Page 25 of Forever Defiant
“Hi, I’m Hadley Peterson.” I extended my hand, and the QB shook it. “And you’re the winning quarterback.” Ugh, shoot me now, my cheeks were going to hurt if I kept fake smiling.
“Yeah, Dante Spence.” His grip was strong, but not overly so; he didn’t try to crush it like some guys did. It was firm and warm, and not offensive.
“So...” Dante looked at the freshman. “What’s the story?”
A perfectly innocent question, face clear of suspicion, but it was his eyes that analyzed me like a puzzle. I knew he was going to be a problem — I could feel it in my gut.
“I’m doing a feature review for my practicum, and Mike here is my...” I floundered for a moment. “Star.”
Dustin’s brows raised, Dante smiled briefly, and the coach next to me snorted.
“Uh... I’m not a star,” Mike said, shuffling his massive feet. “I’m not on the first team.”
“But you want to be, right?” I asked him. He was so tall and broad, but when I looked closer, he looked so young. I felt bad for him. “Spring training gives you the chance, right?” That was right, wasn’t it? He nodded, and inwardly, I high-fived myself. “And that’s my feature. While you work on that, and all the other things you need to do as a student, we see the man behind the stats.”
“And a freshman second-team defense is a fresh take on that,” Dante murmured. I looked at him in surprise, and he half shrugged. “It’s not a unique storyline,” he said with no malice, and I accepted he meant no insult. “The freshman angle, springtraining, that’s not overly done. Interesting.” He grinned at Mike and slapped him on the back. “Should be fun, right?”
Mike looked between us and then at his coach, who still gave off ‘I’m a dick’ vibes. “Uh... yeah. I’m not sure what you want me to do,” he admitted.
“Just answer her damn questions,” the coach snapped. Then he turned to me, glared so sharply it could cut glass, and pointed a warning finger. “Stay. With. Him.” Another jab toward the defensive end. “No wandering. No snooping. No bothering any other player.”
I put my hands up, mock innocent. “I’m only here for Mike, promise.”
His eye twitched. “I swear—”
“Do you need to interview anyone else?” Dante cut in smoothly. So smooth. “Will it affect Mike’s schedule? Where do you need access to?”
“I’ll be shadowing Mike,” I threw the big guy a smile. Genuine this time. “I want it to be organic and as fluid as possible. I’ll pick up what I need as we go.”
“Shadowing?” Dustin asked. “Where he goes, you go?”
I nodded. Mike turned bright red. “The locker rooms?” he blurted.
I laughed, and even Mr. Cool-and-Calm QB smirked at the freshman’s question. “No, it’s not that kind of feature.”
Noah Matthews appeared at Dustin’s shoulder. He looked surprised to see me, but it was gone briefly. “Coach,” he said, voice warm and gravelly. “Coach Holt needs you. Second-team scrimmage setup.”
“That’s me,” Mike mumbled to me as the coach hurried off muttering something that sounded suspiciously like my name paired with a string of profanity.
“Right.” I looked at him. “Um, I’ll wait here?”
“Okay.” He grinned at me. “Nice to meet you, I didn’t say it.”
“You too.” He was sweet and young. Hopefully, they hadn’t corrupted him yet. I watched him run over to the scrimmage, whatever that was, and then looked away when I saw a cluster of coaches watching me.
The unholy trio stared back at me.
“Start talking,” Dustin growled.
Chapter 7
Dustin
Her eyes narrowed on mine as I spoke.
“Let’s take a breath,” Dante murmured. “Hadley, I believe you’ve met my roommate.”
Her gaze swept over Dante, and I could see her evaluating him. She gave a small nod. “Well, we’ve not officially been introduced.” She looked at me with a sugary-sweet smile. “But I’ve definitely been up close and personal.”
