Quarterback Sneak (Red Zone Rivals #3)(60)

Me: If you’re sick, I can bring you soup.

I wondered if that was too much, so I threw in a joke, too.

Me: Or I could come give you a massage… from the inside.

I could imagine her rolling her eyes at the text as I peeled myself out of bed and jumped in the shower. I had to move before I could get too comfortable, otherwise I’d never get up.

There was still no response from her when I got out.

I tried one last time.

Me: I hope you’re okay. I miss you.

I stared at the text, debated, and then deleted it all and tried again.

Me: Party at ours tonight. Team is stressed… me included. If you feel up to it, you should come.

I hadn’t even put the phone down before I got a response.

Julep: I’ll be there.





I chose not to drink — not because the thought of an ice-cold beer or two didn’t sound appealing, but because I wanted to be in my best shape for practice tomorrow and the game this weekend.

I noticed I wasn’t the only one on the team making good decisions, because the keg was lasting longer than it usually did, most of the guys nursing their beers and drinking water in-between.

We liked to party, and we clearly needed to cut loose. But we were still athletes, and performance on the field outweighed everything else.

I was honestly pleasantly surprised that my roommates had followed my wishes. It was a party, sure, but it was small, low key, and only about half as loud as our usual.

It was almost eleven and Julep hadn’t shown yet.

I made the rounds, checking in with various pods of players scattered around the house before I found Zeke, Clay, and Leo in the kitchen.

“Hey, Cap,” Zeke greeted me, lifting his cup of water and tapping it against the side of mine.

“Boys,” I said in return, taking a sip before I sat my hip against the edge of the counter. We had a sweeping view of the house here, and we took in everything happening. “No girls tonight?”

“You know Riley,” Zeke said. “She’s serious when it comes to school. Her last test is on Monday, and she doesn’t want to have to study when we’re on the road.”

I nodded, my already high respect for her ticking up a notch. “And G?”

Clay smirked. “Reading dirty books and highlighting all the best parts for us to try after the win.”

I arched a brow. “You mean when we get back to campus, right? Since Coach has made it clear you two aren’t allowed to be in the same hotel room when we travel.”

“Of course,” Clay said, holding up his hands in mock surrender. His wink gave away that he was full of shit.

“You’re one to talk, Cap,” Leo said, pouring himself a shot of tequila. I grabbed it and poured it down the sink before he could take it, pointing at the keg. I meant what I said about nothing other than beer. Begrudgingly, he sighed and refilled his cup before adding, “We all heard about the girl in the pool.”

I’d become so good at covering for us now that my neck didn’t even heat as I blinked at him. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Sure,” he said, waggling his brows. “You just don’t want to tell us who she is.”

“I bet I could guess,” Zeke said.

I took a drink of water, bored. “If you could, you’d know more than me. I didn’t even catch a name.”

Leo let out a shocked laugh as Clay covered his mouth with one fist and said ohhh.

“Damn, Cap,” Leo said, smacking my chest. “Ruthless. Even I get the name first.”

“What’s the point?” I said, hoping I sounded just a nonchalant as I did every season when I happened to let a girl take me home for a bit of stress relief.

“Yeah, yeah,” Clay said, smirking. “We all know. No time for anything but football for Holden Moore.”

Leo started in on telling us a story about some girl on the cheerleading squad who’d been playing hard to get, and I let my eyes wander the party, looking for Julep.

I felt Zeke watching me.

I glanced his way, and he just arched a brow, stepping a little closer to me and away from the other two. “Who ya looking for?”

“Just looking.”

“Ah,” he said, lips turning down as he nodded. “So… you wouldn’t want to know that Julep is here?”

I knew I did a shit job of covering the way my whole body stilled at the mention of her name. “Is she?”

Zeke’s lips flattened. “You suck at pretending you’re not into her.”

“Apparently not,” I said, glancing at Clay and Leo who I was fairly confident didn’t have a clue.

“She’s drunk,” Zeke said after a moment.

That made my grip on my cup tighten a bit, the plastic crunching.

“And I saw some kid I’ve never seen before offering her a Xan.”

That did it.

My fa?ade cracked, and I tossed my cup in the trashcan before grabbing him by the shirt and dragging him away from Clay and Leo.

“Where is she?”

“Game room,” he answered, nodding toward the back hall. I turned, but he caught my sleeve. “She doesn’t seem herself, man. Be careful.”

I shrugged him off, putting it out of my mind that he clearly saw right through our bullshit and knew more than he should. I could deal with that another time.