Page 61 of Trick Play
Piper: Okay. I’m at your parents’ with Ellie. We’re about to eat. Hope everything goes well.
“What’s up?” Simon asks when he notices me staring at my phone, surprise probably written all over my face.
“Uh, it appears that my sister got Ellie to go home with her for the weekend.”
Simon chuckles. “That surprises you? She’s been moaning about having to be home by herself all week. Plus, she’s been angling to get Piper alone so she can grill her about you two since she found out there was a you two.” He spreads his hands. “I don’t know why you didn’t see this coming.”
I glance at him before sitting down on my bed in the hotel room. “I guess I just didn’t think about it.”
He snorts and shakes his head. “Of course you didn’t.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
Shrugging, he opens his bag and puts his shaving kit in the bathroom, going through his usual routine of settling into a hotel before the team meeting downstairs. “Just that you don’t pay much attention to your sister.”
“Jesus Christ,” I mutter.
He smirks. “You don’t. We all know it. I’m not giving you shit, just stating facts.”
“Fine. I guess I don’t.”
“Because if you did,” he continues like I didn’t just agree with him, “you’d know that Ellie has your entire future with Piper all planned out. Starting with couple dates and game nights once football season is over.”
“Please tell me you’re joking.”
He shoots me a look that lets me know that no, he is not joking. Sighing, I drop my head back on my pillow. “It’s not like that with Piper and me. We’re not …”
“A couple?” he supplies.
I lift a hand and let it drop back on the bed. “I guess.” But that doesn’t feel right. It doesn’t sit right with me to deny that she’s more to me than a booty call. Especially after last night.
Simon sits on his bed and levels a look at me. “For real? She shows up at your door when she’s upset and just got in a fight with her family, and you’re gonna sit there with a straight face and tell me that you aren’t in a relationship with this chick?”
“Fuck you,” I grumble, and he just laughs.
“Come on. Time for the meeting.”
* * *
We return to the hotel after our game on Friday, tired and elated from our win, running on adrenaline and endorphins. I even got some playing time. I didn’t start, and it wasn’t until the fourth quarter. Apparently Kilpatrick tweaked something in his shoulder, and Coach would rather baby him to make sure he can play for the most important games that are still to come. But at this point, I’ll take what I can get.
Coach’s parting words when we get back to the hotel are, “Don’t stay out too late. And don’t get yourselves in trouble. I don’t have it in me to bail you out of jail this far away from home, so if you end up there, you’ll have to get yourself out and find your own way home.” With that, he and the other coaches file off the bus, leaving us to follow behind them and figure out our own plans.
A loud groan goes up from Lancaster when he picks up his duffle and notices the little stuffed piggy snout sticking out of an end pocket. “Fuck, man. I’ve already had Piggy five times this season. Isn’t it someone else’s turn?”
Laughter ripples through the team. “Don’t leave your bag where anyone can get to it,” Gardner shouts back at him, and Lancaster tosses Piggy at him.
“Nice try,” Johnson says, picking up Piggy and handing him back. “That’s not how you get rid of Piggy. And anyway,” he gives the stuffed pig a little pat, “be careful with Piggy. He’s getting old. We don’t need him to get all dirty. Remember what happened the last time he needed a bath?”
Foster cracks up. “You got stuck with him for the rest of the year because he wouldn’t dry in time for you to pass him off before the end of the season.”
Grumbling, Johnson and Foster and the rest make their way off the bus, plans for the best ways to celebrate starting to circulate among the team.
I’d normally be down to go out and have a few drinks, maybe find someone to take the edge off the usual post-game horniness running through my veins. But tonight is different. Piper has made things different. I wouldn’t have picked anyone up before what happened Wednesday night, but I still would’ve gone out for drinks at least. But Wednesday night caused another shift, a resettling, an adjustment in what I want and how and when and with who.
I’m horny, and if I can’t be with my woman in person, then I at least want to exchange sexy pics and get off with her.
Simon glances over at me as we head into the hotel, the guys around us talking loudly, looking at their phones, comparing notes on the best places to go according to their preferred referral sites. He gives me a knowing grin. “I’m going to go with …” he gestures vaguely at Trey and some of the other offensive lineman. “Wherever they’re going. Catch you later.”
