My Lucky Catch (University Park #6) (10 page)

“Luke, you’re a grown man. It’s time you stand up, respectfully, to them. You can’t go your entire life with your tail between your legs. Avoidance is not the answer, and by you doing that, you’re creating resentments against them. And that’s not good.” He dropped his chin, and his eyes fixed on me.

“I know.”

“I don’t want to continue to bench you, but I will if I have to.” He gave me a slight shake before releasing his hand. Unless, that’s what you want.”

“No.” I shook my head. “I don’t want that. I do enjoy playing, and I want to continue playing.” A long sigh released involuntarily. “I just a need some time to get my head straight and talk to them.”

“Good.” He smiled. “I think you’re a great player, and I’d hate to see you quit.”

“Coach, if there’s one thing I’m not, that’s a quitter.”

He stood and pointed his finger at me. “That’s right, Luke, you’re a Dragon, and Dragon’s never quit!”

“Thanks for understanding.” I shook his hand and stood up.

“Of course.”

I walked out of his office with a new sense of freedom. Revealing to him my hidden career goals was liberating. I just needed to get the guts to tell my parents. It wouldn’t be easy, and I hoped my dad would be supportive. If I could win him over, then I had a chance with my mom.

***

Delaney

Jordan yanked on the cord of my ear bud and said, “Why is he checking you out?”

“What? Who?” I looked at her first before turning to see who she was talking about.

She rolled her eyes as she took a seat at the lat pull-down machine. “Riley. That’s who.”

“Shit.” My heart started to pound in my chest. and I took a few deep breaths. “Where’s he at?”

“At the free weights with Luke and Forbes.”

Casually, I glanced across the gym, praying that Riley wouldn’t be staring at me and Luke wouldn’t catch him. As fate would have it, Riley totally caught me, but Luke was oblivious. I quickly averted my gaze, cursing myself for looking in the first place. I gripped the bar at the seated row machine and pulled. Counting, I did ten reps, pushing myself to lift the heavy weight.

I released the bar and turned to Jordan. “Do me a favor and tell me if he’s still watching me or coming over here. But don’t seem obvious, okay?”

She gripped the bar, turned to the left, and then to the right, stretching. “Yeah, he’s still looking over here.”

“Damn it.” I muttered under my breath. If Riley mentioned anything to Luke, it was going to get ugly in here. And I mean ugly.

“What did you do this time?”

My shoulders dropped, and my body slumped over the cushion. Typically, I wouldn’t care about what I did, but seeing the invisible knife I stuck in Luke’s back made me sick. “I kind of slept with him Friday night.”

“Wh-at?” Her eyes bugged out, and her mouth dropped. “Why?”

I shrugged, even though I knew the answer. “It just happened.”

She pressed pause on her iPod. “Eating a pint of Ben and Jerry’s Cherry Garcia
just happens
, but sleeping with someone doesn’t.” She shook her head and huffed. “Is that why you left the party early?”

“Yeah.” I reluctantly admitted.

“And I thought you left with Luke. I saw you two go outside.”

“I know, but we got into an argument, and he left.” Sticking my head between the machines, I snuck another peak. Luke was working out, showing Riley a few things. Both guys were covered in sweat, streaks dripping down their muscle t-shirts. Muscles bulged from all the right places. Both guys were damn hot, but Luke definitely was the better-looking one. He wore a PHU ball cap backwards, his soft brown waves peaking from underneath. His eyes were bright, and a huge smile covered his face as he talked to his buddy.

My stomach turned, and if felt like I had eaten some bad Thai food. Guilt washed over me like a tsunami, tearing down every good memory we had shared over the past year. It was only a matter of time before he found out I slept with his teammate, and I was regretting every minute of it.

“You screwed Riley to get back at Luke?”

I shrugged. “I was drunk and he was so tempting. And Luke . . . ” I closed my eyes and rolled my head from side to side, wishing Jordan would just leave me alone. “Luke knows how to piss me off.”

“I don’t understand you guys.” She adjusted her headband. “It’s obvious you two love each other.”

“I’m not
in love
with him,” I whispered, as if he could hear me from across the gym.

“Yeah, right,” she smirked. “Just tell Lexi and Collin so you two can quit sneaking around.”

“There’s more to it than that. I don’t want to answer to anyone, and I don’t need him holding me back from having fun.”

I was looking for every excuse to deny what I really wanted, but the truth was—I wanted to be with Luke. And that scared me. I kept telling myself that it wasn’t love. That the feelings he left me with were nothing. But they were. Every time I was with him, he did something to me, something to my heart. And I needed more of that something.

But I couldn’t have it. I refused to let allow myself to fall in love with him, and to prove that I didn’t love him, I slept with Riley. I knew having sex with him would screw up everything between us, so I did it. It would create big problems, and they would be hard to solve. That would make it easy for me to walk away because that’s what I needed to do. Walk away and never look back. But now I was regretting it.

“Screwing a different guy every week is fun?” Her face twisted in disgust. “Come on, Delaney, you’re better than that, and you know it.”

“Yeah, whatever.” I waved off her words of encouragement. I wasn’t a good person, because if I were, those that I’d loved would still be here. But everything and every person I loved were gone. I didn’t deserve love, and Luke deserved better than me. No matter how much I liked him, I refused to give in to the feelings. I wanted to, but the wall I constructed was permanently there to protect me, and that’s what I would allow it to do.

“I’m better off on my own, trust me.”

“You two are one screwed up couple.” She waved me off.

“We aren’t a couple,” I quickly barked.

“Oh, that’s right. You’re just bed buddies.” Jordan put her headphone on and continued working out.

“Ugh,” I moaned. I thought about sneaking out, asking Jordan to tell Luke I got sick or something, but she probably wouldn’t lie for me this time. I’d already put her in a couple situations where she covered for me, and she politely told me that she didn’t like lying to Forbes or Luke. And she was right. I glanced at the ceiling, hoping for a false fire alarm or something. Chances were, I’d have to face them together.

With my head ducked down, I moved to the next machine and continued my workout. Spring semester was ending in one week, and I was having second thoughts about attending summer school at PHU. I was pissed that my parents wouldn’t allow me to go last summer, and this summer, it was the last thing I wanted. What I needed to do was to go home and take a few classes at the local community college like I did last summer. That would create some distance between Luke and me, and hopefully give Riley some time to forget about what we’d done.

I’d have to tell Lexi I wouldn’t be staying for summer school and that she’d have to find another roommate. I hated that I agreed to room with her next year. It was a stupid decision, whether I was with Luke or not. I had to come up with the perfect excuse.

“Hey.” I jumped when I felt a finger poke me in the back. “How’s your workout going?”

I turned around to see Lexi. “Hey. Um, okay, I guess.” Dread washed over me, knowing that I wouldn’t get out of here without Luke and Riley seeing me. “What are you doing up here, dressed like that?” Wearing a fitted A-line dress, it was obvious she wasn’t here to exercise.

“We went to church and then out to eat with our parents.” She smiled, smoothing the flower printed fabric with the palms of her hands. “Collin wanted to ask Luke something, and I wanted to ask you something, too.”

“Okay.” I glanced over my shoulder, watching Collin talk to Luke, Riley, and Forbes. “I guess it couldn’t wait?”

“No.” A flush of pink tinged her cheeks and her entire face beamed with radiance. “Absolutely, not.”

I waited for her to say something but she just stood there, bouncing on the tips of her toes. Unsure of what she wanted to ask, I probed her for the question. “Well?”

“I can’t believe you haven’t noticed.” Her voice lilted as she raised her left hand in front of my face. “Collin asked me to marry him!”

“Wow! Um . . . congrats.” I didn’t know what else to say. Although Lexi never shared intimate details with me about their relationship, I hadn’t expected a proposal anytime soon. Aside from a peck here and there, I never witnessed Collin kiss her and rarely saw them hold hands. It was like they were friends, and I wasn’t even sure if they were friends with benefits. Luke and I flirted more with each other than they did, and we’d only know each other for less than a year.

“I can’t believe it.” She stared at her hand, smiling from the inside out. “Isn’t it beautiful?” Tilting her hand toward me, she gave me another glimpse of her ring.

“It is,” I agreed, not wanting to be rude. The diamond was so small. It was more like a promise ring than an engagement ring, but I wasn’t going to tell her that. I wasn’t a fan of big bling, but I would expect an engagement ring to have some more sparkle to it. Then again, Lexi was a simple person, so I guess it fit her perfectly.

“And I’d love for you to be my maid of honor.” Her lips spread into a huge grin.

“Oh, really?” Lexi had totally caught me off guard. Although we’d become closer over the past school year, I didn’t think I was the right person for the role. We weren’t best friends, just roommates. Then I realized that I was Lexi’s only close friend. Aside from hanging out with Jordan and Ali, she had no one else. What kind of person would I be if I said,
no
? I had to do the right thing. “Of course. Yes, I’d be happy to.”

“Thank you so much!” She threw her arms around me and hugged me tightly.

My body caved forward as a deep layer of guilt carved into me. Did she know about Luke and me hooking up? I noticed Luke shake Collin’s hand and then engage in a manly hug with him. It made sense. Collin had asked Luke to be his best man, and that’s why Lexi asked me to be her maid of honor. If she knew about us, why hadn’t she said something? I decided to continue to keep it hushed and wait for the right time to tell her, or wait for to admit she already knew.

Chapter 7

Summer before Senior Year

Luke

“Hey, Sis.” I peeked my head in her room.

“Hey, what are you doing home?” Lexi glanced up from the spread of magazines on her bed. “Shouldn’t you be at practice?”

“Yeah, I was there earlier.”

“Oh.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “Collin said he’d be at practice all day.”

I crossed my arms and leaned against the doorframe. “You know, Collin. He likes to keep practicing, even after practice.” The truth was I had gone to practice, but Coach had agreed to let me go home early. I told him I really wanted to have that heart to heart conversation with my dad before the next tournament started. Dad was already questioning why I sat out the last game, and he demanded to know what was going on. I should’ve been honest with him the first time he asked, but with finals, I just didn’t feel like talking about it. Now, I didn’t have an excuse to keep avoiding the conversation with him.

“Yeah, I guess, you’re right.” She shrugged and continued thumbing through the pages in her magazine.

“Where are Mom and Dad?”

“They went to the grocery store.” She picked up her phone. “They left at nine this morning and should be back any minute. Mom and I have a noon appointment at Ridgecrest Country Club with Mrs. Norris to see if that might be where we want to have our wedding reception.”

“By the way, congrats.” I shot her a timid smile.

“Thanks.” Her face brightened. “Kind of hard to believe that after all these years, we’re finally getting married.”

“I know.” Although I wasn’t jealous that she was marrying my friend, it seemed weird that I couldn’t tell her that I’d been secretly seeing her friend and roommate for more than a year. Then again, Laney and I weren’t serious, and I had no idea where we were headed since I hadn’t talked to her since the spring semester ended three weeks ago. “Collin’s a good guy. He’ll treat you right.”

The glow in her face disappeared along with her smile. Being twins, I sometimes sensed things, and something told me she wasn’t one hundred percent sure she was ready to get married to Collin. I had my own problems, though, and I wasn’t ready to delve in to hers. “Yeah, I know he will.”

“So, is Delaney going with you?” I wasn’t sure how to ask Lexi about her. I didn’t want it to seem obvious, and since they had both moved back home for the summer, I had no idea if Lexi had seen her, either.