Swallowing in trepidation, I began to move away, not wanting to hear the rest out here in public. Then I heard, “Meet me tonight at the summerhouse. Nightfall.”

Squeezing my eyes shut, I allowed myself to look back at Austin. My heart fell. The big, tattooed, and menacing-looking wide receiver of the famous Crimson Tide was begging me with his dark eyes.

As I nodded my head in agreement, Austin seemed to relax, only to say, “Why aren’t you flying in the stunts, Pix? I watched you tell Shelly you were done.”

My blood ran cold. Austin stepped closer and whispered, “You go through shit, you get bad thoughts, you tell me. I won’t judge.”

His offer bloomed in my chest and before water filled my eyes, I whispered back, “Okay.” I wouldn’t, though. Austin wouldn’t understand.

He blew out a breath and reached up to brush back my hair. I didn’t even flinch, and I wondered when it was exactly that Austin’s touch to my “safe zones,” as Dr. Lund called them, became acceptable? When had he broken through my walls?

Allowing the simple brush of Austin’s fingers across my forehead, I said quietly, “That applies to you too. When you go through shit, you tell me. Don’t let it bury you alive.”

Austin genuinely seemed taken aback by that, as if no one had ever offered him that before. He never verbally replied, but I could see by the tensing of his strong jaw that my words meant something to him.

“Carillo! Weights! Let’s go!” someone shouted from behind, and when I looked over Austin’s shoulder, Rome Prince was in the distance, arms folded over his broad chest, watching us.

Austin turned around and gave him an annoyed wave.

“Lex,” Rome greeted and flicked his chin in my direction.

“Hey, Rome!” I waved back cheerily, fixing a huge smile to my face and filling myself full of pseudo energy.

“Fuck, Pix,” Austin hushed out and smirked at me.

“What?”

“Tone the bastard cheer pep down. It’s f**kin’ freaky on you!” Dropping my mouth at Austin laughing, I watched as he turned and sprinted across the field to Rome, JD, and Reece filing in behind as they made their way to the gym. As I watched the four of them go, I thought what an unlikely group of friends they were. Especially Austin. It was like he lived this double life: football superstar with middle-class WASP friends on one hand and trailer park gangbanger whose brother was a leader of the infamous Heighters on the other. Everyone in Tuscaloosa feared the Heighters. Yet I no longer feared Austin.

In fact, it was quite the opposite.

“Lexi!” I heard my name shouted from the stands and, when I looked up, Ally Prince stood on the bottom step, waving in my direction. As I began to walk toward her, I couldn’t help but laugh at the remaining footballers finishing off their sessions, all staring at Ally with their tongues hanging out. I envied Ally’s looks, but not the attention. I’d hate that kind of spotlight.

Ally Prince was flawless. And she was also one of the loveliest, most caring people I’d ever met. She had it all, yet strangely, she never had a steady boyfriend, claiming she had no luck with guys. I found that incomprehensible considering she looked like a damn model, and I prayed that one day she would get her Prince Charming. She deserved to be treated like a queen.

As I approached the stand, I shouted up, “Hey, girl, what you doing out here? You rejoining the team for the championships?” I teased.

Ally widened her Spanish eyes in mock horror and said, “Hell no, couldn’t get me back in that uniform if you paid me!”

Laughing, I asked, “Then what’s up?”

“Cass just called. Molly’s philosophy lecturer has just been on the phone. Molls is real sick. Cass has gone to get her. Thought we could rally together and look after her. You know, ’cause she ain’t got no family.”

“Oh no, poor Molls!”

“So, you gonna come, darlin’?”

“Sure thing.”

A minute later, I was running into the locker room. I grabbed my gym bag and met Ally outside. She was watching me with a concerned expression as I quickly walked toward her.

“You okay, Ally?” I asked when we began walking side by side to our sorority house. “You that worried about Molls?”

“Yeah… I mean, no… I mean—” she flustered but then roved her eyes down my body and asked, “You lost weight, darlin’? I don’t mean to sound out of place, but you’re looking real thin in those training shorts. Everything okay with you? The squad’s not putting too much pressure on you to lose weight are they? Shelly can be a real bitch about her flyers being real skinny and small.”

Nerves almost had my footing faltering at her words. Did she suspect something? But I quickly recovered. “Nah, girl, I’m all good. Probably just all the cheer training and stress from school. My business class is kicking my ass!” I added a forced laugh just to sound extra convincing.

Ally stared at me a little too long before a wide grin spread on her lips. I exhaled like I’d been holding my breath for an eternity.

“I feel you, girl. My history lecturer is being a damn tyrant! Keeps telling me that if I wanna become a museum curator and get my PhD, I need to get perfect grades and apply myself more in class. I’m telling you, he’s Satan in disguise underneath that stuffy tweed jacket of his!”

Forcing another laugh at Ally, I knew I’d deflected her concern when she began chatting happily about how she had to volunteer at the local museum for the finals of her degree.