22. people you know

Chase

After dropping Bailey off and giving her a not-so-brief goodbye kiss on the front step, I was flying way too high to return home and face the guys. I was so hopped up on hormones that I wasn’t sure I could carry on a coherent conversation. Hell, even driving was a little dicey.

Instead, I took a detour and grabbed a gigantic drive-through coffee before running a bunch of errands I had been putting off. With the good mood I was in, everything seemed a lot more tolerable, even the boring-ass drugstore. While out and about, I fought the constant urge to text James. I didn’t want to come off as clingy.

I was probably overthinking that one, but this was uncharted territory for me. I had no idea what I was doing. At all.

Then I hit my room for some earnest study time before our afternoon practice. So far, my increased effort had paid off—and admittedly, it was a lot less stressful living without an ax hanging over my head.

An hour into Economics of Sport, a loud bang at my door broke my focus.

“You ready?” Dallas bellowed. “Your turn to drive.”

We piled into my truck, and I turned on the ignition. I drew in a deep breath, bracing myself. The inevitable gears were coming any minute now, and I had already made peace with it. Bring on the teasing.

Dallas leaned forward, trying to catch my eye. “So, Bailey spent the night.”

I nodded. “Sure did.”

“You’re grinning like a lunatic,” Ty said from the back seat. “Just FYI.”

I stole a glance in the rear-view mirror. He was right.

“Can’t a man be happy?” I said, turning away to shoulder-check and easing out of the passing spot. “Damn, guys.”

He snorted. “Did you even get laid?”

“Not that it’s your business, but nope.” If I was this loopy now, I was going to be straight-up cracked out after that happened.

It was going to be great.

Fuck, now I was thinking about sex with James at the most inopportune time.

Dallas leveled his icy-blue stare my way, snapping me back to reality. “I can’t believe you have a girlfriend. That’s wild.”

“I don’t know if she’s my girlfriend.”

But somehow, I felt like a gigantic asshole saying that. It wasn’t like that would be a bad thing.

Oh, shit.

I really was in deep.

“Dude,” he said, laughing. “She definitely is.”

“Like you’re one to talk.” I waved a hand in his direction. “You and Shiv have been dancing around that issue for way longer.”

“I don’t know.” Dallas shrugged, leaning back in the black leather passenger seat. He quieted, looking stung by my remark. “That’s on Shiv, man.”

“Really?” Ty and I said in unison.

“Yeah.” He frowned and glanced down at his phone, his jaw tight. “We’ve talked about it, but she didn’t want to slap a label on it. Ball’s in her court on that one.”

Weird. The number of chicks who would love to tie Dallas Ward down—both figuratively and literally—could line a city block. What was the holdup?

Then I wondered whether Bailey felt the same way as Shiv. Did she want to put a label on it? Should we put a label on it?

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