Talon was pissed. It was two-thirty in the morning and that girl's phone wouldn't stop ringing. He'd finally checked the texts and apparently it was her brother wanting to get picked up from some party.

The brother sounded like an ass. All he did was whine and wonder why she wasn't picking up. If it was Talon's brother he would have said tough luck and went back to sleep, but it wasn't his brother so instead he called Keeley.

"'Ello?" she muttered. Man, she did not sound happy. Good. If he had to be up and deal with this mess, then so did she.

"Your brother is fuckin' annoying." After telling her about her brother's texts, he fully planned to hang up and go back to sleep, but something stopped him. Maybe it was how cute she sounded still half asleep or the fact that he enjoyed hearing her voice, but a part of him knew it was the alarm he felt when he realized she was going to go out and drive. She wasn't even fully awake yet and she was going to go traipsing who knows where to pick up her drunk brother.

Damn that brother. Did he even care what he was doing to Keeley? And by the way Keeley talked about him, it sounded like it happened a lot. The guy was a selfish ass. Talon wished he had a sister who cared about him that much. If he did, he wouldn't take advantage, that's for sure.

As she got ready and walked to the car, Talon needled her some more. Not for his own pleasure—okay, maybe a little bit—but mainly to get her worked up so she would be awake and ready to drive.

Keeley went on, describing his similarities to her dog. "— like Tucker, you need to have your ego stroked. You both need to be put in your place when you misbehave, which is often. I've noticed that you and Tucker love the chase and when you get your bone taken away you sulk and pout like a two-year-old."

Talon broke out into laughter. Damn, she was good. He liked that she could stick up for herself and dish it out. It meant he didn't have to tiptoe around her and worry about hurting her feelings.

Across the room, Aaron turned over and said, "Shut up, dude!"

Talon winced. He forgot about his roommate. "Sorry, man," he whispered, covering the phone.

"Who the hell are you talking to?"

"A friend." Although he supposed that wasn't entirely true. Keeley wasn't a friend. He didn't know what she was.

"I don't know what kind of friend you talk to in the middle of the night but do it somewhere else. You may be superhuman but I'm not. I need sleep."

Apparently, Aaron got real cranky when he didn't get his eight hours. Talon got up and went into the common room. "Sorry," he told Keeley. "My roommate kicked me out."

"I'm surprised you didn't kick him out."

Did she have to sound so surprised? He wasn't a monster. He had principles. "I kind of owe him one," Talon admitted. Aaron had helped out with Finn today. He wondered if the rest of the football noticed Finn's attitude lately or was it just those close to him? If it got worse, he'd have to talk to Mitch and come up with a plan. The negativity wasn't good for the team.

"Ah...the Gumby girl from last night," she said, drawing her own conclusions.

She was wrong but he wasn't going to correct her. Better she think him a considerate player than a bad friend. Talon had a feeling Keeley had high standards and being a good person was at the top.

They talked more as she drove. He kept his ears open, making sure she didn't sound distracted or sleepy. Before he knew it, she was at the party and saying goodbye to him.

"Night, baby doll," he told her. As he hung up, an unfamiliar feeling clawed at him. He didn't like saying goodbye to her. He wanted to keep talking. With Keeley, he didn't feel the pressure to be a certain way or come up with topics. The conversation flowed naturally between them. He hadn't felt that way in a long time. Not since...

Claire.

Even thinking the name made him sick to his stomach. It'd been years since they dated but guilt was a powerful emotion. It refused to go away no matter how hard he tried.

I wish—

He shook his head. Wishing was stupid. It wasn't going to change anything. He made a shitload of bad decisions and he had to live with that. If only Zach Brewer weren't attached to those bad decisions. Talon would rather not have to think about that asshole ever again.

Talon went back to his room and laid down. He tried to fall back asleep but thoughts of Keeley filled his thoughts. He put his hands behind his head and stared at the ceiling.

What was it about Keeley that made her easy to talk to? He knew she wasn't snobby or a stick in the mud, but he'd met plenty of girls who were the same and he didn't click with them. So why her?

***

Talon was still asking himself that at lunch the next day. He was so busy thinking about Keeley that he wasn't listening to his friends till Finn announced loudly, "I'm just wondering who JT was talking to last night at two thirty in the morning."

All eyes went straight to him. Startled, Talon turned to Aaron who refused to look at him. "Uh..."

One of the guys sitting across from Talon said, "Bet it was the gymnastics girl."

"But they were only talking..."

"Maybe pretty boy finally found a girl to keep," another guy speculated.

"Yeah right. Like he'd ever get serious with a girl. Right, Harrington?"

Talon's chest constricted. How little they knew. They were a year younger so they hadn't been in high school yet when he dated Claire. And it's not like he advertised that he'd been in a relationship. Not after that horrible breakup.

"Right, Harrington?" one of the guys repeated.

Mitch and Finn sent him wary looks, gauging his reaction. They had been there when he found out Claire had been cheating on him and had seen the after math. If he hadn't known they were his friends before, he knew then. They had his back no matter what. Helped him to cope. It was a debt he would never forget.

"Right," he said woodenly. He refused to get serious with a girl again. Been there. Done that. Had the heart break to prove it.

"That's my boy," a guy said, slapping Talon's back. "Such a player."

The guys around him cheered and it pissed Talon off. They thought he was a stone cold player but they didn't know the first thing about him. Sure, he flirted with girls but there was so much more to him than that.

"Man, I wish I had your life," a freshman sighed.

He wondered if they would say the same thing if he was Talon Harrington, farm boy and math wiz, and not JT Harrington, football superstar and girl magnetic. Probably not.

They acted like his status was something to aspire to but he was more than girls and football. All of that was what he did, not who he was. Why did no one understand that?

His thoughts went back to that girl Keeley. Could she be someone who saw through the façade? Would she even care to find out?