Quarterback Sneak (Red Zone Rivals #3)(50)

“Promise me,” he said, hands sliding up my arms to frame my face. He tilted my head until I looked at him. “Promise me we’ll talk.”

I bit my lip, but nodded, and then he pulled me in and kissed me on a deep inhale, and for that moment, I let myself succumb to that beautiful, contagious relief flowing off him.

But the next, I broke away.

And I dipped out of the room quickly, skipping the elevator altogether and jogging up the stairs, instead.

Giana and Riley were sound asleep when I got back to the room, one of them softly snoring as I shut the door behind me as quietly as I could. I tiptoed into the bathroom, changing out of my wet clothes before I slipped into my own bed.

When the alarm went off an hour later, I pretended to wake, yawning and stretching like I’d had the best night’s sleep of my life.

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Holden



“Moore.”

Coach Lee bellowed out my name in the locker room after practice on Monday, not even glancing up from his clipboard as he rounded into his office.

“See me when you’re dressed.”

He disappeared inside his office then, shutting the door behind him and sliding into his chair.

Zeke arched a brow at me. “What’d you do?”

I swallowed to avoid answering that, even though I knew he was teasing. Because ever since Julep and I fucked in the supply closet of the hotel, I’d felt like I was wearing a neon blinking sign that said GUILTY in all caps.

I sniffed. “I don’t know, but I’m guessing I’m about to find out.”

My heart raced, throat tight as I attempted a swallow. I thought through that night — or rather, morning — wondering if I’d missed him, if he’d seen us somehow. But the more I tracked through the memory, the more I was certain he couldn’t have.

We might not have been the most careful, but I knew he hadn’t caught us.

My stomach still bottomed out, though, if not from Coach calling me into his office, then from the fact that I still had yet to hear from his daughter.

Julep had promised me we would talk when we got back, and yet, she’d avoided me like the fucking plague. I knew she was in her head. I knew she was solidifying all the reasons what happened between us couldn’t happen again.

I ached to stop that train of thought so badly I could barely stand it.

But I left her alone, let her be, if only because I respected her enough to know that when she wanted to talk — if she wanted to talk — she’d come to me.

It was excruciating, knowing she was right across the street and not being able to reach her. What was more excruciating was that now that I’d had her, now that we’d given in…

I couldn’t fathom going back to what we were before.

I wondered if she felt the same. I wondered if she’d fucked me right out of her system or if she burned for me the way I did for her.

“Ah, he’s going to clear you to play. That’s my bet,” Leo said, clapping my shoulder and snapping me back to the present. “And it’s about damn time. We need our cap on that field.”

I ran a towel over my damp hair from the shower, pulling on my joggers and hoodie. Once I was dressed, I made my way into Coach’s office with as steady of a heartbeat as I could manage.

Coach Lee glanced up at me when I swung through the door, and he just gestured to the seat across from him before getting back to whatever he was typing on his computer. When he was done, he sat back, steepling his fingers over the top of his stomach. He watched me for a long, weighted pause.

“I heard you went for an early morning swim at the hotel.”

My heart stopped beating, free-falling through my body as I stared at Coach and willed myself not to show an ounce of emotion.

“I did,” I answered carefully.

His eyes were hard on mine, his brow furrowed. “I also heard there was a girl with you.”

Fuck.

Fuck, fuck, fuck.

I didn’t respond. I just swallowed, waiting to see what he’d say next. He said a girl, he didn’t say Julep. I held onto any fraction of hope that he didn’t know it was her.

He must have been friends with the older man who came to the pool, the one who saw us.

Coach blew out a breath, shaking his head. “Look, I was young once, too, okay? I know what it’s like to have… urges.”

I had to fight to keep the cringe off my face.

“But, when we travel as a team, you more than anyone else need to be setting the example for how everyone else should behave. Fucking a girl in the hotel pool at five in the morning is not the example I’m talking about.”

Relief spiraled through me, because by that sentence alone, I knew he didn’t know it was his daughter I had pinned against the edge of that pool.

“Yes, sir,” I said, hoping I looked like a dog with his tail between his legs. I didn’t even offer an argument or explanation. I wanted him to have the power, to feel like he was in full control.

Coach watched me a moment longer, then smirked, shaking his head as he leaned forward. “To be young again,” he said, then he smacked his hand on the desk. “You’re back in, Moore.”

I gaped at him. “Sir?”

“We’re putting you back in, full practice, starting tomorrow. And you’ll start this Saturday in the home game against Charlotte.”