Riley's pov
I grabbed the jersey from my bag and put it over my chest. Shit!
“I— what… you saw nothing.” I clenched the jersey tighter.
“Riley?” His grey eyes fixed on me, his jaw tight but his expression remained unreadable
I swallowed, my hands shaking so badly that the binder in my hand slipped to the floor. “W-what do you want?”
He shut the door behind him and walked toward me slowly and deliberately. I backed up until my shoulders hit the wall. He stopped about a foot away, close enough that I could smell his cologne… something woody.
“Who the fuck are you?”
“Riley?” I spoke through my teeth.
His eyes trailed back to my chest. “I’m not an idiot Riley, I know what I saw.”
“You saw wrong.” I defended
He scoffed. “You think I don’t know what tits look like?”
“No.. but…” my head was hazy.
“So you’re a girl huh?” He scrunched his face like I was disgusting. “Now I understand why you always hid here and never showered with the guys.” He cocked his head to the side.” Leaning closer. “I wonder what the coach would think about this.”
“No!” The word tore out of me, desperate. My grip on his arm was shaking so hard I could barely hold on. “You can’t!” This is my brother's only shot to get into the NHL, if the school finds out he’s not coming, his scholarship is gone, I can’t let that happen.
“No? You lied to the coach, the school and the scouts who would come soon?” He scoffed, pulling away. “How do you tend to cover that up even if I try to let it slide?”
“You don’t have to say anything.”
“I’m not promising you a thing, I’m the captain of this team and if one of the guys— I mean boy- girl isn’t who everyone thinks they are I have to speak up.”
“Please…” I grabbed his arm. “Don’t be a jerk for once.” He stared at my hand which was holding his and unknowingly put them between my boobs.
“Fuck, Riley, you don’t have to be a cunt.” He spat angrily.
I dropped his arm as it burned me, my chest heaving. Why couldn’t he just— for one second not be a complete asshole?
He turned toward the door, reaching for the handle but stopped in the hallway and turned his head toward me. “Get your ass out, the coach needs us out for a brief meeting.”
I stared at the closed door, my mind racing, did that mean he was keeping quiet? Or was he just waiting for the perfect moment to slip it?
No! There’s no way he would with how much he had shown me he despised me, especially with how hard he shoved me against the locker, it still ached.
I nodded at him as he walked out, shutting the door behind him.
Once I was alone, I plopped to the floor. “Fuck! It had to be today of all days? I would have preferred to get hit by a truck instead.” I mumbled under my breath.
I needed to get to my brother before Mom arrived and still deal with this?
I picked myself up, now wasn’t the time to complain, I quickly washed up in the old shower stall, then wrapped myself up again before pulling on my compression shirt and baggy sweatpants.
I walked out of the locker room and headed straight to the gym where the other guys had gathered with the coach. I stepped through the door, and every eye in the room veered toward me.
I crossed my arms, pressing my nails into my palms to stop the shaking..
“Riley.” Coach came over to me, and I walked up to him, my gaze to the ground nervously.
Everyone remained silent.
Pressing my lips together I waited for the worst, when the coach patted my head laughing. “Riley.” He clapped my shoulder hard enough to make me stumble. “That’s how you earn your spot.” Then he turned to the team. “The rest of you? Step it up.”
The air rushed out of me so fast I almost doubled over. My shoulders dropped from where they had been welded to my ears.” He looked at everyone else. “You all did great although you can do better next time.”
My gaze was still locked on Zavi and his on mine. “That aside, this academic year would be quite extensive along with the sporting activities so each one of you must be accommodated in the dorm. In his hand was a piece of paper
“I have a list of everyone who would be roommates.”
Roommates? With a boy? Shit!
“Jordan and Jake…”
He continued to list their names but I barely paid attention, my eyes looked around quietly. Please don’t say my name, let me be without a roomie!
“Zavi and…” it was just me and Matt left to be paired, who was it going to be.
Coach sighed, taking a moment to clean his glasses and then putting them back on. “Zavi you’re roommates with…”
“Riley.”