She was Taken...Until She Wasn't | Ayanna Patterson

Ayanna Patterson has a reputation - tall, confident, and the kind of girl whose past hookups are whispered about in locker rooms. She isn't looking for anything serious... until she meets Lila, a 5'4" freshman athletic trainer's assistant who shows up to preseason terrified of everything except her own boyfriend.

Lila is sweet, shy, and inexperienced - a girl who's spent her whole life convinced she's straight and "not into girls," even as she blushes every time Ayanna crouches down to let her tape her ankle.
Ayanna tells herself it's harmless - a crush she'll keep to herself - especially because Lila is taken.

But Lila's boyfriend notices the way she looks at Ayanna.
And he does not take it well.

What starts as possessiveness turns into obsession:
If I can't have you, nobody can.

When he begins isolating her, controlling her every move, and cutting her off from friends, Ayanna is the only person who notices - the only one Lila feels safe around, even if she doesn't understand why.

Ayanna tries to keep her distance, repeating, "Sorry, she's taken," every time someone on the team teases her - but she can't ignore the protective instinct that flares whenever Lila flinches at her boyfriend's texts.

As Lila slowly realizes her "straight" label doesn't fit - and maybe her boyfriend isn't love, just fear - Ayanna becomes the one thing she can't deny:
steady, gentle, safe.

But when her boyfriend's jealousy turns violent, Ayanna is dragged into a dangerous triangle where a single truth becomes clear:

Lila might be inexperienced. Ayanna might have a past.
But the way they look at each other?
No one gets between that - not even him.