He spun around and sloshed hot coffee on his hand. “Sonofa—”
I hopped up and grabbed a kitchen towel and helped him dry it off. “Sorry.”
“It’s my fault for being a dumbass; I zoned out.”
“Thinking about the game?”
He evaded my gaze. “Something like that. What did you ask?”
“How’s the season going? Do you think you’ll make it to the championship again?”
“Our chances are good. We’re solid, and after last game, Coach has the defense ready to push the other team into the parking lot once the ref blows the whistle.”
Berk came downstairs and walked me out the front door with his backpack slung over his shoulder. The rest of the guys flowed around us and into Berk’s car.
“If she steals anything…” LJ glared at Berk.
“She won’t. Will you, Alexis?”
Alexis stood with her arms crossed at the top of the steps. She rolled her eyes and inspected her nails. “No, I won’t.”
He turned back to me and cupped my shoulders with his hands, rubbing his thumbs in circles that made me feel like I was in my own romance movie—not the one where I was the plucky sidekick doling out advice, but the one where I got the guy. The insanely hot, adorable guy who looked at me like Berk did.
A horn blast broke the moment and Berk thumped the roof of his car.
“You’ll watch the game?”
“Every second.”
“Good. I’ll miss you.” He took my chin between his thumb and finger and laid a kiss on me. This was a gasping-for-breath, forget-your-name kind of kiss that only reminded me of his promise and exactly what we’d done two nights before. “And I’m counting down the days until I’m back here. Will you wear a skirt for me again?”
“I only have the one.”
“I don’t care if it’s made out of toilet paper. I want to see those legs.”
I laughed against his lips.
With one more planted kiss, he let me go and jogged around to the front of his car.
“Bye, Jules.”
“Bye, Jules,” LJ and Keyton chorused through their open windows.
Waving to the car as they pulled away, I crossed my arms over my chest. Now my bare legs felt a lot more naked without Berk there. Maybe Alexis and I could hang out.
I turned and the door slammed before I could even take a step in that direction, so I headed home.
Sitting at my desk, I grabbed some stationery I hadn’t touched in months. Careful not to pull the color I’d used with Berk, I wrote out a message to Alexis.
Dear Alexis,
I’m so glad we were finally able to meet. Sorry for waking you up this morning! I know how much I hate it when a random person just barges into the room where I’m sleeping with a box of coffee cake muffins and stares. That was my attempt at a joke, sorry again.
If you’re going to be around for a while, I’d love to meet up sometime. Or I could make you a cupcake version of the cake I made for your birthday. I was so happy to hear you liked it. I’ll stop now, but here’s my phone number if you ever want to hang out. I’d like to do something special for Berk this semester with all the craziness going on with football, so if you have any ideas, let me know!
Jules
Sealing it up, I darted back across the street, hoping she’d answer the door.
Alexis opened the door and immediately crossed her arms.
“I wanted to give this to you.” I held out the note to her and kept my smile as relaxed as I could.
She stared at it with an eyebrow raised. “Is it an invitation to your eighth birthday party or something? Who writes letters anymore?”
I swallowed, my throat tight like I was standing in front of a judge. I wanted Alexis to like me. She mattered to Berk and was obviously an important person in his life.
“There are a few things I wanted to say and I thought it would be easier this way.”
She plucked the envelope from my fingers and closed the door before I could say another word.
Well, that could’ve gone better.
27
Berk
The temperature had dropped so quickly, the rain felt like needles shooting straight through the face mask of my helmet. Our breath hung in clouds in front of our faces at the final line of scrimmage.
Austin shouted out the call and back went the snap. The play was over in seconds. We were already up by ten, but now it was officially over.
We raced down the tunnel, sweat, grass, and mud caked onto us.
“Who invited the freaking hurricane to the game?” Austin shook out his hair like a dog, splattering me.
“Keep that up and next game, I open a pocket for the defense to take your ass out.”
He held up his hands in surrender.
“How’s your arm?”
He rotated it and held onto his shoulder pad. “Feels good. Perfect. I could finally open up out there because someone gave me the breathing room I needed.”
Guilt still blindsided me that I’d never noticed how much Nix’s arm was killing him. It had been painful enough that he’d made the choice not to go pro. I’d seen him take a few hits and get drilled into the ground more than once, usually when I was hit by three guys gunning for me, but he always got up.
“Hell, yeah!” LJ rushed up and jumped on me, nearly knocking me to the ground, his uniform just as muddy and wet as everyone else’s.
“Nice touchdown.”
“At least I’ve got something coaches can look at for this season.” His grin barely fit on his face. “Marisa was probably freaking out at home.” He got a far off look in his eye.
“And then she’d bust your balls about not doing it sooner.”
LJ nodded. “True, she would. But that’s our thing.”
“We’ve noticed,” Keyton popped in to add that right along with me.
Everyone showered up after Coach’s post-game talk that was less fire-and-brimstone and more fiery poker.
In my room, I lay in bed staring up at the ceiling and thinking of only one thing. Jules. She’d worn a skirt. I wanted another taste of her. I wanted those soft and supple legs wrapped around my waist.
How running my hands along her skin made my heart race like I was going for the world record in the hundred-yard dash.
How she looked at me and saw so much of me I never let anyone else see.
How with my arms wrapped around her, I felt safe, and the closest I’d ever come to having a home.
She was the most beautiful thing in the world to me and it scared me more than losing the next game or not making the draft. Because I’d never had anything as beautiful as her in my life. And that made it so much harder. It would end; it always did. She’d see something in me that showed her I was a fucked-up kid who didn’t know how to do this adult thing, and she’d find a guy who did and said all the right things all the time and could give her exactly what she needed.
The engagement party had been fun, but I’d never felt completely comfortable, always worried I’d do something to embarrass her. It wasn’t something Jules liked now, but what about later, once she was over her college rebellious phase?
Would I be the odd man out without their private school upbringings and trust funds to fall back on? Where we’d come from was so different. She was first class and I was steerage all the way—hell, I was the guy shoveling coal into the furnace with barely a possession to my name. What would happen when she finally realized that?