“Maybe it’s time to branch out,” he said.

My hands balled into fists at my sides. “Running out of options?” I practically growled.

He laughed like it was the most absurd question on the planet. “Yeah, right, Russo. I don’t run out of options. Is it wrong that I want to be the one who takes the La Bella princess’s virginity? Think of it as a merger,” he said through a sly grin.

It took everything in me not to sock him in the fucking jaw as another teammate gave him a high five. I wanted to high five his face. With a chair.

“Well, I hate to be the one to break it to you, but you’re too late for that title.” The words were out of my mouth before I could stop them.

Dane suddenly appeared at my side and whispered harshly, “What are you doing?”

“Just go with it.” I gave him a hard look, and he shook his head.

“No way! Who’d she give it up to?”

I shrugged my shoulders, not wanting to say the words out loud since they were a blatant lie, but knowing that I would if that was what it took to keep him away from her.

Thankfully, I didn’t have to answer.

Dane stepped up, answering for me, “Come on, Lestare. A gentleman never tells.”

“You? Dane?” Todd looked at him in disbelief. “No fucking way.”

“No, not me,” Dane shot him an incredulous look as he gave a slight nod in my direction.

“Who then?” Todd looked between the two of us. “Russo? My man!” he shouted before raising his hand in the air and waiting for me to slap it.

I begrudgingly obliged, but that single gesture confirmed his guess and solidified the lie. It might be a shit thing to do, but I was convinced that I was doing the right thing by her. Todd Lestare would have taken something precious from her that he couldn’t give back, and he would have made sure everyone in town knew it’d happened. He would have humiliated her. And I had no idea I was about to do the same thing.

“But, wait, I thought you two hated each other?” another player asked.

“Yeah, well, sometimes, the hate makes it better,” I said, adding to the lie.

“Care if I ask her out? Take her for a spin?” Todd asked like Julia was a fucking car everyone was entitled to drive.

“Like hell,” I bit out in response before circling to face all of my teammates, who were suddenly all ears. “None of you assholes had better touch her or even think about asking her out. You hear me? She’s off-limits. If I hear otherwise, we’ll have a big fucking problem.”

“Never pegged you for the jealous type, Russo,” Todd added before placing a hand on my shoulder.

I tossed it off. “Stay away from her.”