2. Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Liam

T his is torture. I've had to be in this suffocating studio all week, and I genuinely thought it'd get better as the days went by. I was wrong. It's been getting worse as the seconds go by.

"Don't look too miserable!"

My eyes follow Sage as she walks past me like today is the best day of her life. This woman laughs and smiles and is just chipper all the time. I may start taking her coffee from her because I don't think this is healthy.

I keep telling myself that there are only a few weeks left of this, but I still can't grasp why our agent agreed to this. We're getting paid chump change compared to our checks and free preseason pictures ? I'd pay any amount of money for those pictures if it got me out of this.

It's not even the money that I'm annoyed about; it's the people in this place. My teammates are horndogs, following after every girl, and the models are drooling all over them. The number of shitty pickup lines I've heard should be illegal.

"You know…"

I keep my eyes on my phone as that unmistakable voice starts.

"We've been here for five days, and I haven't heard you say more than—" She takes a second, and I think she's counting. "Eleven words."

When I don't respond, Sage sits beside me. She nudges my arm, and I slowly turn to her. "What?"

"Twelve words!" She beams like she just won the lottery. "This is an improvement." She nudges me again.

"Don't touch me."

"Fifteen words, wow." She holds her heart. "I think you're warming up to me." She laughs at whatever look is on my face, and when I don't give her a reaction, she tilts her head to the side before turning more serious.

"Okay, seriously, what's up with you? I want this to be fun for everyone, and you look miserable. Tell me what I can do to make it better."

I keep my gaze on her, and when she offers me another beaming smile, I can't understand why she cares so much. Every day, I don't talk to her, and every day, she sits in this corner and asks me if I'm okay. Since when did silence mean I hate my life?

"Don't worry, Sage." Jordan walks over to us, and I roll my eyes at him because I'm sure he simply walked over here to piss me off. "He's in a pissy mood since he was forced to be here against his will."

"What? Who's forcing you to be here?" Concern rings in her voice. I shake my head at her, and when I don't respond, Jordan tells her.

"Coach is punishing him for not keeping his dick in his pants, but also for his bad temper. This is his anger management class."

"Fuck off." I bite out.

Sage laughs and tries to be quiet about it but fails. "Well, you've thankfully kept all your… parts in your pants–" She giggles. "—and I haven't seen an ounce of anger coming from you. If you give me his number or email, I'll tell him you were on your best behavior, and you can just go."

I look up at her in surprise and expect another joking smile, but she seems sincere.

"And why would you do that?"

She shrugs before standing, hugging her iPad to her chest. I swear that thing is glued to her. "I don't want you to have to suffer any more than you had in the last few days." She tells me to have a good day before walking off, and I stand without hesitation to grab my things.

"Oh, I don't think so." Jordan snatches my helmet, and I try to grab it back, but he takes a step away from me.

"Jordan, don't start because I will actually punch you in the face. Give–"

"Hey, if I have to be here, so do you. Cheer the fuck up, buttercup." He walks off with my helmet , so I follow him. "Look, guys! Liam is joining us."

"No, the hell–"

"Really?!" Sage whips around, and her green eyes land on mine. I study her for a beat, trying to figure out if her eyes are really that green or if they seem that way against her dark skin.

"No."

Her smile drops, and I turn back to Jordan, but he goes on before I can. "Coach is asking us all to check in that you're here." He shrugs. "What if someone snitches?"

"You mean, what if you decided to be a dickhead and snitch."

Jordan laughs, and when I take a step toward him, he takes several steps back, but it only pisses me off more. I pull in a deep breath, and he must notice I'm about to punch him because he turns serious.

"Okay," He puts a hand up, stepping forward to surrender my helmet, and I snatch it back from him. "You seriously can't leave, though." He tells me Coach has been randomly FaceTiming my teammates to make sure I'm here, and I hate how much of an asshole Coach is.

All I did was sleep with his daughter and beat up her boyfriend, and now I'm being treated like a murderer in a maximum-security prison. I didn't even know she had a damn boyfriend, and he swung at me. Coach's daughter is a cheater, and Liam is the bad guy. I shake my head of my thoughts before returning to my usual seat.

After a few minutes, some girl starts crying, and I decide I'm leaving. I'm heading towards Sage to get to the exit when she whips around and bumps right into me.

"Oh!"

I wrap an arm around her waist and quickly catch her as she stumbles backward. "Those heels are going to get you killed."

She takes a step back as she steadies herself. When she looks up at me, she rests her hand on her hip. "I'll have you know I was awarded Best Walk in nine-inch heels."

"Right." I raise my brows, unamused.

"It's true!"

"Right." I try to walk past her, but someone else bumps into me, and I let out an annoyed breath. "Watch where you're going."

"Sorry!" She wipes her tears, her makeup running down her face, and I feel my skin crawling as things clearly start to fall apart in here. I hate mess, and this is getting messy.

"I am so sorry again, babe…" Sage tries to reassure her, and she sounds like she really does feel bad about whatever she did to this girl. "They're not my rules, and if I can have it my way, I'd let you–"

"It's okay." The girl in tears rushes to reassure her, but she does not look like it's okay.

Sage tells her she doesn't have to leave, and she looks a bit better, but says she's going to get herself together in the bathroom.

Sage looks up to the ceiling and lets out an exasperated breath before turning back to me. "This is a mess." She shakes her head, looking over at the group.

"Yeah, I can tell."

A relieved smile touches her lips as she looks back over at me. "Thank you for that, Liam. You sure do know how to make a girl feel good." She quickly shakes her head, and I bite my tongue in amusement at how flustered she suddenly looks. "That's not what I meant."

"What's not what you meant?" I cock my head to the side, and she somehow looks more nervous. "Someone has a dirty mind."

"What?" She laughs, but it's clearly forced. "I have no idea what you're talking about, but clearly, your mind is the dirty one."

"Mhm."

She ignores me. "My photographer needs to walk since she has two and half years of experience." She shakes her head at something. "It's dumb and my fault for not doing a background check, but now I need a photographer."

She holds the camera out to me, and I glance down at it before looking up at her. She's simply watching me as if I'm supposed to know how this is my problem.

"You have yet to state your point."

She waves the camera around my frame. "You're not in the photo shoot for whatever reason you are against sharing, and you're supposed to be helping behind the scenes, but you've been sulking in that corner–"

"I was not sulking. "

"Right."

I return her sarcasm with a blank expression.

She only laughs softly before continuing. "I need a photographer, and we're officially a week behind since we need to start over. That leaves no time to find someone." She pushes the camera into my chest.

"Don't–"

"You seem capable of clicking a button."

"Don't cut me off." I keep my arms at my side, and she lets out a defeated sigh, but this still isn't my problem.

"Please? I'll help you get in your coach's good graces."

" How are you going to do that?" I don't even care to get in his good graces, but the look on her face makes me curious.

"It's a surprise." She winks at me, conspiringly throwing another blinding smile at me as if she really thought I was going to believe that.

When she tilts her head to the side, my eyes land on those pretty dimples. I shake my head in disbelief and find the words of agreement escaping against my will. What did I sign up for?