“Let’s get sushi,” Maliyah said when we made it to the locker room, releasing me so she could continue down the hall to the one for the cheerleaders. “Shower, change, meet back here?”

“Sure.”

She smiled, but something in her eyes was sad as she took me in. She would have had to have been blind not to see how miserable I was, no matter how I attempted to fake like I was okay for her, and for my mom, and for Cory.

“You okay?”

I managed a nod. “Just cold. And tired.”

Her mouth twisted to the side. “You can talk to me, you know. I… I know we have a lot still to work through. I know I hurt you, that I betrayed your trust. But… I know you. Probably better than anyone else.”

I wanted to roll my eyes at how wrong she was about that.

“I can tell when you’re not okay.”

“I just have a lot on my mind.”

“Well, we can talk about it. Over dinner.”

Again, a little nod was all I offered.

She opened her mouth like she wanted to say something else, but thought better of it. Then, she turned, making her way down the hall as I slipped into the locker room.

The team was used to my sour attitude by now. They’d stopped giving me hell about it, stopped trying to pry information out of me, too. Now, they just sort of avoided me, like I was a flu they didn’t want to catch.

I quietly undressed, leaving my Under Armour briefs on until I made it to the shower, mostly just for Riley’s sake. When it was just me and a few guys, I stripped the rest of the way down, sighing heavily as the first bit of steaming hot water rained down on me.

My skin burned in protest before it adjusted, and then my muscles all relaxed at once, and I stood there under the showerhead content to be that way for hours. I ran my face under the water, squeezing my eyes shut as the warmth enveloped me.

Until, very suddenly, the water ran cold.

“What the fuck!”

I reached out blindly for the faucet, but was met with a wet t-shirt instead. Then, in my blind disorientation, the water shut off, I was thrown a towel, and all but shoved down until I was on my ass with my back against the cold tile wall.

“Cover your anaconda,” Zeke said, his voice one I’d recognize anywhere. I used the towel to wipe my eyes clean before I laid it over my lap and looked up to find him and Holden standing over me.

“Out,” Holden said, snapping his fingers to the two other guys who had been in the showers with me. They gave me a look that said thoughts and prayers before dipping out at our captain’s orders.

“What the hell is going on?” I asked.