Hail Mary: An Enemies-to-Lovers Roommate Sports Romance(46)

“You’re sure it’s okay?”

That was all the confirmation my roommates needed to celebrate a victory.

Before I could answer, Braden jumped up and leapt into the air with a holler while Kyle picked Mary up like she weighed nothing, tossing her over his shoulder and spinning around while she laughed and cursed at him to let her go. She covered her ass with her hands but it was a poor attempt, considering how much of that blessed ass she had, and I had just enough decency left in me to look away and down at the floor as I hid my own victorious smile.

“Alright, come on, let’s eat,” Kyle said when he dropped her feet back to the ground. “I made a fucking feast.”

“I’m still not sure I trust that this isn’t poison,” Riley said as she approached the table warily.

Kyle grabbed her and pulled her under one arm, giving her a noogie while she struggled to break free. She socked him hard in the arm when he did, and I smiled at the two of them somewhat getting along, especially after the past few seasons. Kyle had really grown on all of us, like a stray dog you just couldn’t help but love no matter how mangey he was.

As if she sensed the commotion was over, Palico sauntered down the stairs to join us. Mary bent to pull the gray ball of purring amusement into her arms. She stroked her fur, listening to Braden detail how he’d found a container of something questionable under Kyle’s bed while he was cleaning and it had started growing a colony. There were mixed reactions of disgust and laughter, and then everyone was sitting and piling food onto their plates.

Mary stiffened before she sat, her hands on the back of a chair. She crooked her head just a little to the side, then lifted her gaze to meet mine.

I tried to smile, tried to assure her with one look that everything was going to be fine.

But inside, all I could think was that I was completely fucked.

Because within the week, that girl would be in my bed.





Leo

The last bit of summer flew by in a heated haze.

Between shuffling our house around, Blake moving in, fall camp starting and Pee Wee wrapping up, I barely had a spare minute in the day to shit, let alone anything else. As exhausted as I was, being busy had been a good thing.

It kept my mind off obsessing over my roommate.

Mary officially moved into my bedroom just a few nights after we presented the option, and while sleeping on the couch had been a pain in the ass — and back — it wasn’t nearly as difficult as pulling on a t-shirt and smelling her all over it.

She’d invaded every inch of my room and bathroom.

Mary was everywhere. Her hair, her scent, jewelry and lotion and nail polish, too. While she’d done her level best to steer clear of me, it was impossible to make it through even one day without her on my mind.

We’d at least found some sort of peace treaty in it all. While we were both busy and hadn’t spent more than a moment or two together since that night on the roof, she was back to cracking jokes rather than throwing daggers at me with her eyes. She might not have been my best friend, but she at least seemed grateful for me sacrificing my space for her.

I tried not to get jealous when I saw her doing yoga with Braden or fucking around in the kitchen with Kyle. I did my best not to stare too hard when Blake got curious about what she was drawing one day, leaning over her with a curious smile while she looked up at him like she loved that he asked.

It was clear she didn’t want anything to do with me.

But leaving her alone was possibly the hardest play route I’d ever had to run.

That’s why I was thankful for the five AM wakeup calls, for padded practices, film meetings, strength training, and conditioning that left me just awake enough to shower before I’d collapse only to do it all again the next day. This was what I lived for — that feeling of fall, of football consuming every inch of my life. Some athletes crashed under this pressure, but I thrived. Pack my schedule with more than a normal human being can handle and I’ll show you the impossible.

Still, even I was thankful for the little break coach gave us halfway through camp.

It was Saturday, and he’d not only let us out of the stadium early, but given us the next morning off, too. The reason?

The North Carolina Panthers were playing their first preseason game, and there was a high chance we’d get to see Holden on the field.

The Pit was packed by kickoff, half the team and some of their girlfriends littering our couch, chairs, bean bags and every inch of the floor they could find around the television. Even Mary had rearranged her schedule at the tattoo shop so she could be home for the game, and she sat right in the center of the floor on a massive bean bag with Riley and Giana on either side of her.

They’d been pounding seltzers since about noon, so while I was surprised they were all still awake, I wasn’t surprised they were giggling and making jokes about how football pants should be illegal.

It felt like a Super Bowl party rather than a preseason game that didn’t mean shit, but for us, this game was more significant than any we’d seen before.

This was our quarterback, an NBU alum who actually made it.

It was proof that, maybe, we had a chance in hell of going pro, too.

I tried not to watch Mary from where I was in the kitchen as the second quarter got underway. It had been practically impossible while sitting in the same room as her, especially seeing her so relaxed and happy and buzzed, if not already drunk. I remembered how she used to be at our parties last year, sour and closed off and usually looking for the first excuse to bolt.