Page 30 of The Player

“Anyway . . .” When she spoke again, the laughter was gone. “No one at Drayton knows I’m Melvin Wright’s daughter except Bailey, Cedric, and now you. I’d like to keep it that way.”

“Understood. I won’t tell anyone.”

“Thank you.”

Before Drew could answer, somebody down the hall cranked up “Ain’t No Fun” loud enough to rattle his door. He had nothing against Snoop Doggy Dogg, but now was not the fucking time. Feet pounded up the stairs, and then he heard girls laughing. Of course his roommates were having company. It was Thursday, for fuck’s sake. Couldn’t this shit wait until the weekend?

“Are you having a party?” Nicole asked, sounding amused.

“No. My roommates are just fucking idiots sometimes.” He pushed off the bed and crossed the room. “Hold on a second.”

With the cordless on mute, Drew yanked his door open and stuck his head into the hallway. His roommates and a few other guys from the team were crowded near the top of the stairs with twice as many girls. Kirby had one slung over his shoulder, her bare tits on full display while he smacked her ass. Nearby, Tanner held the boom box up over his head while Cash sang along with a girl tucked under each arm.

“Yo, turn that shit down or take it to your rooms.”

“My bad, bro.” Tanner tucked the boom box under one arm, caught one of the girls by her belt loop, and pulled her into his room. Once the door shut behind them, the music dropped to something Drew could live with.

“Hey, Drew.” Another girl came straight over. “Can I come in?” She pulled up her T-shirt and flashed him.

A month ago, he wouldn’t have thought twice about pulling her inside and fucking her against the wall. Now, with Nicole on the phone, he was turning down an easy lay, and the fucking crazy part was that he didn’t mind.

“Nah, I’m good.” Drew shut the door in her face.

“Aw, come on, Drew. You’re no fun,” she called from the other side.

By the time she gave up, he was back on the bed, taking the phone off mute. “Sorry about that.”

“What’s it like living in a frat house?”

“I don’t live in the frat house. I share a house with a bunch of my teammates.”

“Oh. And how is that?”

“Loud, crowded, and sometimes fucking insane. But for the most part, it’s all right. Beats living at the actual frat house. I did that my first two years.”

“That party was something else.”

“Yeah, it was.”

From there, they moved on to easier things and stayed on the phone for another hour, maybe longer. Drew lost track.

Nicole told him about the oil painting she’d been working on when he called. No matter what she tried, she couldn’t get the light on the red umbrella right. It sounded to him like watching the same few seconds of film until he finally saw the one thing that had wrecked the play.

“Exactly!” she said when he told her.

They talked about friends and classes and whatever else popped up, and more than once they got so far off track that neither of them could remember how they’d gotten there. After a while her voice started dragging, and he could tell she was fighting to stay awake.

As much as Drew wanted to keep talking, he had an early workout, she had class, and they had to hang up sometime.

“I should let you go,” she said.

“Yeah. Probably.”

“Good night, Drew.”

“Good night, Nicole.”

After the line went dead, Drew lowered the phone and held it against his chest. What the fuck was she doing to him?