My Ex’s Roommates: A Reverse Harem College Sports Romance (Ex Marks the Spot)
My Ex’s Roommates: Chapter 37

“Get the fuck off the field if you can’t remember the play!” Coach Hogan stomped flat patches in the field as he watched the defense practice. “We’re playing USC in two goddamn weeks and I will not let any of you fuck up the work the rest of you have done! We’ve beat two good teams now and the only way we’re going to keep it up is if you little shits do the work!”

I slowly made my way closer and closer to where Harper was working with her class on the sidelines. I’d already worked my dick off that morning and I deserved a break to stop and appreciate the impressive curves that Harper’s workout clothes showed off. Even though we lived together and I saw her at the house every night, it wasn’t enough. Coach was riding us hard to prep for the game against USC so by the time we got home most nights, we were so sore and tired that all we could do was groan in pain.

Of course, being the angel that she was, Harper insisted she was just practicing for her classes as she worked out our aches. And of course, us being the pigs that we were, it always ended up in some form of desperate sex that ended too fast and led to us all passing out before any of us were really ready to.

We weren’t getting to do much else and I wasn’t too much of an ass to admit that I missed talking to Harper. Even our football talks had gotten shorter. It was like our entire lives had become centered around the game against Jake and I was fucking sick of thinking about the asshole. In my mind he’d already lost. We had Harper and he didn’t. Game over.

I knew it was different for me than it was for Dylan and Silas, though. I didn’t have any real dreams of going pro. I had a family business to take over someday and I wasn’t ever going to make nearly as much money through football as I would in a single quarter at the business. If we lost to Jake, while annoying, it wouldn’t hurt my future.

Dylan finally had a chance to make a name for himself as quarterback and it was his chance to get chosen in the draft. He could play the game he loved on a professional level and make a good living for himself. Losing the game to Jake when there was so much coverage on it would cut him off at the knees. Same for Silas. For a kid who came from nothing, he had a chance at becoming the highest paid kicker in the NFL. With his skill, it wouldn’t be hard for him. It all came down to beating Jake, though. There were so many eyes on us that losing would ruin both of their chances at making a career out of football.

So while I might not have given a shit about beating Jake at a game, I gave a shit about my best friends. I showed up and gave it my all no matter how much I wanted to say ‘fuck it’ and steal away with Harper. I stood by Dylan and made damn sure he had the full support of the team. And he did. Winning a couple of games had brought everyone back around. Jake was no longer a ghost haunting every moment of every talk Dylan gave. Thank fuck.

None of that meant I wasn’t still going to be me, though. If Harper was on the field, I was going to manage to get closer to her. Even if it ended with Coach shouting at me until the veins in his forehead bulged.

Harper was standing next to a few of her classmates, their eyes on Jared Banks, one of the defense players. He’d been injured during the last season and was still nursing his knee. He had his leg up on the bench and looked like he was in pain.

I watched as Harper shot a frustrated look at her classmates and then knelt in front of Jared. She rested her hand on his arm and I couldn’t hear what she said, but it made Jared laugh. I suddenly wanted to rip his arm off and beat him with it.

The shock of the instant anger and jealousy made me take a step back. I wasn’t a jealous guy. I never had been and didn’t think I ever would be but seeing Jared staring down at Harper as she touched him made me realize very quickly that I’d just never had anything to be jealous of before.

I stopped trying to be subtle in sneaking over and just strode over, my hands fisted at my sides. I didn’t like seeing Harper kneeling in front of anyone else. I didn’t like the way Jared had hearts in his eyes as he smiled at her. I had enough self-control to not throw a tantrum and make an ass out of myself, though. At least I thought I did. I hoped I did.

“The game is important, yes, Jared, but if you want to play past the game against USC, you have to take a few games off.” Harper’s voice was soft and gentle, the concern in it genuine. “They’re not going to tell you to stop because they want to destroy Jake. Trust me when I tell you that I want that more than anyone here. I want that asshole’s blood but not so much that I’m willing to cost anyone a lifetime of pain. If you keep playing on your knee like this you’re going to need a knee replacement by the time you’re thirty and you’ll never take a step that doesn’t hurt at least a little bit.”

I stopped just behind Harper, my stomach dropping at the devastation in Jared’s face. All of my anger went up in a shame-filled puff of smoke as I realized just how much the guy was hurting. One look at Harper’s classmates was all I needed to see that they didn’t like what she was saying. They were sharing looks of disgust with their arms crossed over their chests.

One douchebag in particular stepped closer to Jared and scowled at Harper. “She’s not a doctor. She doesn’t know what the fuck she’s talking about. The last person I’d trust is Jake’s ex, the girl who probably caused this shitshow of a season.”

And just like that my anger was back.

Harper didn’t let me step in for her, though. She didn’t need me. The woman who’d once politely giggled at all of Jake’s shitty jokes and pretended to not hear the more vulgar ones stood up and suddenly seemed seven feet tall as she glared down at the asshole in front of her.

“If you insist on lying to a player and risking their health for a win, I won’t hesitate to file any complaint I can against you. I don’t give a fuck what you think about me; it truly couldn’t matter less. What I care about is the career and life of every player on that field. I would lose a hundred games before I sent a player into a game with an injury that’s going to end their chance at doing what they love. We have a responsibility to these guys. If you can’t understand that, maybe you should transfer to a program that doesn’t require a certain level of humanity.

“As for the rest of your asinine comment, I’m a fucking woman. I’m not a girl, although I’m sure you’d love it if I were so you could hike up your big boy pants and walk all over me and my professional opinions.” Harper got closer to him, her energy electric. “The last thing I’ll say is that the only person who shouldn’t be trusted on this sideline is the man who just claimed that we’re having a shitshow of a season. Have you looked at a single piece of data coming out about our team right now? Do you understand that not only have these guys won the past couple of games, they’re crushing previous stats set while Jake was quarterback. This team is on fucking fire and you’re obviously a fool if you can’t see that.

“You don’t belong in the stands selling peanuts, much less here taking care of our players, jackass. Now do everyone here a favor and go hold up a wall somewhere far away from me.” Without missing a beat, she turned back to Jared and smiled sweetly at him. “What do you say to an ice pack and a massage before you make any decisions?”

The eviscerated jackass opened his mouth to say something back to Harper but I moved closer and he caught the look on my face. Stammering something under his breath that no one heard, he scurried away, leaving the rest of Harper’s classmates to flounder to her side, their previous attitudes shifting into something remarkably more helpful.