I want to tell her I don’t think Emma is a very good friend to her, but I keep my mouth shut. Instead, I smile at her, wishing I could touch her.
So I do. I grab hold of her hand and give it the barest of squeezes, my entire body reacting when we make first contact.
“Want to get together after practice tonight?”
Addie shakes her head. “I can’t. I’m sorry. I have to go straight home.”
“It’s okay. Maybe later this week.” Disappointment crashing into me, I let go of her hand and pull my math textbook and a couple of sheets of paper out of my backpack and start in on my homework.
Addie does the same, pulling out a different, far more advanced textbook, and cracking it open. I glance at it, the formulas and problems looking like a foreign language, and I’m reminded of how smart she is.
How she’s probably going to some fancy college far away from here, while I’m hoping to stay in state and play college ball. I don’t have much ambition beyond that.
I haven’t even really thought about it either. I haven’t had to. My parents don’t push me about my future. They just want me to go to a good college, and I know I can do it. But what do I want beyond that? It’s intimidating, how ambitious my brother and sisters are, and then there’s me.
But I can’t worry about my future. I need to remain in the here and now, concentrating on the pretty girl sitting across from me. The girl I’m totally falling in love with.
She slides her foot forward, and I realize at some point, she must’ve taken off her sandal. Her bare toes slide up my leg, startling me.
All the worry and uneasiness inside of me evaporates, and I go completely still.
She lifts her lids, her amused gaze meeting mine as she drags her toes up and down my bare leg slowly.
As usual, I feel that seemingly innocent touch all the way to my balls.
“My mom is being extra strict,” she admits, her voice low as she stares at her textbook. “I think she’s upset we went out Saturday, and she’s taking it out on me.”
“That’s…irrational.” I can’t think of anything else to say.
“Tell me all about it.” Her foot curls around my calf. “Maybe I can tell her I’m hanging with the girls after the volleyball game tomorrow. We do that a lot, so she wouldn’t question me.”
“You’d lie to her?” I raise my brows, but she’s not even looking at me.
“When she does this sort of thing to me, then yes. I have to.”
I reach for her, settling my hand over hers, so she has to stop scratching her pencil across the paper. “I don’t want to make you lie to your parents, Adds. Maybe I should come over and talk to her.”
Addie jerks her head up, her eyes wide. Her foot falls away from my leg. “No. That’s a terrible idea.”
“You really think so?”
She nods. “My mom is being really hard on me right now. She does this sometimes. She’s always afraid I’m going to veer off track.”
“Off track from what?”
“My goals. My future. College.”
I interlace our fingers together, sliding mine against hers. “What are your goals? Because my current one is to spend as much time with you as possible.”
The tiny smile she flashes my way makes my heart feel like it just skipped a beat. “I like that goal.”
“Oh yeah?” I pick her hand up with mine, about to bring it to my mouth, so I can drop a quick kiss on her knuckles. “Wait until—”
“What the hell are you two doing?”
TWENTY-FOUR
ADDIE
The sound of Liam’s furious voice makes Beck and I jerk away from each other. “What are you doing here?” I ask him, irritated.
God, he just completely ruined that particular moment. Beck was being so sweet. Like an actual…
Boyfriend.
“What the fuck is going on here?” Liam raises his voice, turning his anger on me. “I thought we had something going.”
“Liam—” I start, but he cuts me off.
“You playing us both? Really?”
Anger rises within me, plus a healthy dose of embarrassment. “No, I’m not playing you both. I’m not playing anyone.”
“We were talking. You and me.” Liam taps his chest with his finger. “Not him. I know I screwed up, but I asked you to give me another chance. It’s the least you can do.”
He says it like I owe him.
He’s wrong.
“Can we talk about this later?” I glance around, noticing that more than a few people are watching us. Doesn’t help that Liam is being so loud. “How about after practice?”
“I thought you had to leave right after practice,” Beck says to me.
Feels like he’s trying to stir the pot.
But is he?
I turn to see him watching me with confusion clouding his blue eyes. “I do.”
“So you’re just saying that, but you really don’t want to talk to me?” Liam snaps, his tone hostile. “Great.”
“Liam—”
“Come outside with me,” Liam demands.
“No.” I gesture toward where my backpack sits on the table. “I’m busy, Liam. We can talk later.”
I thought we already resolved this. Liam didn’t reach out to me at all this weekend. I assumed he knew I wasn’t interested and moved on.
But maybe I was wrong. I guess that’s what I get for assuming.
“Too busy for me, but not too busy for that asshole.” Liam gestures toward Beck, who sits up straighter, his expression turning fierce.
“Hey, what the hell, Thatcher?”
“You’ve been sniffing around her since you realized I had a thing for her,” Liam continues, his face contorted into an angry snarl. “Back off, Callahan. She’s mine.”
“I’m not a piece of property you can claim—” I start, but Liam swings all that anger onto me.
“Shut the hell up, Addie. I don’t need your input.”
Beck rises to his feet. All six-foot-four—or is it five?—of him. “Don’t talk to her like that.” His voice is deep and way too calm.
Like…scary calm.
I’m in shock over what Liam just said to me. As if my opinion doesn’t matter, when I’m just as involved in this situation as he is.
Like seriously, what the hell? No one has ever spoken to me like that before.
“Yeah? What are you going to do about it?” Liam goads, his gaze flicking to Beck’s feet before he scans the entire length of him. “You’re all bark and no bite. Slow as fuck too.”
Beck’s jaw hardens. He didn’t like the slow remark. Boys. “Watch what you’re saying, man. You might not be able to walk back from it when this conversation is over.”
Liam makes a dismissive noise. “Please. You don’t scare me. You never have. Rich asshole who thinks he’s above everyone else with your daddy coddling you every chance he gets. You’re just a so-so football player with an ‘aw-shucks’ attitude that everyone falls for. I’m the only one who sees through you. It’s a bunch of bullshit.”