Merit (Treasure State Wildcats Book 4)
Merit: Chapter 18

Maverick’s house was not the football player’s bachelor pad I’d expected. There was an apple orchard candle burning on the living room coffee table. There was a blue vase with white flowers on the bar that separated the U-shaped kitchen from the rest of the open-concept space.

The cushy beige sectional was situated in front of a massive TV, but the toss pillows and throws gave the oversized furniture style.

There were no smelly cleats by the front door. No gym bags piled on chairs. No neon beer signs or NFL posters littering the walls.

Instead of sports memorabilia or man-cave pieces, the personal touches were for a baby. The bouncer in the corner. The baby blanket folded into a square on the couch. The stuffie, a plush wildcat with a Treasure State jersey, on the end table.

“Nice place,” I told Maverick.

“Thanks.” He kissed my cheek, then waved me past the entryway as he headed toward the kitchen.

When we’d finished our walk earlier, he’d escorted me to my parents’ house before returning to his. I’d run some errands this morning and cleaned the house. Then I’d sat around, waiting until it was time to leave.

Part of me had almost said no. It would be easier if we kept this to Saturdays. If we stuck to the original agreement. But the other part wanted to pretend, for a night, that we were a real couple. That kissing counted. That what he’d done last night had been more than physical attraction.

At this point, I was practically begging for a broken heart.

Maverick had smothered my sense of self-preservation somewhere along the way.

“Make yourself at home,” he said. “Rush and Faye should be down in a minute. Rally just had a blowout, so they had to do an emergency bath.”

“Can I help with dinner?” I followed him to the kitchen, leaning my forearms on the bar.

“Nah. I’ve got it.” He lifted the glass lid on a pot, letting a puff of steam escape with the scents of garlic and herbs and wild rice.

The sound of footsteps made me turn as Rush Ramsey, quarterback of the Treasure State Wildcats football team, came down the staircase with a baby boy tucked in his arm.

“Hey, Stevie.” He crossed the space, lifting a hand to wave.

“Hi, Rush.”

We’d crossed paths enough times at the fieldhouse that I knew Rush, but not the woman who came down behind him.

“Hi, I’m Faye.” She smiled, tucking a lock of strawberry-blond hair behind an ear.

“Stevie.” I shook her hand, then nodded to the little guy. “This is Rally?”

“The poop machine.” Rush beamed at his son.

“Please tell me you washed your hands. Multiple times,” Maverick said.

“Squeaky clean.” Rush handed Rally to Faye, bending to drop a kiss on her hair. Then he joined Maverick in the kitchen, opening the fridge to take out a tray of steaks. “Dude. Are your toenails hot pink?”

Maverick glanced over his shoulder, grinning as our gazes met. “Yep. They sure are.”

“Do I want to know why?” Rush arched his eyebrows. “Actually. You know what? Don’t answer that. I don’t need to know if you have a weird toe kink. I’ll get the grill going.”

Mav chuckled. “Twenty more minutes on the potatoes. Then we’ll be ready.”

“Cooking is their new thing. They’re this adorable, domestic couple.” Faye laughed, carrying the baby to the couch as Rush left to start the grill. She sat beside him, laying Rally on his back so he could wiggle and kick. “Maverick has made it his life’s mission to replace a sauce that I like.”

“You don’t like sauce?”

“No. He says I’m almost as picky as you. Not quite, but almost.”

“I can’t even deny it. I know what I like.” And at the moment, I liked Maverick. More than I wanted to admit.

Faye tickled Rally’s bare toes, then crisscrossed her legs, getting comfortable beside him. “How long have you guys been dating?”

“Not long. Since graduation.”

There was something about her, something sweet and kind, that made me want to tell her the whole truth. That it had started as something fake. That for Maverick, he was doing this for his mom. While it had started to become real for me.

Yep, heartbreak was imminent. And yet here I was, fooling myself into thinking this was a dinner with my boyfriend and his roommates.

“Ah.” Faye nodded. “I’ll admit, when Rush came home earlier and said you were together, I was a bit surprised. He said you’ve known each other forever but weren’t exactly friends. And Maverick is, well . . . Maverick.”

“He’s infuriating.” And protective. And funny. And charming.

Faye laughed. “There was a point in time when I regularly contemplated murder.”

I snorted. “Really? Is he hard to live with?”

“He used to be. There was a day I came home to a naked woman who was supposed to be in his bed but was in Rush’s instead. And he didn’t exactly welcome me with open arms. He’d decided that I was baby-trapping Rush and was this close to running me out of the house.” She pinched her fingers together, leaving only a sliver of space between them. “But we worked it out. And now I kind of love him.”

“That’s good.” I forced a smile, though I was stuck on the thought of a naked woman in Maverick’s bed. In this house.

Eventually, I’d get over his past. I just wasn’t sure how. Not yet. I was still locked in my own ridiculous jealousy.

Had other girls sat on Maverick’s couch? Had they had a meal at this table?

“So you went to the Oaks?” Faye asked.

“Yeah. Maverick said you went to Mission High. I knew most of the volleyball players on their team. I bet we’ve got some mutual acquaintances.”

As the guys cooked, we chatted, sharing names from the past. Then she let me gush over how much I loved Dolly’s, the diner where she worked. It was an older restaurant, one that had been in Mission for decades, but it had become a new favorite spot of mine. Jennsyn and I would go for a cheeseburger every month.

“Dinner’s ready.” Maverick carried our plates to the table, and once Rally was situated in his bouncer, we sat down to dive in.

Rush had grilled steaks. Maverick had made wild rice, potato wedges and roasted carrots. The skins on the potatoes were crispy and brown. I’d be skipping those. I loved potatoes, but only without the skin. I hated the weird, papery texture and the brown spots that made me think of dirt.

“Here.” Maverick brought over one last bowl, setting it beside my plate.

Potato wedges. Without the skin.

My heart skipped.

“Thank you.” So maybe it didn’t matter that Maverick had brought other women to his bed. To this house. I doubted they got special potatoes.

“How’s the volleyball team going to be this year?” Rush asked as he cut up his steak. “They lost a lot of seniors.”

“They did.” I nodded. “And Jennsyn will be impossible to replace. It might not be their best year, but some of the upcoming girls have a lot of talent.”

“I heard Jennsyn is dating Coach Greely,” he said.

“Yep.” Dating seemed too tame a word. Those two were endgame. She might not have changed her address, but she lived at Toren’s. And that man’s entire world revolved around my friend.

I knew more about their relationship than anyone else, but it was that subject that could get Toren in trouble, so even with Maverick, I steered clear. Before I could change topics, the front door opened and Erik Manning, another guy from the football team and Maverick’s other roommate, walked inside.

“Hey, guys.” He held the door open for his girlfriend, Kalindi, to come inside.

“Hey,” Mav said. “Hungry? There’s plenty of food.”

“No, we just stopped by to share some news.” Erik beamed at Kalindi.

She beamed back.

Kalindi was friends with a couple girls from the volleyball team, and we’d all placed guesses on when the two would get engaged.

She was stunning, with perfect dark skin and a beautiful smile. People teased me for smiling all the time, but I’d never seen Kalindi without that smile. It was brighter than normal tonight.

Erik took her hand, lacing their fingers together. They shared a look, then he held up their hands, twisting so we could see a sparkling diamond ring. “We’re engaged.”

“Fuck, yes.” Maverick shot out of his chair, walking over to hug them both.

Rush was right behind him with Faye.

“Congratulations,” I told them both.

“Thanks.” Kalindi leaned into Erik’s side. “We’re going downtown to celebrate. You guys should come after you’re done eating.”

“Sure.” Maverick shrugged. “I’ll text you later.”

They shifted to leave, but before they could go, the door opened again, two girls coming inside. One, I didn’t know. The other was Samantha, Dad’s new assistant.

In the weeks we’d been working together, we still hadn’t hit it off. I kept avoiding her whenever possible and simply hoped that she’d figure out a career that was more suited to her education and take her and her drama somewhere else.

“Okay, vehicles are situated and we are your faithful designated drivers. You two can go wild tonight,” Samantha told Kalindi. When she glanced around, spotting me, she startled. “Stevie?”

“Hey, Samantha.”

“I didn’t, um . . . I didn’t realize you knew these guys.”

I shrugged. “Small world.”

“That it is.” Her gaze flicked to Maverick, lingering for just a moment too long.

Wait. Did they know each other? Had she been here before? There was too much familiarity in her gaze. Too much comfort in this house to waltz inside.

It wasn’t because of Kalindi either, was it?

My stomach dropped.

“Hi, Maverick,” she said, her gaze shifting between the two of us.

“Hey.” His hand came to the small of my back. “How do you two know each other?”

“She’s Dad’s assistant at Adair.”

Surprise flashed across his expression before he schooled it into blank neutrality.

My stomach just kept falling.

He made a point not to look at her. The same way he’d ignored that blond at the sports bar weeks ago.

Maverick and Samantha. It was that encounter with Megan at the grocery store all over again.

Except I didn’t have to see Megan every weekday.

Oh God. Seriously? Why her? She was a gossip and a kiss-up. She wasn’t particularly kind or sweet. But that didn’t matter when he was searching for his next hookup. All he cared about was a pretty face and a yes.

Maverick’s hand twitched on my lower back.

I took a step away.

“We’ll let you guys get back to dinner.” Erik moved for the door, holding it open for the ladies to go out first. “See you downtown?”

“Yeah, man,” Maverick said. “Later.”

There’d be no later, not for me.

I returned to my chair, diving into my meal with fervor, until my plate was clear. Then I took it to the kitchen, helping Faye load the dishwasher.

“You should go downtown,” Faye told Rush. “Have a drink to celebrate with them.”

“Are you sure? You’ll have to do bedtime on your own.”

“We’ll have to get used to it at some point. When the season starts and you’ve got away games, it’ll be just us.”

Rush frowned, like it had only now occurred to him that he’d be gone a slew of nights starting in August, missing his son’s bedtime routine.

“You’re coming, right?” Mav asked me.

“Sure,” I lied.

“Nadine.”

I smiled, but it was weak. He saw right through it, but before he could stop me, I hurried to my purse, digging out my keys. “I’m going to run home and change. This isn’t exactly downtown attire. Text me where you end up going. I’ll meet you there.”

They could all think that I didn’t want to go to the bars in black joggers, gray slides and a green, drapey gray tank. “Nice to meet you, Faye.”

“You too, Stevie.” She had Rally in her arms. As I waved, she lifted his chubby arm and waved back.

Then I was gone, bolting to my Jeep.

“Stevie,” Maverick called from the doorway, but I was already gone, ignoring him as I started the engine.

It didn’t matter. It shouldn’t bother me. His past was out of his control, and I’d promised not to hold it against him. And it wasn’t really about him.

It was me.

This was my insecurity. It had a pretty face. Megan’s. Samantha’s.

God, I had to get over this. How? How did I stop?

I didn’t change when I got home. Instead, I switched out my slides for a pair of running shoes and left the house, leaving my phone behind. It took five miles before the envy subsided. Before I didn’t feel that unbridled jealousy swimming in my veins.

Five miles, and when I turned the corner for my block, drenched with sweat, there was a shiny truck in my driveway. And a pretend boyfriend sitting on my stoop.

Maverick was staring at his phone, forearms braced on his knees. He glanced up as I reached the driveway. “So much for changing.”

“I needed to clear my head. I’m sorry.”

He blew out a frustrated breath as he pushed to his feet. “This again? Is it going to happen every time?”

I lifted my hands, palms out in surrender. “For the record, I’m not mad at you. I’m mad at me.”

“Um, okay,” he drawled. “Better explain that.”

“I’m jealous.” The confession tasted like rotten eggs. “And I hate that I’m jealous. I hate that I can’t be cool about this. I hate that it immediately bugs me and all I can picture is you kissing another woman. I don’t want it to bother me, but I don’t know how to make it stop.”

In my head, I knew he didn’t make Samantha special potatoes. I doubted he knew her last name. And he sure as hell wouldn’t have let her paint his toenails.

“I’ve never been this person before,” I said. “I don’t know how to deal with it.”

“You’re jealous?”

I tipped my head to the sky, the sunlight still bright through these long Montana summer days. “Insanely jealous. I hate me.”

Maverick’s hand came to my chin, forcing me to look at him. “If we never knew each other, if you weren’t my oldest friend, if my parents didn’t know yours, if my mother hadn’t guilted us into this mess, if your dad hadn’t offered me a job. If I was just Maverick, if you were just Stevie, would you still be jealous? Would you want me?”

“Yes,” I whispered without hesitation.

“Say it.”

“I want you.”

I was jealous because I wanted Maverick to be mine. Only mine.

He tugged at the end of my ponytail, shaking his head. “Then fucking kiss me.”