Chapter 28

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

RIO

Coach Rudder is glaring at Sasha and me when we arrive at the bus five minutes late.

"Sorry, Coach, it's my fault we were late," Sasha tells him. "My crazy ex showed up last night and held me at gunpoint. I was able to catch him off guard and knock him to the ground, but I guess when I was punching him, I went too hard, and he ended up dying. The officer who was on the scene last night pulled me in for more questioning this morning, and I think he was trying to arrest me for murder. Thankfully, I'm a smart law student and brought a lawyer along, and no charges were laid, but it caused me to get behind on my packing, so that's why we're late." The words tumble out of Sasha's lips so quickly I'm positive Coach doesn't have time to process them as he looks like a deer caught in the headlights. "I promise it won't happen again," Sasha assures him.

Coach blinks a few times, clearly trying to process everything Sasha just said, but eventually shrugs. "You're probably going to have to tell the whole story to Evangeline and a couple of other people, but we don't have time for that right now, so get on the bus," he instructs, and he quickly does as we're told.

"Look who finally decided to grace us with their presence," BooBoo says as we grab our seats in the row across from him and Hailey.

"I almost got arrested I think that grants me a five-minute pardon," Sasha sasses him, causing his brows to shoot up.

"Spill the tea," Hailey says, leaning over with a glint in her eye.

"Later," Sasha replies. "I'm tired and need a nap."

"You're no fun," the cheerleader says, then sticks her tongue out at Sasha.

"Love you too," he tells her with a wink.

"You know you don't owe anyone the story if you don't want to tell it," I whisper to Sasha as he leans his head on my shoulder.

He offers me the sweetest smile in return. "I know, but now that Lux is gone, it's like this weight I didn't even know I was carrying is lifted off my shoulders. I'm free. Telling people about how I stuck up for myself isn't going to be hard at all."

I kiss his forehead, loving just how resilient he is.

When we arrive at the hotel, it's shortly after eight, and everyone heads directly to their rooms. There's an earlier curfew tonight since we need our rest for the game tomorrow, but we still have about an hour before we're stuck in our rooms for the night, so once BooBoo and I have dropped our bags off, we make our way to Hailey and Sasha's room.

We considered BooBoo and Sasha switching rooms for the night, but Coach made it mighty clear that he will be doing room checks tonight, and we all better be in the right places. I guess that's what happens when there are two couples on the team.

"Okay, are you finally going to tell us what the hell happened last night," Hailey says once we're all sitting on the beds.

"Lux showed up," Sasha starts, and Hailey gasps.

He nods and then tells our friends the entire story. When he finally finishes, Hailey has tears in her eyes and jumps forward to give Sasha a big hug.

"I'm sorry that happened, but I'm glad you're finally free," she tells him.

"Me too," he replies. "I guess my tarot reading was really accurate, though. It predicted the chaos, but it also told me good luck would be coming my way, which I think is already happening. My lawyer pretty much offered me a job once I pass the bar."

Hailey shrieks and squeezes Sasha one more time. "You deserve it, sweetie."

A knock comes on the door, and we all sigh. "Guess it's time to head back to our room," BooBoo grumbles, and I nod.

We both give our partners a quick kiss before opening the door. Coach is standing there with a knowing smile on his lips. "Time for bed, guys," he tells us, and we slowly trudge to our room.

I know it's only one night apart, but I miss Sasha already.

As I'm about to climb into bed, a gentle knock comes from the door. When I open it, Sasha is standing there with a shy smile, and I quickly let him in so he doesn't get spotted.

"Hailey and I came up with an agreement that we're going to take turns sleeping in here. That way if middle of the night room checks are done, it's easier to cover instead of two people being in the wrong rooms."

I smile and pull him in for a gentle kiss. "Well, I'm glad you got the first night I was really not looking forward to sleeping without you tonight."

"Remember the rule, guys. I'm not above dousing you in ice water," BooBoo reminds us, and we laugh before pulling apart and climbing into bed.

"Night, BooBoo," Sasha says once we shut the lights off.

"Goodnight," he replies, and I swear I can hear the smile in his voice.

I'm so thankful I have surrounded myself with amazing people.