Chapter Nine
Rome
“Damn, she’s hot.” one of the rookies says while gawking.
“Do you know who she is?” another new player asks, and my jaw clicks.
It took everything I had not to let my eyes travel down her body. Chrissy is a bombshell, and the entire party sees it. I observe her as she takes a shot, and Gwen chuckles as she sips on a wine cooler. Jumping up and down, Chrissy shakes her head from the sting of the alcohol.
“Rome, do you know who that is?”
“Chrissy Willows,” I bite out as a vein nearly bursts in my forehead.
“Is that her boyfriend?”
I catch the moment another familiar face approaches the two girls across from the pool.
Blake sweeps Gwen in his arms and rubs his knuckles on Chrissy’s head.
“Do you seriously not remember who that is?” I ask rookie number one. Levi Faulkner has black hair and dark brown eyes, is our new quarterback alternate.
“I can’t remember what I ate for breakfast,” he jokes.
I shake my head and take a swig from my water bottle.
Blake pushes up his glasses and walks over to us.
“That’s Blake. He’s the running back we met a few days ago,” rookie number two reminds Levi.
Rookie number two, Chris Williams, has dark chocolate eyes and neat yet wavy trimmed brown hair, and he’s our new wide receiver alternate.
“Oh, right.” Levi nods as he remembers. “Hey, Blake!”
“There you guys are. How’s everyone doing?” Blake asks while grabbing a beer bottle from the cooler.
“Pretty decent,” Chris responds.
They start to go back and forth, but I don’t hear what they’re saying. My eyes and attention are glued on the bubble of energy across the yard. A guy I’ve never seen before approaches her, and my muscles tense in response. I’m about ready to walk over there and save her from the strange guy, but he walks away just as quickly as he appears. Chrissy’s gaze meets mine, and her lips quirk into a lopsided grin.
Dropping my eyes, I try to focus on the crew in front of me.
“Everyone ready to start practice next week?” I ask without trying to sound distant.
“No,” Blake chuckles. “I need a fucking break. My body is getting too old for this shit.”
“You’re twenty-one,” I state with a smile, and he sighs.
“Twenty-one is the new sixty.” He stretches his arm, and I hear it crack.
The rookies look at one another, sharing a quickwhat the fuck did we get ourselves intolook.
“Don’t get old, kids.”
“Don’t listen to him,” I reassure them. “Maybe if you stretched instead of jumping straight into practice, your body wouldn’t be at war with itself.”
“Whatever, Carter.” Blake snorts and punches me in the arm.
“I’m back, and look who I found.” Miles returns from the pool with Zack in tow.
