Page 5 of Break

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Page 5 of Break

“Of course, we did, Princess. Remember how good we were?” Jaxon asks as he leans closer to me. His cologne with touches of cedarwood and sage washes over me.

I grind my teeth as my eyes sweep over all of them, doing my best to not look affected in the slightest. That’ll fuel them. “Well, I’m sure you know, but I’m the team’s physical therapist.”

“Which means we’ll see plenty of you,” Dimitri says, the sleeves of his white T-shirt pulling tight around his large biceps.

“After you help us stretch, we’ll have to stretch you,” Knox comments with a devilish glint in his eyes.

“Has that line ever worked for you?” I huff, pretending their words and presence aren’t anything out of the usual. But as heat rushes to my cheeks I quickly add, “We should keep things professional.”

Jaxon clicks his tongue, and I jump a little when his hand lands on my thigh under the table. His touch burns right through my khaki uniform pants. “Where’s the fun in that, sweetheart?”

I try to shift my leg away, but he grips my thigh, anchoring it in place. “Get your fucking hand off me!” I dig my nails into his hand, tightening my grip until I’m sure I have broken his skin.

“Oh, look who got some bite,” Knox says as his face softens. However, his tone remains sarcastic. Teasing.

My grip won’t stop Jaxon’s. As I try to move my leg and squirm away, he just stares at me.

This is what they do. Trap their prey, then let them fight because then they can have even more fun.

“Just leave me alone,” I spit, and Jaxon’s grip finally leaves me. “Don’t you have to meet your new teammates?”

Dimitri shrugs. “We’ve already said our hellos.” He crosses his arms on the surface of the table and lowers his head until he peers at me through his lashes. “We saved the best for last.”

I push Jaxon away and rise to my feet, feeling their dark eyes follow my every move. Jaws tense. Eyes narrow. For not staying to play with them.

“All of you are on my schedule. I’ll see you at those scheduled times,” I say and start to step away from the table, but Jaxon strikes his hand out and grabs my wrist, stopping me in my tracks. “Jaxon—”

“You don’t want to leave things like this,” Jaxon warns me.

I swallow hard as his grip tightens, making my wrist ache. Part of me wants to cower, run, and hide like I used to, but I need to put up a boundary, even if they try to break it down. “I’ll see you all at your scheduled times.”

Tearing myself away one more time, I walk away from the table, hoping desperately that they won’t try to follow me. Before I leave the cafeteria, I pitch one more look over my shoulder in their direction.

They’re probably calculating their next ambush, and I doubt it’ll stop there.

This is going to be a long season.

Two

As the sun starts setting, I’m dying to get home just to be away from the guys. I’m even more exhausted than I usually am at the end of a long workday. The three monsters from my past sap the strength right out of me, leaving me feeling even weaker.

I don’t know how they do it, how they have this effect on me, but I’m sure they have everything planned out and at least a fewbackup options.

I stride to the entrance of my apartment building that isn’t too far away from the football stadium, aching to slip my shoes off, change my clothes, and take my mind off today and the hell that probably awaits me in the days to come.

Who knows what’s going to happen next? What else do they have in mind for me?

They’ve already found their places among the team. The coaches like them, and I just hope they’re out having drinks or dinner with their other teammates. Maybe they’ll make some close friends and leave me alone.

Wishful thinking.

When I head through the lobby of the tall, modern apartment building, I come to an abrupt stop at the sight of Dimitri talking to one of the front desk workers. He’s in another room, but the wall is made of glass, so I can see him perfectly clearly.

And that means he can see me too.

Dimitri looks to the side and smirks at me, his eyebrow cocking up.

What the hell is he doing here?


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