Foul Play: Scoring the Enemy Player

I had a crush on Cole. A pathetic, lingering thing that dragged from high school all the way into college.

When his team got crushed on the court, his asshole teammates, desperate to save face, actually made a bet that I couldn't seduce the opposing team's ace.

I stared at Cole in disbelief. He just offered a dismissive shrug, giving them silent permission. My nails dug into my palms until they went numb.

Something inside me snapped.

I stood up, letting out a cold, hollow laugh. "Sure. I'll give it a shot."

I grabbed a sports drink and handed it to the best player on the rival team.

Later, the guy I gave that drink to dismantled Cole's team.

Chapter 1

In our dorm, Lexi strutted over to my desk, her makeup flawless as always. "Willow, aren't you leaving yet?"

I frowned. "Leaving for what?"

Lexi gasped loudly, making sure the entire room heard her. She slapped a hand over her mouth in mock horror. "Oh my god, Willow. Did Cole really not tell you he's starting in tonight's game?"

Every head in the room swiveled toward me.

It wasn't a secret why. Cole was drop-dead gorgeous, pulled a 4.0 GPA, and captained the basketball team. Half the girls on campus were obsessed with him.

I forced my face to stay blank. "Why would he need to tell me?"

Lexi offered a saccharine smile. "Well, aren't you two super close? I just assumed he would've begged you to come watch him play."

Close? Sure, you could call it that.

We grew up next door to each other, surviving middle and high school together.

When I confessed my feelings to him back in high school, he had just flashed that golden-boy smile. "Willow, I'm not doing the dating thing in high school. Let's wait until college, okay?"

So, I waited. I busted my ass to get into A University right alongside him.

And nothing changed.

College Cole was exactly like High School Coleconstantly surrounded by a revolving door of pretty girls. He never officially dated any of them, keeping everyone comfortably in the "just friends" zone.

It took time, but the bitter reality had finally sunk in. I was just another face in his fan club.

Taking my silence as a victory, Lexi smirked. "Our department is playing a scrimmage against the Engineering guys tonight. Come with me, Willow. It'll be fun."

The 'no' sat heavy on my tongue, but I swallowed it down.

Cole was playing. I still wanted to see him.

The moment we stepped onto the bleachers, one of his teammates spotted me. "Yo, Cole! Your little fangirl is here again."

Cole paused his warm-up, his eyes locking onto me. He frowned slightly. "What are you doing here?"

My chest tightened. Did he really have to make it that obvious he didn't want me around?

Lexi instantly closed the distance between them. "Cole! I dragged her along. You only invited me, and I didn't want to sit by myself."

Her voice dipped into that sickeningly sweet, overly familiar tonea blatant display of their special dynamic.

She was the VIP invite. I was the uninvited stray.

We grabbed seats in the front row right as the tip-off happened.

Lexi spent the entire first half screaming Cole's name, practically vibrating with excitement.

Cole glanced toward our section more than a few times.

Lexi leaned over, a perfectly manicured hand on my arm, whispering with fake concern. "Did you see? He keeps looking at me. I'm so worried I'm distracting him."

I bit the inside of my cheek to keep from rolling my eyes.

She didn't need to worry. Cole was already playing like trash.

The Engineering team was an absolute machine. Their court awareness, their offensive plays, their shooting percentagethey were dismantling our guys.

When the buzzer sounded for halftime, Lexi shoved her way through the crowd. She practically sprinted to the bench and pressed an ice-cold sports drink flat against Cole's chesta hyper-aggressive move to mark her territory in front of the entire gym.

Cole took the bottle, twisting off the cap, but right before he took a swig, his eyes flicked over to me again.

A few guys on the bench started cursing, complaining about the opposing team.

"Man, their number seven is a freak," one of them panted. "Hayes, right?"

"Yeah. Heard he's single, too. We got plenty of hot girls in our department. We should set him up with someone."

"Maybe she can drain his energy so he goes easy on us next time." Laughter rippled through the huddle.

Someone pointed a sweaty finger in my direction. "Why not send Willow?"

Another guy shoved his shoulder. "Are you an idiot? Everyone knows Willow is obsessed with Cole."

"Even better. She can be our sexy little decoy behind enemy lines."

"Yeah, get him a girlfriend and let's see if he still has the stamina to run the court like that. Hell, she can drain him before tip-off!"

The pack of guys erupted into catcalls and crude, filthy jokes, their laughter grating against my eardrums.

I stared dead at Cole. My jaw clenched so tight my teeth ached.

But he just casually wiped the sweat from his forehead with a towel, not uttering a single syllable to defend me.

Chapter 2

Lexi tilted her head, her voice dripping with fake innocence. "Cole, what do you think about that idea?"

Cole barely spared me a glance. He adjusted his knee brace and gave a dismissive shrug. "Yeah. Sounds like a plan."

The tight knot in my chest unraveled, leaving nothing but cold, hollow space.

All the anger just evaporated.

I let out a light laugh. "Sure. I'll go shoot my shot. I was just thinking he looked pretty hot out there anyway."

Cole's jaw visibly clenched, a muscle feathering in his cheek.

I grabbed a neon-blue energy drink from the cooler. Ignoring the mocking whistles and catcalls from his teammates, I turned my back on them and marched straight toward the enemy bench.

Hayes was sprawled across a folding chair, catching his breath while laughing at something his teammate said.

I stepped up right behind him and pressed the ice-cold plastic bottle against the center of his broad, sweat-drenched back. "Hey. Great game. Need to hydrate?"

Half the Engineering bench snapped their heads around to stare at me. A sudden spike of heat rushed up my neck.

Damn. From the bleachers, it was hard to make out his features.

Up close? The guy didn't just play like a beast; his face was absolutely ridiculous. Sharp jawline, messy sweat-damped hairhe was gorgeous.

"Man, Hayes, here we go again. Prepare for another rejec" The guy sitting next to him choked on his own words, his eyes going wide.

Hayes's lips curved into a slow, lazy smirk. He reached back and wrapped his hand around the bottle.

Our fingers brushed. His grip was rough and strong, radiating the aggressive, high-running body heat fresh off the court.

He didn't just take the drink. He kept his hold on the plastic, using it as leverage as he tilted his head back.

His dark, deep-set eyes locked dead onto mine, unapologetic. "Thanks," he murmured, his stare never wavering.

"You're welcome," I managed to say, taking a step back to retreat.

A low, gravelly drawl stopped me in my tracks. "What's the rush? You drop off a drink just so you can go back and cheer for the other side?"

My sneakers squeaked against the hardwood as I froze. Right on cue, the buzzer blared through the gym, signaling the end of halftime.

Hayes pushed up from the bench. He snatched his warm-up jacket draped over the folding chair and tossed it aside, then firmly patted the seatthe one still carrying his body heat. "Sit here. Best view in the house."

The teammate sitting next to the empty chair waved me over like we were old friends. "I'm Wyatt. What's your name?"

"You're definitely not an Engineering major. Holy shit, you're literally the first girl to hand Hayes a drink and not get shot down."

The first? Talk about a stroke of dumb luck. At least the universe spared me the humiliation of getting brutally rejected in front of Cole.

Wyatt was a human Gatling gun. He fired off questions faster than my brain could process them.

"Doesn't he ever get tired?" I pointed toward Hayes. He had been running the floor for three solid quarters without a single substitution.

"Hayes? Are you kidding? The guy's a machine. He could play all four quarters and still go run a mile on the track without breaking a sweat."

Wyatt's dramatic hand gestures pulled a genuine laugh out of me, slowly dissolving the tight, awkward knot in my stomach.

Right on cue, the 'machine' in question jogged over to the sideline. He pointed at Wyatt. "Get out there. You're subbing in for the fourth quarter."

Wyatt slumped over, groaning like a dying man. "Man, come on. My legs are jello."

"You looked plenty energized running your mouth over here. Get your ass on the court." Hayes's dark hair was plastered to his forehead with sweat.

He dragged a hand through it, snagged a white towel off the bench, and dropped heavily into the seat right next to me. "What were you guys talking about? Looked like you were having a good time."

I blinked at him, caught off guard. He was dominating the game, yet he still managed to watch the bench? "You've got some insane peripheral vision," I noted.

"Obviously." A cocky, lopsided smirk tugged at the corner of Hayes's mouth. "How else do you think my three-pointers are so deadly?"

The final buzzer was just a formality. It was a slaughter.

When the teams lined up for the post-game handshakes, Cole looked like he was ready to punch a hole through the drywall. His eyes cut right through the crowd, locking onto me with a harsh glare. "Are you coming or what? Or do you plan on sitting there on display all night?"

Jesus. It was just a scrimmage. Did he really need to throw a tantrum?

I bit back a retort and turned to Hayes. "My ride's waiting over there. I should probably go."

The second I got within earshot, Lexi practically pounced on me. "Willow! Since when do you know Hayes?"

"I literally just met him."

Lexi immediately pivoted toward the rest of the guys, raising her voice so it echoed across the emptying gym. "See? I told you Willow always knows how to get the guys' attention. I could never pull off something like that."

My brow twitched. God, she was such a pick-me.

Cole grabbed his duffel bag, his jaw still tight. "Whatever. Let's just go grab some food."

Chapter 3

Lexi looked at me, playing up the torn best friend act. "Willow, I'm gonna go grab late-night food with the guys. You'll have to head back by yourself, okay?"

I gave a tight nod. "Sure."

"You're coming too." Cole's voice was sharp. A direct order.

Lexi's smile visibly dropped.

A year ago, I would have killed for that invite. Tonight, the thought of sitting across a sticky diner table watching him flirt with someone else made my stomach turn.

I took a step back, creating physical distance. "Pass. I'm exhausted."

Cole stepped forward, crowding my space, deaf to my rejection. "Aren't you the one who's been begging to go to that new burger joint downtown?"

I had sent him the Yelp link the day it opened, asking him to go with me. He was always "slammed with coursework" or "too busy"saving all his free time for his shiny new friends.

I met his gaze dead-on, my voice flat. "That was months ago. I lost my appetite for it."

I scrubbed the makeup off my face, crawled under my covers, and opened Instagram. The top of my feed instantly loaded a Story Cole had posted five minutes ago. It was a dimly lit photo of Lexi resting her head on his shoulder. The text slapped across the bottom read: Lost the game, but won the girl.

My thumb hovered over the screen. I didn't swipe to the next slide.

For years, watching Cole orbit other girls had felt like a dull knife scraping against my ribs. But staring at the hard, digital proof of him with someone else right now?

The tight grip on my chest vanished. The heavy, suffocating air I'd been breathing since high school finally cleared out of my lungs.

I locked my phone and tossed it onto the mattress.

It was over.

As a friend, I should just be happy for him.

The dorm room door clicked open. Lexi walked in, dangling two massive takeout bags. "Hey babes, come get some food."

"This place was seriously so good, I just had to bring some back for you guys. Cole's treat, obviously~"

My two other roommates immediately scrambled down from their bunks. "Cole treats you way differently than everyone else. I just saw his Story. Are you guys officially hard-launching?"

One of them shot a less-than-subtle sideways glance at my bed.

Lexi covered her mouth, letting out a soft, bashful giggle. "Yeah, I guess the secret's out."

When I didn't move a muscle, she strolled over to my bed frame and tapped the metal rail. "Willow, aren't you going to come down and eat?"

I didn't bother sitting up. "Thanks, but I already brushed my teeth."

Lexi let out a theatrical sigh. "That's a shame. I specifically bought this for you."

My phone buzzed against the sheets. A text from Cole:

[I had someone bring you food. Did you eat it?]

This was Cole's signature move. The day after he rejected my confession in high school, he showed up with my favorite iced latte and a pastry, claiming he drove out of his way just to get it for me. During the school talent show, he handed a bouquet of roses to another girl on stage, but then waited an hour by the back exit just to walk me home.

He bailed on our graduation trip to go to the beach with a group of friendsincluding a girl he knew I despised. I gave him the silent treatment for the entire summer. But the week before college move-in, he showed up at my front door, packed my boxes, and looked my parents dead in the eye, promising he'd take care of me on campus so they wouldn't have to worry.

A slap to the face, followed immediately by a piece of candy. And like a fool, I always took the candy.

Chapter 4

I had spent years lying to myself, desperate to believe I was the exception to Cole's rules. That I held some special, irreplaceable spot in his life.

But the truth was brutally simple: he didn't like me. He just liked the ego boost of having me around, keeping me trapped in his orbit with enough mixed signals to make me think I had a chance.

Wake up, Willow. The pathetic pining stops today.

The next morning, inside the Engineering dorms, Hayes checked his watch and abruptly closed his game client.

Wyatt poked his head around his monitor, headset half off. "Yo, Hayes, why'd you log off? We're queuing up again."

"Class." Hayes grabbed his phone off the desk and headed for the door.

"Bro, what? It's a bullshit elective. Why are you even going? Getting carried in CS:GO is way more fun than sitting in a lecture hall," Wyatt shouted after him.

The second I walked into the lecture hall for my elective, my phone buzzed with back-to-back texts from Cole and Lexi.

[Cover for me during attendance today.]

[Hey Willow, Cole and I are grabbing breakfast off campus! Can you make sure the TA doesn't mark us absent?]

The audacity.

My thumbs hit the screen so hard I nearly cracked the glass. I fired back a single, flat response to both of them and tossed my phone onto the desk.

[K]

"Crazy coincidence."

A low, familiar voice pulled me out of my bad mood. I glanced up. Hayes was standing at the end of the aisle.

He was taking this class? This was a ridiculous coincidence. It felt like the universe was playing a joke on me.

"Mind if I sit here?" Hayes gestured to the empty seat right next to mine.

I gave a short nod.

He dropped his backpack and slid into the chair. He leaned back, stretching his long legs out in the cramped space. "Thanks again for the drink last night."

My stomach did a quick flip. Please, god, don't ask why I brought it to you