Chapter 249: The Man They All Chose
Stan acknowledged her with the slightest inclination of his head before turning back toward the play developing in front of him.
The reaction was immediate.
A small smile appeared on Maya’s face before she looked away, clearly trying, and failing, to hide how pleased she was.
A moment later, she missed the next beat of the cheer routine.
One of the girls beside her had to subtly nudge her back into position.
Stan suppressed a laugh. Then Zack called for the next sequence.
Stan pushed the distraction from his mind, stepped into position, and ran the next pick-and-roll.
By the end of the second hour, the gym had been thoroughly worked.
The basketball team was drenched in sweat. The cheerleaders were sprawled across the bleachers and benches, stretching out sore muscles and nursing water bottles.
Stan, for his part, was breathing harder than he had been at the start.
That alone was enough to reassure everyone that he was, in fact, human.
Unfortunately, his recovery speed immediately ruined that reassurance.
While the rest of the team remained winded from two straight hours of practice, Stan’s breathing settled within minutes. His heart rate seemed to normalize almost absurdly fast. By the time everyone began packing up, he looked less like someone who had just completed an intense training session and more like someone who had returned from a brisk afternoon walk.
Several teammates noticed. Several teammates decided not to think too hard about it.
The basketball team headed to the locker room to shower and change. The cheerleaders did the same in their own facility on the opposite side of the gym complex.
Afterward, everyone reconvened in the communal rest area, a large carpeted lounge reserved for athletes during travel days.
The room was comfortable.
Several couches were arranged around low tables. Vending machines lined one wall. The lighting had been dimmed slightly to encourage rest before the trip.
A few players immediately claimed couches and fell asleep.
Several cheerleaders followed their example.
Stan stretched out across one of the longer couches, folded an arm beneath his head, and closed his eyes. He wasn’t particularly tired. But rest was rest.
And in a few hours he was apparently going to be expected to carry a university basketball team to victory.
Might as well arrive well-rested. Sleep came surprisingly quickly. Light and shallow, but genuine. The kind of doze taken by someone whose body had recognized an opportunity and decided to make efficient use of it.
When he eventually woke, the room was beginning to stir. The atmosphere had changed.
The deep silence of a room full of sleeping athletes had given way to the quieter sounds of people waking up. Soft conversations and rustling bags.
The distant hum of a vending machine.
Stan blinked a few times and took in his surroundings. Sophie had occupied the couch opposite his. She was propped up on one elbow, looking directly at him.
There was absolutely no shame in her expression.
Only a soft, slightly dreamy warmth that strongly suggested she had spent at least part of the last hour watching him sleep.
When she realized he was awake, her smile widened. Not even a little guilty.
Maya was standing near the vending machines.
She had apparently been deciding between two drinks for several minutes and was now staring at the selection buttons with the intense concentration of someone whose attention was only partially on the task.
Stan had a suspicion he knew where the rest of her attention had been.
A few couches away sat Fiona. The red-haired cheerleader occupied the edge of a seat by herself, hands folded in her lap. Or at least they had been folded.
The moment Stan opened his eyes, she became very interested in adjusting the hem of her uniform.
She was doing an admirable job of pretending she hadn’t been looking toward his couch.
The faint pink tint creeping up her neck suggested otherwise.
Stan sat up and rolled his shoulders. His hand ran through his hair as he shook off the remnants of sleep.
Then he reached for his phone and checked the time. Seeing it, his eyebrow rose slightly.
’Two hours until tip-off, huh?’
Zack appeared right on cue, walking through the rest area with glucose sachets tucked into both hands, distributing them to players and cheerleaders alike as he passed.
"Bus is loading at the south exit," he announced. "Four buses. The Basket ball team in the front two, cheerleaders in the back two. Velaris Crown is about an hour and a half away. We need to be on the court warming up at least thirty minutes before tip-off."
He handed Stan two sachets and clapped him on the shoulder.
"Captain’s seat is yours if you want it."
"I’ll follow the buses in my Audi."
"Yeah," Zack said with a shrug. "Figured."
He continued toward the exit while Stan grabbed his bag and slung it over one shoulder.
He had taken perhaps two steps when Sophie appeared beside him.
"I’ll ride with you, Stan."
Smooth and ummediate. Delivered with the casual confidence of a woman who had made this decision twenty minutes ago and saw no reason to treat it as a topic for discussion.
Less than a second later, Maya materialized on his other side.
"Me too."
Her tone carried just enough determination for the situation to become obvious. Sophie had moved first. Maya had absolutely no intention of letting Sophie enjoy a ninety-minute drive alone with Stan.
Then a softer voice spoke from a step behind them.
"Um... me too. If that’s okay."
Stan glanced over.
Fiona stood at the edge of the group. The red-haired cheerleader looked as though she regretted speaking already.
Her cheeks were a vivid shade of red. Her shoulders were drawn inward almost protectively. She wasn’t making eye contact with Stan so much as studying a random patch of carpet somewhere near his shoes. Her hands were clasped tightly together.
She was shy, everything about her body language suggested someone who had spent the better part of an hour working up the courage to say a single sentence.
And was now seriously considering the possibility of fleeing the country.
Stan regarded her for a moment. They had never spoken before. As far as he knew, she was a complete stranger. But she had clearly spent every ounce of courage she possessed just asking a simple question.
