Page 22 of Punt

I couldn't help but grin.

"I believe you," I said. "I'm sure you'd get lots of help too."

"Without doubt," she said. "I'll show you to the box. Do you know much about football?"

CHAPTER 8

CHASE

I stepped into the locker room and grinned. The floor was covered in tiny, styrofoam balls. They floated across the floor every time anyone moved, or opened and closed a locker.

"Chase, you're an asshole," Bam growled. The biggest pile of styrofoam was right in front of his locker. Some of it was still in there. Okay, a lot of it.

"What makes you think I did it?" I asked innocently.

"The look on your ugly face when you stepped in the room." Bam pointed at me, eyes narrowed.

"Hawk was smiling too." I jerked a thumb at the quarterback.

Hawk raised his hands to either side. "Leave me out of this," he said. He stepped around a pile, to his locker. He swung it open and swore as another heap of the balls fell out at him.

I almost doubled over laughing at the look on his face.

"Bam is right." Hawk glanced in my direction. "You're an asshole." He shook his head but smiled before he pulled out a pair of socks and shook the balls off them. "If the coach sees this, you're dead meat."

"Only if he can prove it was me," I said.

One of the team staff was already vacuuming up the balls from the floor, a pissed off expression on her face.

Oops.

I opened my locker and stepped back, in case something jumped out at me, but nothing did.

Yet.

The locker room was usually quiet before a game, but I found a good laugh early on helped to relieve some of the tension. Now that was out of the way, we could focus on the task at hand—beating the Adelaide Emus.

A tough side, we'd beaten them before, and they'd beaten us. It would come down to the better team on the day. An easy win was great, but I loved it when the crowd was on the edge of their seats in suspense. It was fun to play and better to watch. Way better than being creamed by a mile. And by creamed, I mean… Yeah, you get it. Not the good kind. Why did that make me think of Ashley? Shit, now I was wondering how she'd taste.

Thisisn'treal, I told my cock. The thought of her made him spring to attention.Think unsexy thoughts, like naked Bam.There, that did it.

"I was gonna tell you that Kyle is free," Bam said. "But then you pulled this little stunt."

I pulled a towel out of my locker. I liked to have a shower before the game, to loosen up my muscles.

"Were you really?" I asked, one eyebrow raised.

"No." Bam grinned. "I booked one in for me and one for Hawk, because he's my friend. Right, Hawk?"

Hawk grinned. "Yep."

"That's not nice, Bam," I said with a smile. We wouldn't be us unless we teased each other mercilessly.

"Leavin' your balls in my locker ain't nice," Bam said.

We all laughed.

"So, what's this about a new girlfriend?" Hawk asked.