Talon turned off the water and stepped out of the shower stall. His body protested as he dried himself, every muscle screaming for relief. Today's practice had been brutal. The team had run drill after drill till sweat blinded their eyes. Or maybe it had been tears...not that he'd ever admit it. Wrapping the towel around his waist, he grabbed his stuff and headed back to the room but he noticed several things. One, everyone had their phones out and two, they were all staring at him like he'd just grown another head.

"What's going on?" he asked, walking up to his friends. Kevin shook his head, too amused to answer so Talon turned to Aaron who had a ridiculous grin on his face. A couple of the second string players snickered as they passed by, elbowing each other when they caught sight of him. Paranoid, Talon patted his face thinking he'd missed a spot while shaving. "What's so funny?"

"Dude...you—" Aaron snorted, then burst out laughing, which set Kevin off. The two idiots wouldn't stop so he barged into Finn and Mitch's room wanting answers.

"Ever heard of knocking?" Finn asked. He was sitting on a bed with his back leaning against a brick wall, a bottle of Gatorade in one hand and a candy bar in another. He chugged the last bit of sports drink and tossed it in the trashcan. Well, it would have gone in the trashcan if it hadn't been overflowing.

"Ever heard of cleaning?" Talon shot back. He couldn't stand a messy room. That was the one area in his life he needed to keep organized.

"Don't look at me. That's Mitch's mess."

Talon eyed the empty pizza box and bags of Cheetos. "I thought you said you didn't have any junk food."

Finn shrugged. "We lied." He saw Talon's expression and sighed. "Oh, don't act all butt hurt. You never share your Peep stash with us."

"That's different."

Finn raised an eyebrow. "Is it?"

"You don't even like Peeps! You say they taste like cardboard, which for the record they don't."

"They do," Finn countered.

"Well, you're wrong," Talon told him.

"It's my opinion. I can't be wrong."

"That's up for debate. Obviously something's off," he tapped his temple, "up here. Maybe you should have it checked out."

"You're not having me committed to the psych ward again."

"It was just a suggestion."

"Not when you call up the nearest hospital and ask to be directed to a specialist," Finn spat. He bit into the candy bar with a growl.

"Is this what I get for being a concerned friend? Distrust and mocking?"

Finn picked up a pillow and shucked it at him. "You're an asshole."

Talon grabbed onto the ends and swung it around hitting Finn in the face.

"Having a pillow fight, girls?" Mitch stood in the doorway with Kevin and Aaron behind him. All three wore matching expressions that made the back of Talon's neck prickle.

Finn saw it too and turned wary. "Why are you guys looking like that?"

"Check your phone," Mitch told him.

Finn leaned down and grabbed his phone from the duffle on the floor. His eyebrows lifted as he looked at the screen, then he cut a sharp look to Talon, his mouth gaping.

Pissed, Talon barked, "What?"

A grin started to form as Finn glanced at Mitch. "No shit?"

"No shit."

A chuckle escaped Finn's lips. "Holy—"

Fed up with all the damn secrecy and snickering, he snatched Finn's phone and saw a text forwarded from him, which was impossible because he didn't have his phone.

Hey baby! Don't beat yourself up over last night. Lots of guys can't get it up. Erectile dysfunction is more common than you think. I hope the penis pump you bought will help your "problem". No hard feelings! XOXO

Then another text presumably from him.

Shit! FW that by accident. She's just joking around. Haha. That really didn't happen. I swear. Totally banged the chick.

Oh no. HELL NO.

She couldn't.

She wouldn't....

The texts mocked him, every word a stab to his ego.

She did.

Temper flaring, he dialed his number. He couldn't wait to give her a piece of his mind, tell her exactly how what it meant to mess with James Talon Harrington IV but she never answered. Probably too afraid of his wrath. As she should be, he thought with a vicious nod of his head.

"Would you stop?!" he demanded as Finn doubled over with laughter.

"I-I'm s-sorry," Finn managed to get out, holding his stomach. "It's j-just y-y-you—"

"Yeah, yeah. I get it," he snapped.

"No wonder you were in such a foul mood yesterday," Kevin commented, his eyes twinkling.

"This is not true," he yelled, waving Finn's phone in the air. "Any of it!"

"So you say."

With a curse, he called her again but all he got was his voicemail. "Call me back," he ordered, his voice granite.

"Dude, you shouldn't blame her for your, " Aaron looked down and smirked, "shortcomings."

At that, everyone cackled. Talon realized they thought he was calling the gymnastics girl. He hadn't told them about switching phones. "I'm not calling—" Something stopped him. He wasn't sure why, but he just had a feeling if he told them everything now it would all end. Which made no sense because there wasn't anything to begin with. Frustrated at the situation and himself, he pushed past them and headed to his room.

"Don't be like that!" Kevin called after him. "We understand!"

He held up his middle finger but kept on walking. When he got to his room he snarled. A crowd had gathered, all wearing cheesy grins. Ignoring them, he swiped his phone and called her again.

"Hello?" she answered.

"Penis pump? Penis pump?!"

"Talon—"

He kicked his bed. "I don't need a penis pump!"

She snickered which infuriated him even more. "Well, good for you. Although, I don't really understand why you are telling me this..."

She wasn't fooling him. She knew exactly what she was doing that sneaky little... "You...you..you!" He was so angry he could barely speak.

"Talon, are you okay? Did you get hit too hard at football practice today?"

He growled in frustration. "You did this to me. Don't deny it. I know it was you."

"Did what?"

"The penis pump! And the erecti—" He couldn't even say the word. "You know what!"

She took awhile to answer, but he heard what suspiciously sounded like giggling. "You're not making any sense," she finally told him.

Oh she was good. Too good. And here he thought she was the good sort. "I don't need a penis pump," he muttered, glaring at the guys in his room.

"Listen, if you are having difficulties performing—"

"My penis works perfectly fine!" he yelled and the guys roared with laughter. He shouted a couple cuss words before shoving them out of his room and slamming the door. He took a moment to gather himself before hissing, "I don't have a problem."

"I know there's a lot of pressure on males these days but honestly, it's okay."

"I. Don't. Have. A. Problem."

"Oh Talon." She sighed with so much sadness he almost believed she felt bad for him. "The first step of denial is admitting you have a problem. And I promise you one day a girl will love you for you. Erectile dysfunction and all."

His fists clenched. "Why you—"

"It's okay. I know you need time to process everything. But remember, when you're ready to talk, I'm just a phone call away," she said then hung up. Hung up. On him.

He immediately redialed, but it went straight to voicemail and he took those couple of moments to cool down. He hated to admit it, but she got him good. And he supposed he deserved it after spending her money on those condoms.

Sigh. You are incredibly annoying and irritating, you know that? –T

Why thank you. :) How are those condoms working out? Are you even able to use them now that your "problem" went public?

It was sort of cute how she proud she was of herself. It almost made him proud of her too. Feeling the need to poke her, he texted:

Ahhh. Now I see what this is about baby doll ;) –T

You mean the fact that you used MY money to buy condoms?

I should have realized this sooner. You're just jealous. You did this little prank so girls would stay away from me. -T

Don't worry baby doll, you'll soon get a chance to see what the big hype is about ;) –T

He grinned, anticipating her response, and he wasn't disappointed.

I am not that desperate! And you are not that lucky!

If that's the way she wanted to play it then fine. He was a Harrington after all and Harrington's were winners.

I think you just threw down a challenge. Game on, Keeley. Game on. –T