Page 50 of Blitz

“I know,” she laughs. “I can hear the buzzing.”

My mouth drops open, and I gape at her for a second before I laugh. I grab the pillow off the end of the couch and toss it in her face.

“I hate you,” I tell her.

“You love me,” she counters. She sits up and stretches. “I’m hungry. ASC?”

“It’s a plan.”

Chapter twenty-one

Mason

The ASC is crowded. All of the student athletes are fully dressed and showered, unlike the people in my study group. I’m guessing at least half of them have already gotten their workouts in, and the other half have them scheduled for later in the day. At some point today, I need to stretch and do a little bit of yoga. The day after a meet is always a recovery day for me. My body aches with the pleasant soreness of a job well done.

“There’s a new pilates class at four,” Fred comments as we make our way through the snaking food line. “We should try it.”

“Yeah, maybe.”

She raises her eyebrows. “You have plans with loverboy today?”

“Not as far as I know.” I need some space. Some time to process everything. I like him, I love him, but I can’t be all up in his business every moment of the day.

She nods to the far side of the dining hall. “Because he’s watching you.”

I turn, and sure enough, Tucker is with his roommates at the end of the room. He meets my eye and smiles so radiantly my cheeks hurt from the mere act of looking at him. I force a smile and wave.

“Yeah, we’re definitely not going over there,” I tell her under my breath, and Fred laughs.

“We totally are.”

“Girl. Please.”

“He’s your boy toy. I want to meet him.”

“You met him at Mark’s party.”

She rolls her eyes. “You mean, the two of you made out at Mark’s party. I didn’t talk to him. That’s why I went home with Mark.”

“Nobody forced you to sleep with him.” I’m so curious, though. “How was it?”

She considers, piling salad onto her plate. “Enthusiastic. He’s like a puppy. He went down on me for, like, ever.”

“Would you repeat?”

“Maybe. If we were both bored and had nothing else to do.” She shrugs. “It wasn’t bad. Maybe next week after the away meet.”

We have a meet against Providence College. We leave late Thursday afternoon for the drive down, have a quick practice Friday morning, and then Saturday is go time. There will probably be a low-key party in the hotel, a lot of horny athletes burning off adrenaline. We’ll drive back on Sunday mid-morning and go back to our everyday lives.

Tucker is still watching us. I grit my teeth and paste a smile onto my face. Fred and I make our way over to them. He’s sitting with three other guys. The one at the end has his book again. Wes, I think his name is. Barrett and Amir are sitting across from him. There’s no sight of Greg or Miles.

“Hey, baby,” he says, getting out of his seat. He kisses me on the cheek and takes my tray out of my hands, setting it beside his. “I didn’t think I’d get to see you again today.”

“Surprise?” I say weakly. “You remember Fred, right?”

He grins at her. “Nice to see you again.”

“Likewise.” She eyes the rest of the guys. “You’re okay if we join you guys?”