Rumor Has It I'm Dating the Football Captain

Chapter 10: Chapter 10 : The Pink Swimsuit

”Are you crazy?!” Audrey shrieked.

The wet, freezing mud instantly soaked straight through her clean white t-shirt. It smeared against her jeans. It got in her hair. She pushed her hands against his massive chest, trying to break free.

”Please stop!” Audrey yelled. ”You are completely ruining my clothes!”

Mason did not stop. He just laughed. It was a loud, bright sound that echoed through the entire living room. He wrapped his arms completely around her, making absolutely sure the thick brown mud transferred onto every single inch of her outfit.

Logan stood exactly three feet away. His jaw was practically on the floor. He stared at them in absolute horror. He was wearing a pristine, dry-cleaned coat, and he looked like he was watching a car crash.

”I missed you,” Mason said loudly. He looked right over Audrey’s head, staring directly at Logan. His tone was perfectly sweet, but his eyes were completely dead.

”You literally saw me two hours ago!” Audrey complained. She wiped a giant smudge of dirt off her cheek.

”Two hours is a long time,” Mason said smoothly.

He finally stepped back. He looked down at her. She was a total disaster. Her white shirt was now entirely brown. Her hands were covered in dirt. She looked absolutely furious.

Mason smiled. He loved it.

”You look beautiful,” Mason teased.

”I look like a swamp monster,” Audrey snapped. ”Let me go so I can get a towel.”

”The floor is already clean,” Mason said, completely ignoring her request. ”You will get mud on the wood.”

Before Audrey could even process what that meant, Mason leaned down. He hooked one massive, muddy arm behind her knees and wrapped the other around her back.

He picked her up effortlessly.

Audrey gasped. Her feet left the floor completely. She instinctively grabbed his broad shoulders so she would not fall.

”Put me down!” Audrey demanded. She kicked her legs, but he held her incredibly tight.

”I am saving the floor,” Mason reasoned easily. ”Coach Miller will make us scrub it with toothbrushes if we track mud everywhere.”

”You are already tracking mud everywhere!” Audrey pointed out loudly.

Mason completely ignored Logan. He did not say goodbye. He did not even look at the student council president anymore. He just turned around and carried Audrey toward the heavy wooden stairs.

Logan was left standing entirely alone in the living room, holding his stupid clipboard. His perfect, controlling lecture was completely destroyed by a pile of wet dirt.

Mason carried her up the stairs. He did not even breathe hard. She felt ridiculously small in his arms. He was basically a walking heater, radiating warmth against the freezing cold mud.

”You can walk now,” Audrey muttered. She stopped struggling because she was afraid they would both fall down the stairs. ”I am too heavy.”

”You weigh absolutely nothing,” Mason corrected. He bounced her slightly in his arms just to prove his point. ”I lift tires during morning practice that weigh twice as much as you.”

”Did you just compare me to a car part?”

”A very nice car part,” Mason amended. ”Like a steering wheel.”

”You are terrible at compliments, Calloway.”

”You are just picky.”

Mason reached the top of the stairs. He walked down the quiet hallway and used his foot to push open the door to their master bedroom. He carried her inside and kicked the door shut behind them. The lock clicked loudly.

He did not drop her on the bed. The bed was clean. Instead, he carried her straight into the attached bathroom and carefully set her down on the tile floor.

Audrey immediately stepped back. She looked in the large bathroom mirror.

She looked awful. Her cap was crooked and covered in a thick layer of brown sludge. Her favorite white t-shirt was completely ruined.

She turned around to yell at him.

But the words completely died in her throat.

Mason reached down and grabbed the hem of his ruined grey hoodie. In one smooth, fast motion, he pulled it entirely over his head and tossed it onto the tile floor with a wet thud.

Audrey froze. Her eyes went completely wide.

He was not wearing a shirt underneath.

His chest was broad, deeply tanned, and completely covered in hard, defined muscle. A thin layer of sweat and muddy water dripped down his collarbone and tracked over his stomach. He looked like an incredibly dangerous, highly athletic statue.

Audrey’s heart slammed violently against her ribs. All the air left her lungs.

He reached for the waistband of his sweatpants.

”What are you doing?!” Audrey screamed. She slapped her hands over her eyes instantly. Her face felt like it was literally on fire.

Mason stopped. He looked at her perfectly hidden face. A slow, highly amused smirk spread across his lips.

”I am taking off my clothes,” Mason said. His voice was a low, teasing rumble.

”Why?!” Audrey yelled. Her voice cracked. Her mind raced with complete panic. She was trapped in a bathroom with the campus heartbreaker and he was stripping. Was he about to pounce on her? Was this how he normally treated girls?

”Audrey,” Mason said slowly. He sounded like he was trying very hard not to laugh. ”Look at me.”

”I am absolutely not looking at you!”

”Look at me.”

Audrey slowly opened a tiny crack between her fingers.

Mason was standing exactly where he had been. He had not stepped any closer. He was just pointing a long, muddy finger at the glass shower door right next to him.

”I am covered in freezing mud,” Mason explained calmly. ”I am going to take a shower. Unless you want me to sleep in the bed looking like this?”

Audrey blinked. She lowered her hands.

He was not pouncing on her. He was just dirty.

The intense, burning embarrassment hit her instantly. She had completely overreacted. She thought he was trying to make a move, but he was literally just trying to wash himself. He probably thought she was completely insane.

”Oh,” Audrey squeaked. She stared strictly at the bathroom sink. She refused to look at his chest again. ”Right. The shower.”

Mason leaned against the counter. He crossed his arms. He did not look annoyed at all. He looked entirely captivated by how red her face was.

”What did you think I was doing?” Mason teased softly.

”Nothing!” Audrey lied immediately.

”Did you think I was going to jump you?”

”No!” Audrey yelled. She grabbed the edge of the bathroom counter. ”Shut up, Calloway.”

Mason laughed. It was a rich, deep sound that made the small bathroom feel even smaller. He reached out and casually tapped the brim of her dirty baseball cap.

”You are safe, roommate,” Mason promised easily. ”I only pounce on girls who ask nicely.”

Audrey completely glared at the sink. ”I will literally never ask you.”

”We will see,” Mason challenged cheerfully.

He turned around and turned the shower handle. The hot water hissed out, filling the cold bathroom with thick, warm steam instantly.

”I call first shower,” Mason announced. ”Since I did all the heavy lifting.”

”You are the reason I need a shower in the first place!” Audrey argued.

”Details,” Mason said dismissively.

He reached for his waistband again.

Audrey did not wait this time. She spun around as fast as she could and practically ran out of the bathroom. She slammed the door shut behind her.

She stood in the middle of the quiet bedroom. Her chest heaved. She pressed her cold, muddy hands against her burning cheeks.

She could hear the water running loudly through the door.

She let out a long, shaky breath. Mason was infuriating. He was annoying. He constantly pushed her buttons and dragged her into the spotlight.

As a second-year sports journalism student, she was supposed to be completely objective. She was supposed to analyze the players, read the room, and keep her distance.

But as she stood there in her completely ruined clothes, she realized something else entirely.

When Logan cornered her downstairs, the old, terrible panic had started to freeze her lungs. But the exact second Mason stepped in front of her, the panic completely vanished. He did not even let Logan finish speaking. He just completely erased him with a stupid, messy hug.

Mason Calloway made her feel safe.

And that was a massive, terrifying problem.

Audrey walked over to her faded duffel bag. She unzipped it, pushing aside her heavy sports media textbook to find a clean shirt.

She pulled out her clothes and froze.

Sitting at the very bottom of her bag, perfectly folded, was a tiny, bright pink swimsuit.

Chloe.

Her roommate had secretly packed it.

Audrey stared at the bright pink fabric in absolute horror. She was trapped in a cabin for two days with twenty athletes, her fake boyfriend, and a lake.

The bathroom door suddenly unlocked with a loud click.