Page 21 of Crew Girl

There was no girls’ shower room in the boathouse—just a broom closet—so she decided to head home for a shower. Maybe she could find some coxswain training videos online, and pray her mom wanted to skip the fancy parents’ cocktail party the school was hosting tonight.

She was halfway to the bike rack when she heard footsteps crunching on the path behind. Turning, she saw Cam, looking like he was still fueled by that post-workout afterglow. The kind that made you feel all buzzy and alive. Not that it mattered. It was just an observation.

“Hey.”

“Hey.” She blushed. Like an idiot. Just because he’d talked to her didn’t mean he’d forgiven her. Cam was always polite. And there was only one path from the boathouse up to the school.

When he didn’t say anything else, she blurted, “I’m really sorry I lied about my dad being dead.”

He pulled a face that made it clear it hadn’t been one of her shining moments. His eyes painted a starker picture. “He put you in a tough position.”

As nice as it was for him to give her an excuse, he wasn’t letting her off the hook. Not fully. Fix it, Teagan. Fix it fix it. “That’s nice of you to say, but it’s not a good enough excuse. Seriously. I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have lied. No one here knew and all my friends at home have ghosted me and…” And she really, really hadn’t wanted him to judge her the way they had. “I guess I panicked,” she said feebly.

The ball was in his court now.

He tipped his head back and forth like he was weighing up the scales of justice. “Don’t worry about it.”

Not exactly a peace accord. More like a ceasefire. “Thanks. That just leaves me to worry about you and the rest of the team hating me for being the world’s worst cox.”

He stopped walking and looked at her, perplexed. “I don’t hate you.”

He didn’t seem to like her much either. Or trust her. She’d have to earn that back.

She glanced over her shoulder, annoyed to see the rest of the team making their way up from the boathouse. Cam had given her a pass. Not a full one. But it would have to do.

“Thanks,” she said sincerely. “That means a lot.”

Cam clocked the crew, too, and began walking again. She jogged a couple of steps to catch up to his long-legged strides and tried to hit a lighter note to address the other proverbial elephant lumbering between them. “I guess I have to take it on the chin that you think I’m the world’s worst cox.”

His lips twitched against a smile. “You were pretty shit out there.”

Yeah. She had been. “The guys didn’t pull punches.”

“No, but they’re stressed. Parents’ weekend does that. Turns even the most put-together kids into eight-year-olds desperate to please Mommy and/or Daddy. It’s a high-pressure show-and-tell. Like you said, change isn’t easy.” His expression softened. “And like you also said, it can be good. Tough love advice?”

“Lay it on me.”

“You’re going to have to change with us if you want to prove it.”

He wasn’t wrong. The only person she’d ever really competed with was herself. Sure, there were other competitors to beat, but she didn’t have any control over them. Being cox meant understanding she wasn’t just part of the team, she was the one they looked to for guidance.

They stepped off the path into a small glade of oaks as a clutch of students led their parents down to the boathouse.

“Is your dad here?” she asked.

Cam shook his head. “He’s at the shop. Apparently, some girl set her car on fire. Crazy.”

Yes indeed. It had been. “Hey, since we’re officially teammates, would you mind giving me some insight into what makes the guys tick? If I’m going to do this, I want to do it right.”

Cam glanced down the path, gauging how far the rest of the guys were behind them, then took her hand and pulled her behind a huge oak tree, presumably so the rest of the team wouldn’t see or hear them. It wasn’t a romantic gesture, but when his hand left hers, she missed it.

Cam started with Josh.

“Yup. The boy who would be king,” she said.

“Rumor has it that his grandfather is the one who really runs the show and that Josh’s dad will do anything to make sure the business is passed down to his side of the family.”

“Meaning… shafting Ryder’s side?”