Quarterback Sneak (Red Zone Rivals #3)(10)

“That’s what we figured,” Giana interjected. “We saw it the first day you walked in during spring training. You’re used to this circus just as much as we are.”

“What made you get into training anyway?” Riley asked between bites. “Are you an athlete, too?”

“Does pole dancing count?”

Riley coughed a little as Giana’s eyes doubled, and I waited for it — the judgment, the instant awkwardness that I was met with most of the time when I let that little fun fact slip.

“Um, hell yeah, it counts!” Giana said, surprising me with a light smack across my bicep. “I want to learn! I mean, I’ll probably fall on my face trying but hey, I’m game.”

I smiled — at least, as close to it as my lips could get nowadays.

“I need to build my upper body strength,” she added.

“Lifting books to your face every night doesn’t count?” Riley quipped.

Giana stuck her tongue out.

“I bet you’re stronger than you give yourself credit for,” I said.

“She is,” a deep voice interjected, and then Clay Johnson swept in and kissed Giana’s blushing cheek before taking the seat on the other side of her.

“You don’t even know what you’re encouraging,” she shot back.

“Enlighten me.”

“Julep is a pole dancer, and she’s going to teach me.”

One of Clay’s dark brows shot up, and he assessed me with an appreciative smile. “This sounds like a great deal for all parties involved.”

I snorted. “It’s not as sexy as you think — especially in the beginning. A lot of bruises.”

“I didn’t see any bruises.”

I went stiff at the familiar voice, keeping my eyes on my food as a large, warm body filled the seat next to me.

“Then again, not the best view from across the street. Maybe you should invite me inside next time.”

I turned to find Holden wearing that stupid smirk he loved to don so much, the dimple in his left cheek defined.

“Or maybe I should invest in blackout curtains and a security team, stalker,” I replied sweetly.

“Who stalked who first?”

I rolled my eyes, just as Riley knocked on the table between us. “Um, can we get a little context here?”

“Julep lives across the street from The Pit,” Holden explained.

“No way!” Giana gushed, squeezing my forearm. “You have to come out after the first game. Win or lose, The Pit is always the place to be.”

I wrinkled my nose. “Sounds like it.”

That earned me a laugh from Riley. “Aside from the fact that it looks and smells like a bachelor pad, it actually is pretty fun.”

“Hey! Not every part is like a bachelor pad,” Holden defended.

“Yeah, yeah, we all love and appreciate your pretty garden,” someone said as they rounded the table, grinding a knuckle into Holden’s head as they passed. Leo Hernandez plopped down in the seat on one side of Riley with a grin just as Zeke Collins took the one on the other side of her.

And suddenly, I felt surrounded.

“You should come over sometime though,” Leo added once he was seated. “And bring that roommate of yours.”

“You mean the one who hates you?”

Leo smirked, shrugging. “They all say they hate me, but words are cheap.”

He winked at me, and I let out an incredulous breath of a laugh before picking at the broccoli on my plate.

Zeke threw his arm around Riley, whispering something into her neck that made her blush and made me feel uncomfortable for having witnessed it.

“Disgusting, isn’t it?” Holden said in a low voice, nodding toward where Zeke and Riley were huddled together. “Although, I’d take this over the shit show they were their freshman season.”

“Isn’t it weird,” I asked. “Two teammates dating?”

He shrugged, shoveling a huge mound of rice into his mouth. Once he swallowed, he said, “Not really any of my business. As long as they do their job on the field, I don’t care what’s going on off it.”

“So very captain of you.”

Holden winked, and I fought the urge to give him another roll of my eyes.

“What about you?” I asked, waving the end of my fork toward the back corner table. “Which one of the cheerleaders is yours?”

“Oh no,” Leo interjected, standing up enough to clap Holden hard on the shoulder. “Cap doesn’t date.”

“Wilson is his one true love,” Clay added.

I gave them both a look of disbelief. “Uh-huh. Sure.”

“They tell no lies,” Riley said. “QB1 doesn’t have time for a girlfriend.”

“He makes time for the important part of a relationship, though,” Zeke added with a wink.

I caught Holden just in time to see him giving Zeke a warning glare, and Riley smacked Zeke across the chest.

“Ah — so that’s the move, huh? Pull a cheerleader into your bed, make her think she has a chance, only to break her heart?”

Holden angled himself toward me, one elbow on the table as he leaned in and invaded my space. His scent overpowered anything else, a combination of his spicy body wash and the musk still hanging on from practice.