’t know what was going on.

“The love of my life’s roommate,” I answered matter-of-factly, causing both of them to give me the side-eye.

Which was ridiculous honestly—at least on Parker’s part. While Matty was still in the “multiple vaginas, one dick club,” Parker was a bona fide rabid little love muffin, so wrapped up in Casey that I was pretty sure he wasn’t aware that other women even existed.

Just like me.

“The love of your life’s psycho roommate,” Matty corrected me.

“Potato, Puh-tat-oh,” I told him.

He ran a hand through his hair, his hand shaking a bit. “I was supposed to keep her occupied, right? So I figured, easy, just take her somewhere to eat, make small talk, distract her for a while, and then I’d bounce.”

“Good plan,” I said with a nod.

His eyes widened, a strange, crazy glint in his eyes as he stared up at me.

I stood my ground, because I wasn’t an idiot. When a wild bear is staring at you, you gotta stand your ground, or else it will eat you.

“It would have been a great plan, Thatcher, if you had answered your fucking phone and told me that you were going to be there all night. I wasn’t going to let her in there with you while you were asleep. Who the hell knows what would have happened to you!”

“Huh, I don’t remember getting that text,” I mused, wondering if it had come during Riley’s and my little orgasm sesh.

Parker did another lunge. “Can we get to the point?”

“Sorry my spiraling is too much for you,” Matty growled.

I held in my snort as I racked the weight and pulled a protein bar out of my hoodie that I’d forgotten I’d put there.

“How can you have an appetite at a time like this?” Matty gasped like one of those olden day maidens right before they fainted.

“Pretty sure Jace pulls out cookies during sex,” Parker grunted, his face scrunched up as he sank down into another rep.

“That was one time,” I drawled. “And I’ll have you know, that an orgasm is much better with the taste of chocolate chip cookies in your mouth.”

“You got crumbs on her boobs,” Parker snarked.

“And then I got to lick them off,” I said with a grin, before I remembered I hated all other boobs and all other girls, and no one else existed anymore.

I was a born-again virgin starting from the moment I’d spotted Riley across that bar.

Matty made a strange, choking sound, and we both looked over at him concerned. His eyes were now bugging out a little bit, and there was a red color on his face that made him look a little like that Kool-Aid pitcher guy that Jagger used to be terrified of as a kid.

“She didn’t blink,” he choked out, even though I thought we had moved on and were talking about cookies now.

“That’s not possible,” Parker inserted helpfully as he started doing box jumps.

“I thought maybe I was imagining it, so I timed her. We were sitting in the common area, and she just stared at me. For a full two minutes. Straight face. No reaction. Nothing.”

Parker grimaced. “Okay, that’s a little creepy.”

Matty snorted. “A little, he says. How about this? At one point, she started talking about dreams. Specifically, how she likes watching people sleep and then tries to guess what they’re dreaming about. Like it’s a hobby of hers.”

We blinked at him.

“And then she asked if I ever wondered what people dreamed about right before they died. And THEN she laughed. Not a normal laugh, either. Like a movie villain laugh. Like she had a body in her closet just waiting for the right moment.”

I wrinkled my nose at that. It wouldn’t matter soon enough because I planned on moving Riley in with me as soon as possible, but thinking of her watching my girl was unacceptable. Only I was allowed to watch Riley sleep, obviously.

Matty had my full attention now.

“Go on,” I told him.

He scoffed, like I wasn’t being super magnanimous.

I gave myself another pat on the back because my continued use of that word was excellent. Real big brain material. And they called Parker the smart one.

Scoff.

Matty ran a hand down his face. “So, at this point, I’m thinking I need to get somewhere public, fast. I suggest we go grab some food because, you know, normal people do that.”

He sucked in a breath, eyes still wild. “Joke’s on me.”

Parker and I exchanged glances. “What happened?” Parker asked, like he already regretted it.

Matty threw his hands up. “She orders a glass of milk—with ice—stares at it for a full five minutes without drinking it.”

“Where did you take her?” I asked.

Matty stared at me aghast. “Does it matter?”

“I’m just saying…I wouldn’t exactly call you a foodie,” I noted.

“This coming from the man who thinks corn dogs and milk are a complete meal.”

“Says the person who’s never tried it. Trust me, if you’ve tried it, you would be talking differently. Ice-less milk, of course, though.”

“I took her to Ashwood Cafe. Are you appeased?”

“Appeased. I like that word, Matty-kins. Good job.”

“Me too,” Parker said with a grin. A supportive king right there. “But also, someone drinking ice with their milk is a sign of a monster.”

“True serial killer behavior,” I added so I could be supportive too.

He side-eyed me like he didn’t believe me.

“Continue.”

“I tried to keep it light. Make conversation. I asked her what her major was. She answers, ‘I study the way people fall apart.’”

Parker made a choking sound.

“She said this as the waiter showed up. He looked at both of us like we were nuts.”

“Probably prevented him from spitting in your food,” I offered.

Matty rolled his eyes.

“I ordered chicken⁠—”

“As one does when there are no corn dogs around,” I interrupted again.

“As one does when they are supposed to be following the team’s nutritionist’s plan,” Parker commented snarkily.

Okay, so he wasn’t always a supportive king.

“I ORDERED CHICKEN…” Matty said loudly. Tank, one of our offensive linemen looked over at the mention of food, and I waved him off.

As you were, gentlemen.

Parker and I both leaned in, sure it was about to get good.

“So, she stares at my plate, and then begins talking about how different bones taste. You know, Hypothetically. She then says that she thinks femurs would be the best cut, if properly prepared.”

“What the fuck?” Parker gasped, freezing on top of the box he’d just jumped on—right, we were supposed to be working out.

“Yeah. And then she just…tilts her head and goes, ‘It’s fascinating how marrow keeps us alive, isn’t it?’ Like she’s personally tested the theory. As she drinks her iced fucking milk!”

All right…I was feeling genuinely disturbed now. That girl slept by my angel cake every night.

“It got worse,” Matty said, flopping back on the bench and staring at the ceiling. He possibly was going to need therapy after this. Unfortunate, but necessary, I guess.

The sacrifices we made for love.

“What could be worse than what you’ve already said?” Parker asked, looking flabbergasted.

“She asked me if I ever thought about what human flesh tasted like.”

We both blinked at him.

“Sorry, what?” I asked, losing my appetite for what may have been the first time in my entire life. I pulled the wrapper slowly back over my protein bar and shoved it in my pocket.

“You heard me.” Matty looked traumatized. “She said—and I quote—‘There’s a reason people always compare it to pork. At least that’s what the studies say.’”

“What did you do?” Parker asked, glancing around like he was now expecting her to pop out of the corner, too.

“You left, right?” I asked.

“Of course, I left,” Matty practically screeched. “I faked a phone call and told her my ‘cousin’ was in the ER. And you know what she did next…”

“What?”

“She just smiled—fucking smiled—and said, ‘That’s a shame. I was hoping to give you some…brain.’”

“Nope,” I said, pulling out my phone and double-checking that Riley was still in class and not anywhere near this psychopath.

Parker gulped. “What kind of brain do you think she meant?”

“DOES IT MATTER?” Matty’s voice was high-pitched again, and I rubbed my ears because that was…unpleasant.

The story and the voice.

“Moral of the story is…you owe me for the rest of your life.”

“Do I, though?” I asked as I picked up my weights and started my lunges. “Because it sounds like you put me at risk for spending the night with a serial killer—the exact opposite of what I asked you to do, obviously.”

His eyes were doing that bugging out thing that looked a little unhealthy. “Well, what were you doing? What did she do when she discovered you in her room?”

I waggled my eyebrows at him. “You’re acting like she discovered me.”

He hesitated. “This sounds worse than iced milk…”

I snorted and opened my mouth to tell him, of course, it wasn’t worse than iced milk, it was true love—when Coach’s booming voice echoed through the weight room. “Why the hell are all of you sitting around gossiping like sorority girls instead of lifting? You think the SEC is gonna roll over for you just ’cause you’re funny?”

Matty let out a strangled noise, probably over the fact that Coach didn’t seem to think his night with a demon was more important than working out.

Coach narrowed his eyes at the sound, because somehow he had ears like a bat—literally and figuratively. “You know what you need, Adler? Shuttle runs. Fifty of them. Now.”

Matty let out another weird noise and a “motherfucker” and headed toward the door, only looking back to do that thing where you point at your eyes with two fingers and then point at the other person—me.

I huffed and turned back to my workout because, honestly, I wasn’t the one who had failed in my duties.

And then, I promptly turned my attention to what I was going to do to get Riley out of her dorm and safe at my place.

“What’s that look?” Parker grunted as he started squats.

I just grinned at him. Because out of the three of us, he knew best what that look meant.

It meant I was going to win.