Rumor Has It (Rumor Has It #1)(36)

By the time coach switches us up to defense, it's worse. Before, Emma and her friends were standing behind me. But now that I'm on defense, the offense has their backs to the girls, but I'm facing them, trying to defend the basket.

Coach blows his whistle again, and I see him cross his arms. “Come on, Dixon! Move your ass!”

I don't know if it's the sound of my name or the word ass, but I see Emma's head turns around. Jeremy's trying to take the ball to the hoop, so he's blocking my line of vision, but then I see her. Looking in my direction. I try to block Jeremy's path to the basket but don't plant my feet in time, and Jeremy knocks me down. Of course, Jeremy is known for charging too, so it could've been that. Either way, I grunt on the floor and see Emma flashing a small look of worry. I shoot a smile over at her, and she turns back around.

“What the hell?” Matt comes over, helping me up. His voice reaffirms that it was a charge on Jeremy’s part.

“His feet weren’t planted,” Jeremy says.

“Bullshit,” another player chimes in, grabbing my other arm to help me up.

"Ten laps!" Coach yells out and points to Jeremy, who grumbles before taking off around the court. I look back over to where Emma was and see her and her friends walking out of the gym.

"It's our last two weeks of the season, and if you boneheads don't play tighter D, with no penalties, it doesn't matter how good we play. All right, ball up."

As we make our way to the locker room after practice, I hear someone arguing. Lucas and I are the last to enter, and I know it’s not our coach. He usually leaves the locker room to ourselves, letting us keep each other in line.

“It wasn’t a low blow; he wasn’t paying attention.” I hear Jeremy.

“Are you nuts?” I hear Matt’s voice answer back, almost yelling. “What the hell’s your problem? It’s not gonna do us any good if our captain goes down with an injury.”

"Whatever, Mr. President." Jeremy pushes past him, walking to his locker.

I shoot Matt a look, unsure what’s going on, but he just shakes his head.

“You good, Dixon?” Jeremy asks, eyeing me carefully.

“Nothing a little ice won’t help.”

"See?" Jeremy looks over at Matt. "He's a big boy. You don't need to cuddle him. You guys probably do enough of that already."

I look at Matt confused, who looks like he’s about to blow a gasket. Lucas also gives me a weird look.

“Where the hell did that come from?”

“My bad.” He puts up his hands but has an expression that says he’s far from sorry. “You were probably just scoping out those two chicks for something to remember later tonight. For your alone time.”

"Hey, bitch." I step to him, and Matt gets in front of me.

Jeremy is not one to miss making fun of someone, no matter how crude or tasteless. And that goes for teammates as well. But there's something in his voice. Malice. As if he's trying to put me down somehow, which I don't get. It wouldn't piss me off as much, but he brought up Emma, even if he didn't do it by name.

“Oh.” Jeremy’s eyes go wide, knowing he’s hit a nerve. “You were. Was it the blond one? You couldn’t dribble the ball because you wanted to remember what her lips looked like.”

"Jer!" Lucas yells, and I know it's because Jen's the blond one.

"What the hell, man?" I'm still in front of him, now with Matt, Lucas, and Franco between us. The rest of the team stands back, but everyone's watching. "What the hell's gotten into you."

"Ha! Me? Oh, yeah, that's great." He looks around the locker room, grinning and waving his hands at the guys. "You hear this asshat who's supposed to be our captain. Shit, I should've been captain, and we both know it. At least I'd be straight up with my team."

“What the hell are you talking about?”

“You know exactly what I’m talking about.”

I look at Matt, who shakes his head, not having a clue. Neither do I. “We got a game tomorrow, so if you got some issue, you might as well lay it all out now.”

“We’re supposed to be able to trust you, Carter.”

Still not having a clue what he’s talking about, I look around the locker room. “What the? My handles sucked today, so what? And so what if I missed a few shots.”

“Really?” Jeremy looks insulted. “You’re gonna make me say it?”

Lucas looks at me suspiciously, as if I’m hiding something. But I have no clue what Jeremy is talking about.

“Say what?!”

“You’re a liar, that’s what.”

“About what?”

“Guess who I hooked up with last night?”

My face drops. Now I know exactly why he's pissed. I look at Matt, who just raises his eyebrows. He only ever said it once, but he told me I should probably tell the guys that I didn't hook up with Sarah. That lying about it, even if I was just lying by omission, meant that if they found out, they'd either be mad or think I'm lame. All eyes in the locker room land on me. I'm about to get a first-hand lesson in rumors, fake or not, coming back around to bite you in the ass.

“Shit,” I mumble.