“Later, Maguire.” He picks up his phone and makes a call before I’m barely even out of his office.
“What the hell was that about?” is how I’m greeted by my best friend, our QB, Camden Fields.
“Nothing. He’s just checking on me.” We exit the locker room together, and I’m grateful it’s mostly empty. That no one else is questioning me about why Coach wanted to talk to me.
Cam is the only one I tell everything to. We’ve grown close over the years, to the point that we also live together at one of the apartment buildings near campus. Most of our team is in that building, all on the same floor, which means we are together constantly. And most of the time, I like it.
Right now, I’m wanting to retreat. To hide away for a few hours and nurse my wounds. I don’t like the twinge I’m currently feeling in my knee. Or the fact that I have to take that damn English class this semester. Physical therapy on top of that is going to really eat into my study time, something I can’t afford to lose.
“Something’s bothering you,” Cam says as we head for the parking lot. While we do live near campus, said campus is fucking huge, which means we drive over to the field every afternoon for practice. Today, we took Cam’s car. “You look ready to chew through steel.”
A ragged exhale leaves me. “Coach ordered PT for me.”
He’s quiet for a moment, absorbing what I said. “For your knee?”
I nod.
“I’m sure it’ll be good for you.”
“I’m sure it will,” I agree as we both climb into his Dodge Challenger. “But I need every spare minute I can get to do homework.”
“You’re worried about that English class, huh?” Cam fires up the engine, giving it gas, making it roar.
Show off.
“I’m going to fail.”
“With that kind of attitude, hell yeah, you will.”
I glare at him. “Thanks for the encouragement.”
“I’m just speaking the truth. You’re so negative lately. Where did our happy, go-lucky Knox go? I miss him.” Cam throws the gear into reverse and glances over his shoulder before backing out of the parking space, the engine rumbling. “It’s our senior year, man. We should be on top of the world. Having a good time.”
“The pressure is getting to me,” I mutter as I slump in the seat.
“You need to use that pressure to your advantage.”
“Right, like you do?” I send him a look. The guy is always cool. Like nothing ever gets to him. It’s infuriating.
He completely ignores my comment.
“You need to go out.” Cam keeps his eye on the road, his lips curving into a barely-there smile. “You need to get laid.”
“Tell me about it.” It’s been a while. I’ve been so damn busy with football. From the moment I returned to campus six weeks ago, I’ve hit the ground running.
Shit. That means I haven’t had sex in at least…six weeks.
No, make that eight weeks. Shit, that’s two months. Pretty sure that’s some sort of record.
“Saw your sister today.”
Now it’s my turn to glare.
“Where the hell did you see Blair?”
It fucking kills me that my sister is going to the same college as me. She’s a transfer student and is starting her junior year here, and while it’s nice to have family close by, it’s also a little frustrating. She’s so damn nice and smart, and I don’t want a single motherfucker from the team to even look in her direction.
Even my best friend. Who would never do anything like try and make a move on my little sister, but still.