BET

Chapter Thirty

Keagan

"What are you doing in here?"

My eyes widen like saucers when I glance up from my gym bag and my gaze lands on a pair of long, tanned legs. Connected to those appendages is a head full of dark hair and a determined face that I know far too well at this point. Despite her confidence, Kasia clearly knows she is not meant to be here, as she slinks around the corner, peering into the locker room and jumping in surprise when my voice hits her ears.

She plays it off well enough once her eyes meet mine. That familiar stare challenging my accusing tone before she can part her lips to speak.

"You don't know me well enough, Keagan, if you think a little sign is going to stop me." she begins, making her way over to where I stand by the lockers. "I've been waiting out there for ages. What is taking you guys so long in here?"

Kasia glances over my shoulder as she speaks, looking for Henry and Simon too. I shrug my shoulders, continuing my search through my gym bag.

"Maybe we didn't want to see you." I offer.

Kasia doesn't do what I expect her to and fire back with a witty, shit-stirring comment that ends up boiling my blood. I don't want to give her satisfaction, but my curiosity gets the better of me and I look up at her face, wondering what could possibly be going through her head right now.

Surprisingly, she seems to be affected by my words, staring down at a spot on the floor rather than my face. I watch as her eyes skim to my bag and more precisely, my hands paused in their searching in my bag. I glance down at my hands, still dirty from the fight on the field, and stand up straight, moving my hands behind my back unconsciously.

"It's fine." I say quickly.

"Shut up. Let me see," she says, stepping closer and holding her hand out.

I sigh, shaking my head. She just raises her eyebrows, her eyes commanding while she beckons me again. I relent and Kasia's hand is quick to grip mine as soon as it is laid in her palm. She runs her fingers across the parts that aren't completely ripped open, her brows furrowing as she looks over the bloodied skin and my already bruising knuckles.

"It's fine." I insist again.

"You're absolutely ridiculous, you know that?" Kasia says under her breath. "What did he say to make you go all Jason Bourne on him?"

I shake my head. "Nothing."

"Don't lie."

"He was just trash talking. Guys do it all the time." I say, shrugging my shoulders.

"Then why does he have a bloody nose?" she asks, challenging me further.

"Because he's a fucking loudmouth. Anyone would have done the same thing."

Kasia drops my hand from hers. "Then why didn't they?"

"Because I got to him first." I insist.

"Because he said something to you."

I turn away, grabbing my towel from inside my bag and throwing it over my shoulder.

"Give it a rest, Kasia." I say.

"Maybe I'll go ask him, I'm sure he's still here. Maybe in the shower-" she starts, turning away from me and daring to walk out of the locker room.

I stop her, a hand around her arm, yanking her back in front of me, now even closer than before. The front of her body pressed up against me and her face just inches away from mine. Her eyes dart down to my lips, and she leans in even closer.

Then Kasia's eyes move to something over my shoulder, and I lean back from her to follow her gaze to see Henry and Simon walking in, bags of chips and water bottles in their hands that they went to retriever from the vending machines. Their faces register the surprise of seeing Kasia in different ways, Henry's wild-eyed bewilderment and Simon's menacing glare.

"Oh...What are you doing in here?" Henry stutters, echoing my previous remark.

Kasia doesn't step away from me, just leans to the side so she can clearly see both Simon and Henry as they walk up to us, tossing their snacks onto the benches next to the lockers.

"Just wanted to congratulate you all on your win." she says, glancing down at their matching scuffed arms and knuckles. "And you got to knock a few guys out too."

"Unfortunately, I think they're all still awake." Henry says, flexing his hands unconsciously.

I watch as Kasia works her jaw, the movement so slight that I might not have noticed it if I wasn't this close to her.

"Well," she starts, stepping away from me as if she heard my thoughts and wanted to conceal herself. "There's always the next game."

"Surprised you're not with your boyfriend." Simon speaks for the first time, still scowling dangerously. "He might need stitches."

For the second time since she has entered the locker room, Kasia looks affected by those words in a way that I have never seen before. It is like the usual armor she wears keeps getting knocked off her and she struggles to slip it back on quickly. In those moments when her vulnerability shows, I see another side of her. Kasia runs a hand through her hair and shifts uncomfortably under our gazes.

"Yeah... I uh, I actually came here to break this thing that we have here off... with all of you. He um... that guy, he has nothing to do with it. I just..." Kasia starts, fumbling over her words in a way that is so foreign to the usual Kasia that we all know.

I can't help but look from her to Simon and Henry's faces, all our expressions painting our shared confusion. When I look back at her, she studies us carefully while chewing on her bottom lip. Then she shakes her head, like she is having her own separate conversation in her head.

"Fuck it. I... I don't think I care anymore. Maybe it took watching you guys almost break the other guy's faces to realize it, and maybe that makes me a little fucked in the head, but I just don't give a fuck about winning some stupid bet. I just want to do what feels good and watching you guys on the field almost killing them for whatever fucked up comments they made, felt really good. And I know you guys probably don't want to see me right now, and I know I'm only one vote out of four here... but I don't want this to end."

Kasia exhales, the weight of her words now off her shoulders and in the echoing air of the locker room between us. As the silence begins to settle, I realize for the first time how totally alone we are since the rest of the team cleared out a while ago. I swallow slowly, not needing to look at the others to know that they're feeling the same way I am right now. Thank god for years of working as a team to know what they're going to do before they even do it. It makes situations like this even sweeter.

"Are those doors locked?" I ask, my eyes still on Kasia.

"Already on it," Simon responds, him and Henry splitting from where they are standing and walking towards the two doors at the front and back of the locker rooms and sliding the locks into place.