Read Slammed #4 (The Slammed Romance Series - Book #4) for Free Online

on to other more interesting classes. I had managed to put Zack more
or less out of my mind, and to prevent Jess from sending me on any more dates,
or even trying to make me go out with her to party; in fact, getting closer and
closer to finals, she was cutting back on partying on her own.
    It had been a good break, and I was finally starting
to really and truly relax into life once more. After a week or two, I stopped
trying to hide out in my room and started to actually get involved in campus
life a little more. It helped that in the time since the final game of the
football season, the campus newspaper had put me onto covering the basketball
team. The first game I went to, when I interviewed a few of the players
afterward, one of them ventured the opinion that he had been proud of the way
I’d stood up for myself with Zack, that I was an impressive woman.
    I kept up with all of my classes and even started to
take on a few other responsibilities on the newspaper, not just doing my own
assignments but also taking some of the proofreading load off of the editors,
reading through articles that came in and checking them for spelling and
grammar before handing them off to the editors.
    “I keep finding new reasons to thank Professor Grant
for signing you on,” Lisa told me once, shaking her head at how much my
additions had helped the whole team. I hadn’t been there long enough to start
pitching my own article ideas; I was still on assignments handed out by the
editorial staff—things that they had no one in particular to cover—but I was
gaining trust and I had gotten hints that in the spring semester I would start
being able to put forth my own ideas in the weekly meeting.
    I hadn’t even tried to date anyone at all in the
time since the disaster with Derick. I told myself that I was swearing off of
boys for good and that I’d just wait until I graduated and find some actual men
to involve myself with once I could get started on my career. I knew it
wouldn’t last, but for the time being, it was good enough for me. I had time to
hang out with Jess, and I started to become better friends with some of the
staff of the newspaper; I was satisfied with that and didn’t even want to try
for more.
    I went into Lisa’s office after classes, ready to be
told that I was going to be covering something other than the basketball team;
her email to me had hinted that I was changing up duties. “Hey, here I am,” I
said, opening the door to the office after knocking. “What’s the sitch , Chief?”
    Lisa laughed. “Take a seat. Let me just finish this
email and I’ll give you the lowdown.” I sat down and took my notebook out of my
bag, watching as Lisa tapped out the last few sentences in an email in a rapid
staccato. “So, Evie . As I’m
sure you’re aware, we’re coming up on the championship game for the football
team.”
    My heart started to beat faster in my chest.
    “Yeah, I’m aware of that,” I said, more because I
knew she was expecting me to say something.
    In the back of my mind I had been counting down the
days—I knew that everyone on campus was buzzing with excitement over it. Some
of the students had booked their plane tickets and the boosters were trying to
get as many people to the game as possible. I knew that there were some people
planning a road trip out to California where the stadium was
at. I had told myself over and over again that I didn’t care, that
whatever happened to the football team was barely my business, but I had been
hoping against hope that I would be too busy on other assignments when the game
came up.
    “Well, Coach Bullden specifically requested that we send you to cover the game,” Lisa said, smiling
broadly at me.
    “That’s—Wow. I wouldn’t have expected that.” I felt
my cheeks burning. It shouldn’t have surprised me, with the praise the coach
had lavished on me for my previous coverage of the team.
    “I was pretty surprised too. You must have