The Player and the Bet: An Enemies-to-Lovers College Sports Romance

by Liv Reid

  25

  Sadie

  The sound of someone talking merges into my dream and brings me back to reality. I blink open my eyes and look around. Early morning light is filling the room, and it takes me a few seconds to realize where I am.

  All of a sudden, it rushes back to me with the force of a sledgehammer. I’m in a fancy hotel room in New York City. I’m here with Mace Law, and we went sightseeing yesterday. We saw a Broadway musical, had dinner and drinks at one of the best restaurants in town—oh, and then we almost had sex, but he rushed out of the room like I have an infectious disease or something.

  I keep hearing the droning sound of a deep voice talking. I raise up on my elbows and look around the room. It’s empty. I frown. Where is that sound coming from then? Maybe it’s coming from the next room?

  Then I look out the window and see a large guy with his elbows leaning on the railing of the balcony. Mace is dressed in the same clothes he was wearing last night. His gray overcoat is pulled tight across his broad shoulders, and his hand is up by his ear. He’s talking to someone on the phone, and from the look on his face, it’s not a pleasant conversation.

  The sight unexpectedly pulls at my heart. His face is drawn and tired. He looks sad as he speaks in low tones.

  I feel like a voyeur. I’m seeing something he probably wouldn’t want me—anyone—seeing. He always puts on this show to the rest of the world like he’s just this partying rich playboy who doesn’t have any problems and doesn’t care about anything. But here he is, having a very serious conversation that is obviously bothering him.

  I try not to eavesdrop, but I can’t help it, and I quickly realize he’s talking to his dad who isn’t doing well. I intimately know what that’s like. My dad usually isn’t doing well. He hasn’t been doing well since my mother left many years ago.

  My feet seem to have a mind of their own and I can’t stop them from slipping out of bed and walking over to the door leading out to the balcony. I slide open the door silently just as Mace hangs up. He breathes out a frustrated sigh and looks down at the street below. His shoulders are slumped, and he’s leaning heavily on the rail.

  I never imagined there was anything more to him than a cocky football player who loves to party and annoy me. But now my heart aches for him, and that realization shocks me.

  I walk over to him quietly and raise my hand. I hesitate for a moment, but then instinctively place my hand on his back.

  He’s startled and jerks away from my touch. He looks at me with narrowed, angry eyes, but then calms down as he sees the look on my face.

  His eyes dart down to my chest. My nipples are hard from the cold and poking through the thin layer of my T-shirt. But then, surprisingly, he chooses to look back up into my face instead of at my tits. Something unnamable passes between us.

  We stay like that for a long time on the balcony. I’m cold, but I don’t want to go in. Neither of us says anything, but we stand together, both of us unsure—and a little scared—of this thing that’s happening between us.

  26

  Sadie

  Our trip home is quiet. Mace isn’t his normal rambunctious and annoying self, and it’s weird to see him like this. I’ve only ever experienced the obnoxious Mace, so this feels like a totally different guy.

  I don’t think either of us really understands what’s going on. We almost slept together last night. We’ve hated each other for so long, then all of a sudden we were almost having sex. Also, he was the one who stopped it? What the hell was that?

  We get back to campus and Mace has the driver drop me off first. We pull up to my dorm building and I notice a worried-looking guy in business casual clothes hanging out by the entrance. I don’t pay much attention to him though. I just want to get my stuff and go back to my room so I can be alone to think. These last couple of days have been a whirlwind of emotions, and I need time to get my thoughts together. Being in Mace’s presence is overwhelming, like I’m finding it hard to breathe. I need time and space to sort through everything that’s happened.

  The driver gets out first and comes around to open my door. I turn to Mace, unsure of what to say. I can tell he doesn’t know either. He’s barely looking at me.

  “Well… bye,” I say.

  “Bye, Sadie,” he says softly.

  Hearing him use my actual name, instead of “TP”, sends unexpected shivers up my spine. I need to get out of this car right now.

  I hop out and wait for the driver to hand me my bag. I can’t help but look back inside. Mace is staring at me with an unreadable look on his handsome face.

  I get my bag and quickly walk towards the building, away from the messy situation we’ve created and back into reality, back to my real life.

  I push open the glass front door but stop when the guy hanging around the entrance asks, “Ms. Edwards?”

  “Yes.”

  “Ms. Edwards, I need you to come with me.”

  “What? Why?”

  I hear footsteps and look over to see Mace rushing towards us.

  “What’s going on?” Mace demands.

  “I’m sorry, but this only concerns Ms. Edwards.” The guy is trying to be professional, but I can tell Mace is making him nervous.

  “What is this about?” I ask.

  “I’m not allowed to speak about it. I’m a student advisor and I was just tasked with bringing you to the dean’s office. I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you.”

  My heart sinks into my stomach.

  “Is it about my dad? Is he okay? Please tell me,” I practically beg.

  I just spoke with him a couple of days ago and he seemed fine. Could he have taken a turn for the worse in such a short time? Well, wouldn’t be the first time.

  “It’s not about your father,” the guy says, but won’t elaborate. “Come with me.”

  I can feel Mace getting worked up next to me.

  “Tell her what the fuck it is then,” Mace growls.

  His usual smiling and friendly self is gone, and I’m seeing the same guy who was about to beat up a taxi driver for calling me a slut. The student advisor is looking at Mace warily. Mace has a good six inches on this guy, and probably at least fifty pounds of muscle. I’d be scared too if I were him.

  Even though the guy is scared, he doesn’t relent. “Please, come with me and everything will be explained shortly. I’m not at liberty to discuss your case. I could lose my job.”

  “Case?” I ask, but follow after him as he starts walking away from my building.

  “I’ll come too,” Mace says and starts walking with us.

  I turn back to him. “No, it’s okay.”

  “I don’t mind—” he starts, but I stop him.

  “Just don’t,” I say firmly.

  I stare straight into his dark eyes. There’s confusion and concern there—and a million other things that I can’t deal with right now. This situation is stressful enough without adding Mace to it.

  “Just don’t,” I repeat, and then I turn away from him and continue following the student advisor across campus.

  27

  Sadie

  I’ve been accused of cheating. They found an answer key to a test buried in one of the assignments I submitted. The dean was apologetic as he told me they are currently conducting an investigation and if I’m found guilty, then I’m going to be expelled from Winterford.

  I can’t believe it. I’ve never cheated on anything in my entire life, and now I’m about to lose everything I’ve worked so hard for just because of some misunderstanding?

  I walk out of the dean’s office and down the hall. I feel numb and dazed, like I’m walking through a nightmare. How could this happen?

  I push open the door and step outside. The cold mountain air does nothing to calm my flaming cheeks or cool my racing mind.

  Mace is there.

  I come to a stop and just stare at him. He’s standing next to the car that picked us up from the airport. He looks so handsome and out of place somehow.

>   It’s the concern on his face that breaks me. Everything that’s happened lately has just been so surreal, and seeing my enemy look at me like he actually cares, undoes me.

  Tears threaten to spill down my cheeks, and I put my hand to my face so he can’t see it. But he can clearly tell what’s going on. He rushes over and suddenly I’m wrapped up in his strong arms. The scent of cologne, grass and cedar is all around me, comforting me in a way I never imagined possible.

  He holds me against his chest, and I can hear his heartbeat beneath the fabric of his sweater. It’s strangely intimate, and I know I should pull away, but I can’t.

  I bury my face into his warm body and he pulls me in tighter. It feels so bizarre, but yet so comforting at the same time. Who would have ever thought Mace Law would be hugging me right now—not me, that’s for damn sure. I feel like I’m in the twilight zone.

  But right now, I don’t care how wrong this is. My life is falling apart around me and he’s the only one here to hold me, so I’m just going to give in.

  I wrap my arms around him, and we hold each other for a long time in the middle of campus as the mountains look down on us.

  28

  Mace

  Fuck. I set that up. I hired someone to steal that answer sheet and plant it in her assignment after she handed it in. I completely forgot about it until I saw that scrawny geek stop her as she went into her dorm.

  I felt my insides knot when I realized what was happening. The guy wouldn’t tell her what it was about, but I knew. I wanted to go with her to help, but she wouldn’t let me—and that hurt a surprising amount.

  I had the driver follow her to the building where the dean has his office. The knots in my stomach grew worse as I waited for her to be done, but I didn’t have to wait long. She soon came out of the building and the look on her face hit me like a punch to the gut. There were bright red spots on her cheeks, and her eyes were round and troubled.

  When she saw me, she almost started crying, and it felt like someone reached in and ripped my heart out of my body, threw it on the floor and then a herd of elephants ran over it. I couldn’t do anything else but rush over to her and scoop her into my arms. I wanted to offer whatever comfort I could, even though I knew it wouldn’t be enough. It would never be enough.

  I never thought someone could affect me like this—and I certainly never thought it would be her. But when she wrapped her arms back around me, my heart thrilled. The feeling was short-lived, however, because I immediately felt guilty. I was the reason she was in this much pain.

  We hold each other for a long time, but eventually she gets embarrassed and pulls away. I let her go, even though I don’t want to. I want to hold her forever. What the hell?

  I walk her back to her building and up to her apartment. Even though I’m the one who hasn’t slept all night, she’s the one who looks exhausted. She tells me she wants to be alone, so I respect her wishes and leave, even though a part of me is screaming not to.

  On my way out of the building, I turn the corner and walk over to the construction guys, who have already started for the day. I pay the foreman ten times what I normally do and ask him to stop.

  He looks first at me and then down at the money in confusion.

  “You sure?” he asks.

  “Dead sure,” I answer, then turn away from him and head back to my house.

  I even feel guilty about all the construction noise I put her through, though I don’t know why. We were enemies, and I had a job to do. And now we are? What exactly? I don’t have the answer and thinking about it is giving me a headache.

  When I get home, the guys are gathered in the living room. It’s Sunday so Cam, Holden and Knox are doing our normal Sunday routine of reviewing game tape. Isabel is there too, to hang out with Cam.

  “Hey, man, you’re late,” Cam calls as I walk through the door.

  “We started without you because we weren’t sure when you were going to show up. Hope you aren’t pissed,” Holden says.

  “Don’t give a shit if you are,” Knox adds. “You’re late. We aren’t going to wait all day just for your pretty ass.”

  I drag my feet over to them and collapse next to Cam on one of the couches.

  “You look like death. Do you know that?” Holden says.

  “What the hell happened in New York?” Cam asks. “Was hanging out with TP really that bad? It looks like she sucked the life out of you—wait, does that mean you won the bet?”

  I shake my head. Thinking about the bet is making me feel sick.

  “No. We didn’t sleep together, and I’m calling off the bet,” I say.

  “I knew it. Fucking chicken,” Knox says.

  “What the hell happened? I know there’s no way you grew a conscience all of a sudden,” Holden says suspiciously.

  “Just drop it. I’m calling it off and that’s all there is to it,” I growl. The guys are starting to piss me off. “You didn’t have a problem with me calling it off before.”

  “Yeah, but you’re the one who wanted to keep it going even when it could have possibly screwed you over. So what’s changed now?” Holden asks.

  “He couldn’t do it. He took her on a romantic, expensive trip and spent all this time with her, and he still couldn’t get the ice queen to sleep with him. And now he’s pretending to be all noble and shit and trying to call it off, but it’s just because he failed. I knew she’d never sleep with you,” Camden says, and I suddenly have the strong urge to punch that smirk off of his face.

  I’m about to tell him I could have. She wanted it. An image of her spread out beneath me on the bed, practically naked and mine to take, flashes through my mind. I’m instantly hard and have to adjust my pants so they don’t notice.

  I open my mouth to say I could have had her if I wanted, but then I stop. It feels disrespectful to her to brag to all these guys about how I could have banged her. I’m positive she doesn’t want anyone to know about it. When did I start caring about girls’ feelings??

  I don’t know what to say. I open my mouth again, but before I can speak Isabel interjects in her soft, calm voice.

  “He didn’t do it because he likes her.”

  All of our heads whip around to stare at her.

  “What??” we ask in unison.

  She rolls her stunning green eyes and flicks her long hair over her shoulder. She gives me a look like I’m the dumbest human being alive—and that’s exactly how I feel right now.

  She stands up and walks towards the door.

  “Boys can be so dense sometimes,” she says over her shoulder.

  She pauses with her hand on the doorknob and turns back to me.

  “It’s obvious you like her, and it’s been obvious for a long time. You just didn’t want to admit it to yourself, Mace,” she says then slowly pulls open the door and leaves.

  Realization hits me like a slap in the face, and something like dread blooms in the pit of my stomach. She’s right. I like Sadie Edwards. I like that weird rocker chick with the chip on her shoulder. The Goody Two-Shoes who plays chess and acts like she doesn’t care what anyone thinks of her. The girl who annoys me more than anyone in the world. The one who can’t stand me unless we’re making out and my hands are all over her body.

  The one who’s smart and sarcastic. The one who doesn’t take any of my shit and will give it right back to me. The one who’ll stand her ground and fight. The one with curves for days, and who smells like waterlilies and the ocean.

  Her.

  Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. This is awful. I’m screwed.

  What am I going to do?

  29

  Sadie

  They put me on academic probation while they investigate my cheating case. I don’t know what’s going to happen, and none of the university staff are being very forthcoming with information. I’m basically living in the dark and waiting for my fate to be decided by a bunch of faceless people I don’t know.

  I’ve had time to think about the whole situation, and I re
alize someone must have set me up. The dean showed me the answer key that I supposedly accidentally slipped into my assignment, and I’d never seen it before in my life—obviously. How could I ever have gotten that? I’m not well-connected at this school. Also, if I had had an answer sheet, you’d think I would have been a lot more careful with it.

  I told the dean someone planted it on me, but he didn’t believe me, and I understand why. That’s exactly what someone would say who did have the answer sheet and mistakenly handed it in with their assignment.

  I’m not sure who did it, but my main suspect is Britney and her posse. They’ve always had it in for me since I started at this school. They are so bored with their amazing lives they have to find something to amuse themselves, and ruining my life would be very amusing for them.

  The thought that maybe it was Mace did cross my mind for one agonizing second, but it was too painful to think about, so I quickly shoved it out of my brain. Despite how much Mace dislikes me, he wouldn’t do that. It’s not his style. He’s always been a dick to me, but he’s never actually bullied me or anything.

  I try not to think about Mace at all, actually. After the insanity that was our New York trip, I don’t know where we stand. I still don’t really understand what happened. It all feels so surreal. One moment we’re enemies and then the next we’re making out and practically having sex.

  I know—I think—I still can’t stand him, but then why did I fall into his arms after I found out I was being accused of cheating? And he hugged and comforted me—something I never imagined he would do.

  It all feels so weird, and I don’t want to deal with the ramifications of what any of it means, so I just try to put it out of my mind and ignore it. If I don’t think about it, then it’s not really happening… right?