I shook my head and hauled my sorry ass to the edge of the bed. “I’m going to tell him to start Parker on Saturday. Like he said, I’m already on the radar for the draft and the season is more than half over. If he makes me choose between the rest of my college games and her, I’m choosing her.”

“To be clear, you’d risk your reputation and your future for her?”

“She is my future.”

Air escaped him in a slow hiss, and he pushed away from the wall. “This is going to suck. Okay, the first thing we need to do is make sure she comes to the game on Saturday. Don’t let your stupid ass decision go to waste.”

I laughed and stood slowly. “She won’t even talk to me. There’s no way I’m convincing her to go to the game.”

He waved my comment away. “Not you, dumbass. Eva. You blubbered about her slamming the door in your face, but this is the best possible situation post-meltdown. Give Nay a few days to process, then bring in the big guns. Eva still has your jersey from your last crazy plan, so let her work her evil magic.”

I hadn’t considered getting the others involved, but I’d take whatever I could get. “Okay, and step two?”

He dropped a hand on my shoulder and smiled grimly. “You shower. I can’t handle your smell right now. We’ll take care of the rest once you’re not on the verge of puking all over my good gym shorts.”

* * *

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Soren sounded as if he didn’t give a fuck either way, but I could see his worry in the way he shifted his helmet from hand to hand.

“Absolutely. As much of an asshole as he was about Nadia, Coach wasn’t wrong about Parker. Or about me. Besides, this will give everyone a chance to see that you can play top tier football with any quarterback.”

Soren gazed over my shoulder at the mass of teammates, coaches, and personnel behind me in the tunnel. “Right.” He strapped his helmet on and took up his position next to me at the head of the pack.

I had the feeling there was a lot more going on in his head, but Soren had never been the sharing type. He listened, then he acted. He didn’t talk.

Coach passed us, clapping Soren on the shoulder, and I raised my chin. On Soren’s orders, I’d gone to Coach and explained in clear terms that my personal life was off-limits to him. He repeated his threat to bench me, and I suggested Parker could use the reps anyway.