Chapter Twenty-Four

Finn

" L ook at you, all bright-eyed and bushy-tailed this morning," Bax drawled as he wondered into the kitchen in the Monday-morning darkness. "Heard you were ‘studying' a certain cute blonde rather closely in your room yesterday afternoon."

"Wanna know what I think of your air quotes, Bax?" I flipped him the bird and he snorted a laugh.

Shooting me a narrow-eyed stare, he tossed my description of his girlfriend Piper Maxwell back at me. "Seems unicorns really do exist."

"Fuck off." I reached into the fridge and pulled out four foil-wrapped breakfast burritos, lining them up on the baking sheet I'd set on top of the stove. Then I slid them into the preheated oven to warm up.

Should have known ignoring him wouldn't work. "Yep, looks like you found your very own unicorn. I didn't think there was a woman out there who would put up with a D-end who sucks at Madden ." He laughed at his ridiculous observation.

Facing him, I said, "I kick your ass in Madden , in COD , in every game we play all the fucking time."

"Keep believing that, Finnegan." He smirked. Crossing his arms over his chest, Bax sobered. "About damn time you hooked up with her, man." My roommate helped himself to the coffee I'd brewed first thing after I came down to the kitchen. Staring at me over the rim of his to-go mug, he said, "Well? Are you and Chessly a thing now?"

I ran a hand through my hair and then nudged him away from the counter to grab my own mug of joe. "Fuck if I know. When I tossed the idea out to her, she didn't say anything."

Bax huffed out a glum-sounding breath. "That's one more difference between defensive and skill players off the field too. 'Han and Danny say one thing or put on one move, and the girls fall all over them. The two of us have to work at it, exactly the same as when we're in the game."

I blew on my beverage and swigged some down. "I'm meeting her this afternoon for coffee or whatever."

Bax waggled his brows. "‘Whatever' sounds like a good start."

With a snort, I clarified, "We're meeting in the Union. Not the most conducive place for ‘whatever.' Which I think is why she chose it. I've scoped out the study carrells in Hillman, and I'm pretty sure the one tucked back in a corner on the third floor no one has ever used, but when I suggested we could meet there, she shot me down."

"From what Danny said, you showed her an excellent time in your room yesterday. Bet you can remind her." He popped his fist on my bicep. "I have faith in you, Finnegan."

"Danny has a big mouth."

Bax laughed. "This house has thin walls."

"And you ladies have nothing better to do than gossip."

"What are we gossiping about?" Callahan asked as he walked through the kitchen door and made a beeline for the coffee pot.

" We aren't gossiping." I stared pointedly between my roommates. "But you old hens sure seem to do it often."

They burst out laughing.

When he'd finally managed to control himself, Callahan said, "You flipped us so much shit, worked your ass off to hook us up with jersey chasers even after we told you they were bad news, and now it's your turn, you want us to back off?" He coughed into his hand. "Bullshit."

Bax raised his mug, and Callahan clinked his to it.

Assholes .

"Look, I don't know how many times I can apologize for inviting those girls over here. I honestly thought you liked them since you all flirted with them at parties and such. Until the mess Tory caused last semester, I'd never seen that side of her." The timer on the stove rescued me for a minute as I shut it off and pulled our breakfast from the oven. "Well, except whenever she was around Chess." My mouth turned down. "I probably still have some work to do there."

"Maybe you should address that issue before you start ‘whatever' with her on your date this afternoon," Bax suggested with his infernal air quotes.

Before I could tell him to mind his own damn business, Danny interrupted. "Seriously, Bax?" he asked as he straggled in to breakfast dead last—a habit I'd noticed since the semester started.

"What?" Bax asked, confusion wrinkling his brow.

"The shirt. Bet Coach Larkin flips you all kinds of shit for that one." Danny grinned and helped himself to what was left of the coffee.

Before Danny's observation, I hadn't paid any attention to Bax's T-shirt du jour. When I read "Every once in a while, someone amazing comes along... and here I am," I cracked up.

"Yep, Larkin's going to flip you all kinds of shit over this one." I laughed, glad for the distraction from thinking about a conversation I knew Chess and I still needed to have.

My friend glanced down at his shirt and shrugged, the corner of his mouth twitching. "Nothing wrong with truth in advertising."

Callahan chuckled. "You're a piece of work, Baxter." Reaching past me, he snagged a burrito from the pan. "You riding with me, Finn?"

"Yeah."

"You riding with the awesome one?" Bax asked Danny with a smirk.

Danny shook his head, but he was smiling. "How could I pass up such an incredible opportunity?"

Since Danny had lightened the mood, I decided it was in my best interests to refrain from calling his ass out for sharing what he overheard coming from my bedroom when Chess was over. We jostled our way through the front door and out to the trucks. Normally, my motor ran hot, but this fine February morning in the arctic darkness of a late winter cold snap, I was pretty damn glad to ride with my friend, whose pickup sported a remote truck starter.

I climbed into the warm interior of 'Han's truck, buckled up, and unwrapped my sausage-and-egg burrito. If I was harboring any delusion that the conversation about a certain gorgeous blonde I'd hung out with over the weekend had passed, Callahan shot me down the second he slid in behind the wheel.

"'Bout time you stopped mooning after Chessly and finally impressed the woman." Checking his mirrors, he put his pickup in reverse and cautiously backed down the slick driveway.

"Jesus, fuck. We weren't that loud," I grumbled into my breakfast.

He smirked. "Just saying. You must have shown her a good time Saturday night since she voluntarily spent most of Sunday with you."

"If you want to know about my date on Saturday night, ask." I stuffed my face with a manly bite of breakfast, not caring how at odds my words and actions were.

"All right, Finnegan. What did you do to impress the lady who, from what I've seen, is pretty tough to impress?" He wheeled through the roundabout a block from our house then peeled open his breakfast on the first straightaway after it.

"You gonna gossip about this too?" I growled. "I picked up a catered picnic dinner, and we played lawn games on the practice field. I showed her a good time."

"Niiice, Finn." My friend held a fist out for me to bump. "I've lived with you for three years and had no idea you were such a romantic."

"Fuck off, 'Han."

"I'm serious. You put some effort into that date. No wonder Chessly wanted to spend more time with you." He cleared his throat. "But I'm glad I don't share a wall with your bedroom."

"You and Danny are first-class assholes." I slid him a side-eye. "Anytime you want to trade rooms, I'm all over taking the master at the end of the hall."

"Nah. My lady and I are pretty happy the master bath shares a wall with Danny's room."

"And happy having another bathroom between your room and Bax's."

He laughed. "That too."

A thought occurred to me—something about Bax's earlier comment about defensive players versus skill players. With a dramatic sigh, I said, "Sorry you assholes are all jealous of my mad skills pleasing my lady. You'll have to get over yourselves, though, because I have plans to keep pleasing her."

When I arrived at the Union, about ten minutes ahead of when Chess said she'd meet me, I noticed the short line for coffee and decided to take advantage. Since she'd ordered a café au lait the last time we hung out here, I figured I was safe with that. By the time the barista had finished my order—I'd added a couple of cranberry scones because lunch went down over an hour ago—I glanced up to see Chessly walking through the door.

Carrying two drinks and a bag of treats, I wound my way through the tables in her direction. When she caught sight of me, she kick-started my heart with the smile that lit her face.

"Hey." I didn't even try to hold back my answering grin.

"Hey." For a long beat, we stared into each other's eyes before she dropped her gaze to my hands. "Whatcha got there?" She nodded toward the treats.

"A coffee for the lady," I said, handing her the drink. "And something to keep your stomach from grumbling through your lab since it falls right at dinnertime."

She wrinkled her nose at me. "You're never letting me live that down, are you?"

"Depends on how often it happens." I grinned.

Narrowing her gaze over her latte, she sipped and closed her eyes. Her moan of pleasure shot straight to my dick.

I cleared my throat and said, "Let's find somewhere to park our asses."

Laughter rang from her. "Oh, Finn, you're so romantic."

Heat climbed my neck to my face, and I turned away to scan for an open table. The place was mostly open for a Monday afternoon, so we had our pick, but I was looking for somewhere with a hope of some privacy.

"Not many good tables today. Wanna try the lounge?"

The college had furnished the old-school lounge adjacent to the cafeteria in the Union with deep couches and comfy chairs placed in front of a fireplace I didn't think had been lit in fifty years. It was a pretty high traffic area seeing as it connected the cafeteria to some offices behind it, but I hoped one of the love seats facing the windows might be open. Even with people passing through, we'd have more privacy than any table in the café.

The secret smile on Chessly's face told me how transparent I was, but also, she was smiling.

I stepped beside her and casually dropped my hand to the small of her back, ushering her a bit in front of me in the direction of the lounge. "How was your day so far?"

"Same ol'. Yours?"

"Mmm? The usual." Keep it together, Finn. Do not make this fucking awkward . "Coach Larkin amused himself at Bax's expense, which was highly entertaining." I snorted at the memory of Larkin saying, "Here I am," on every pass he made by our stations until Bax was powering through his sets like a damn bull in an arena. "Kind of started the week off right." I grinned.

"Let me guess. Bax was wearing one of his interesting T-shirts."

"Got it in one." I winked. "Danny warned him before we left the house, but Bax is Bax. He wears those shirts like a dare and a badge of honor all at the same time." I grinned down at her. "I don't know how your classy friend can date him."

The corner of Chess's mouth tipped up. "Piper's pretty good at hiding her inner redneck behind that trust-fund-baby fa?ade, but don't let it fool you. She's one hundred percent perfect for your roommate."

As I'd hoped, there was an open couch—one of the deep ones facing the windows. With the absence of leaves on the bushes outside the building, anyone who glanced toward the windows could probably see through the branches, but no one walking by ever looked over. I was counting on that as I set my coffee and the bag of treats on the table in front of the sofa and my backpack on the floor beside it then sank down into the cushions.

Beside me Chessly followed suit, though she didn't sit as close to me as I'd hoped. Patience, old son. We're still only in the first half , I reminded myself.

Leaning back, she sipped her coffee, the sapphire pools of her eyes sparkling over the rim of the cup. "So what's in the bag? Monster cookies?"

The memory of her sitting on my lap yesterday—and how sharing cookies had led to sharing so much more—flashed through my head. I leaned forward with the obvious goal of snagging the bag of scones, but what I needed was a distraction so I could adjust my junk. How the mere mention of those cookies could cause a semi told its own damn story of how easily Chessly could wind me up.

"We have to save monster cookies for private treats." I let my voice drop as I sat back against the cushions and enjoyed watching her squirm further down into the couch. "Plus, the Union doesn't have monster cookies on offer. I hope cranberry scones can help you with that stomach problem you have."

"What stomach problem?" she squeaked, her tone indignant.

"The one where I always seem to catch you when you're hungry."

A pretty shade of rose bloomed over her round cheeks as she set her coffee on the table and reached for the bag in my hand.

"Nuh-uh-uh. If you want your share, you're going to have to come over here."

Her brow knitted in confusion. "I'm sitting right beside you."

Shaking my head, I said, "Not close enough."

"Finn," she hissed, her eyes darting from side to side. "We're in public."

"People sit next to each other in public all the time, Chess. Especially people who like each other." Taking a chance, I whispered, "I like you a lot."

For a second she blinked those beautiful blue eyes at me. Then she pushed herself up off the cushion to slide herself over, but she got a bit carried away and almost landed on my lap. A tiny puff of air escaped her lips as her body collided with mine, and she stared up at me with a combination of surprise and something else—something dark and interested. It was all I could do not to swoop in and steal a kiss, but the loud conversation of some people walking through the lounge at that precise second preempted me.

With all the fanfare of a professional chef presenting his masterpiece, I pulled a scone from the bag and handed it to her. Her snorted laughter at my antics warmed my chest as she plucked the treat from my fingers. When she settled in tight against my arm to nibble at her pastry, I had no choice but to wrap my arm around her shoulders and pull her in close to my side. A happy sigh escaped her—one I hoped had more to do with me snuggling her and less to do with how much she was enjoying the scone.

"How did your class with Professor Ego go today?" she asked between bites.

"Everyone—I mean everyone —finished all the problems he assigned for the day. Which from the way he acted, kind of irritated him." I grinned at the memory of his sour grimace in class. "So he was kind of at a loss as to what the day's lesson was since we'd all also pretty much aced the quiz."

"How do you know you aced it?"

"His program grades everything in real time. I always know my quiz scores before I leave class." I chowed down half a tangy, buttery scone, swallowed, and said, "One of his pets in the front row requested he lecture on anatomical physics because they had a question from the reading. Since learning about anatomical physics is the reason we all signed up for the class, they kind of stuck him. Of course, our dear old prof has decided he's made his point, so there won't be any more quizzes this week." I rolled my eyes. "I did all those extra problems for nothing."

Twinkling up at me, she grabbed the bag from my hand and extracted her second scone. "I don't think you wasted your time. If he throws another tantrum, you're ahead. If not, you know more now than you did before the weekend."

"Thanks for the pep talk, Miss Suzy Sunshine."

With a playful little nudge, she said, "You're welcome."

A familiar voice I hadn't heard in two years and had hoped never to hear again floated through the lounge. I couldn't help the way my body tensed as that voice drew nearer, and Chess glanced up at me with a question in her eyes. With any luck, the owner of that voice wouldn't notice us here and would keep walking.

Nope. The sound stopped directly behind our couch.

"Finn? Is that you?"

Surely only the top of my head was visible above the back of the cushions. How could she recognize me from that? Then I remembered which ball cap I'd tugged on this morning. Fuck .

Hannah stepped around the end of the couch. "It is you."

Lifting my eyes to her, I tried not to cringe when I caught her catty smile. "Hello, Hannah," I said with exactly zero expression.

Dialing up the wattage of that vicious smile, she asked, "Who's your friend?"

"No one you need to poison," I mumbled.

Beside me Chessly stiffened.

"What was that?" Hannah asked with a smirk directed at the friend I hadn't noticed standing slightly behind her. Returning her attention to Chess, she said, "She's cute. You must have managed to figure out how not to be awkward—or how to hide it better." She laughed derisively then directed a conspiratorial comment at Chess. "He's a farm boy, you know. They can't help their lack of sophistication—or finesse."

"Don't you have somewhere important to be?" I fought a losing battle with keeping the irritation out of my question.

"Always. But I had a minute to say hello to an old friend." Waving a languid hand in Chessly's direction, she said, "Good luck. You'll need it."

Hannah waited a couple more seconds, but when I didn't rise to the bait, she turned to her friend and moved on. Of course, she pitched her voice for our ears as she moved through the lounge. "I don't know what I was thinking when I dated him freshman year. He was totally clueless in the..."

Mercifully, the rest of her words faded into the hallway on the other end of the lounge. But it didn't take a genius to know what she'd told her friend.

Resting my elbows on my thighs, my hands clasped between my knees, I stared unseeingly out the window. It had taken three years after the disaster of dating Hannah Stowell to gather up the courage to ask someone else out rather than just hook up with a willing jersey chaser. Her words—her pronouncements —about my lack of finesse, my awkwardness, my size, explained why I went for the jersey chasers who didn't dwell on those things. Their focus was my spot in the starting lineup—and my proximity to pretty boys like Callahan O'Reilly and our previous roommate Deshaun Green, to be honest. But the jersey chasers' attention made me feel special, like I could maybe still attract a woman.

Hannah was the reason it had taken so long and why I was trying so hard to do things right with Chess. I'd managed to avoid my ex for years, yet only one day—one fucking day—after the most glorious weekend of my life—she'd showed up out of nowhere to shit on everything.

The pressure of a hand on my bicep and a soft voice calling "Finn?" dragged me up from the depths of my dark thoughts. I reached for my coffee, stalling the inevitable with a long drink.

"Finn? Who was that girl?"

"The biggest mistake of my life."

"You dated her?"

I dared a glanced in Chess's direction. "Freshman year. I thought she was perfect. Apparently, she still sees me as a buffoon. An awkward farm boy ." I finished my coffee and crushed the paper cup in my fist. "Maybe you think that too."

Chess increased the pressure on my arm. "Hey. Look at me. I'm not her."

"But how soon till you will be?"

Her head snapped back as though I'd slapped her. "M'kay." In one smooth move, she snagged her backpack from the floor and stood. "Thanks for the coffee and the scone."

I closed my eyes and railed at myself. What the fuck are you doing, man?

But I was too slow.

Without another word, she spun around the end of the couch and was out the door of the lounge before I could drag my ass off the cushions.

"Chess!" I called after her, but she didn't slow down.

And she didn't look back.