“Come on, Jase,” he let out a heavy sigh, “you had to know it wouldn’t end well. You really hurt—”
“Yeah, yeah, save me the speech. I already heard it.” We moved over to the chest press and started adding weights.
“So what happens now?”
“Nothing happens. It’s done, we’re done. Felicity knew what she was getting into.”
“But—”
“There are no fucking buts,” I ground out, irritation swimming in my veins. “It’s done. Over. Did you know she applied to Penn?” My brow rose.
“Hailee mentioned it, but I didn’t, no. You think she did it because she knew you were going there?”
“I don’t know what the fuck to think, but she can’t go there.”
“Jase, you can’t tell someone where they can or can’t go to college, man. It’s her future and Hailee said something about her parents being alumni.”
“I don’t care if her parents are best friends with the Dean, she can’t go there.” I can’t have her there, everywhere I turn.
When I met Cam’s eyes again, he was scrutinizing me. “What?” I barked.
“What’s really going on with you?”
“Save the Dr Phil routine, I had enough of that from Asher.”
“You called?” he appeared out of nowhere.
“Great, now I have to listen to the two of you bitch.”
“Nope.” Ash held up his hands as I got situated on the bench. “No bitchin’ here. The way I see it, now you’ve cast Fee aside, she’s fair gam—”
“Don’t even fucking think about it.” My chest rumbled.
“About what?” He played dumb.
“Ash, don’t push him.”
“Push him? How could I possibly be pushing him when he chewed her up and spit her out like she’s nothing?” His smile was easy, but his tone was cool.
Yeah, Asher was pissed and I couldn’t blame him.
“You want my sloppy seconds, Bennet?” I swallowed the guilt crawling up my throat, and doing what I did best, I dialed up my asshole meter. “She’s all yours.”
“You’re a heartless fucker, you know that, Ford?” he said before storming off.
Cam shook his head, rubbing the back of his neck. “Was that really necessary?”
“He’s wanted her since day one.”
“And you’d be okay with him being with her? Because you know he’ll probably go after her just to prove a point.”
Shrugging, I pushed the press harder, grunting with exertion. “Like he said, she’s fair game.” The words snaked around my heart.
“I don’t believe you,” Cam said. “You’re a cruel motherfucker but you care about her.”
“Yeah, well I don’t care enough.”
I half-expected Cam to take a page out of Asher’s book and storm off, but he didn’t. Cameron was loyal to the bone. It’s why it had taken him so long to go after what he really wanted: Hailee. Still, he wasn’t impressed with my attitude and for the next ten minutes, we worked in painful silence. All while he studied me, trying to see past my icy exterior. But if anyone was an expert on keeping their emotions locked down, it was me. I’d had years of practice and I wasn’t about to open up now.
I had more important things to think about.
By the time lunch rolled around, all I wanted was to eat my turkey sub in peace. But even that was too fucking much to ask.
“You know, if you want to go over there, I’m sure they wouldn’t—”
My head snapped up to Grady and I levelled with him a hard look. “Jeez,” he breathed out. “Someone has a giant stick up their ass. I’m just saying—”
“Well, don’t.”
As if they heard our argument, Asher and Felicity both looked over at us. Ash held my stare, a silent ‘fuck you’ glittering in his eyes. I let my eyes run right over him to her. The blood drained from Felicity’s face as she tried to remain unaffected, but I saw the tell-tale signs. Wide eyes, the way her breath hitched, and I knew if I was close enough, if I ran my fingers up her neck, her skin would be warm.
Felicity wasn’t the only one affected though. My heart was racing like I’d just done an hour of cardio. It beat so hard I felt it in my skull. Curling my hands into fists, I pressed them into my jeans, urging myself to calm the fuck down. She saw it though. She saw it and instead of letting it go, she decided to bait me. Sliding closer to Asher, Felicity leaned into him, laughing at something he said.
“Easy, bro,” Grady said under his breath. “Before you break something.” He got all up in my face, blocking my view of Asher and Felicity. “It’s not worth it,” his voice was low.
“Yeah, I’m cool.” I sat back, forcing my hands to uncurl.
“Eyes on the prize, remember?” Grady moved back, squeezing my shoulder. “You need to get laid, work off some of that tension, Cap.”
“Did someone say my name?” Jenna appeared, a seductive smile on her face. “Hey, baby.” She made a show of wiggling onto my lap, draping her arm around my neck like she belonged there.
Like I belonged to her.
“S’up?”
“You, if I have anything to say about it.” Dipping her hand between us, she grasped my junk.
Grady bellowed with laughter, high-fiving a couple of the players. “Yo, Jenna, where’s the rest of you?”
“The girls will be here soon enough.” She shot him a suggestive wink.
“Mr. Ford, Miss Jarvis,” Principal Finnigan appeared out of nowhere, clearing his throat. “Please keep it clean. This a school cafeteria, not a strip club.” His narrowed gaze fixed right on me, his disdain for everything I represented etched into every line of his face, and there were plenty. “All set for Friday?”
I gave him an imperceptible nod.
“Well, I look forward to it.” He stalked off to his next unsuspecting victim.
“Dude needs to get laid,” someone said, causing our table to break out in laughter.
“He really doesn’t like you, does he?” Mackey asked.
I shrugged. He didn’t like me, but it didn’t matter. Soon the season would be over and then he couldn’t touch me.
Grady threw me a look, but I shook it off. I wasn’t about to do anything stupid, anything to jeopardize the team’s shot at the Championship. But after that, Thatcher was mine. All I had to do was keep my cool and refuse to be drawn any further into his games.
Jenna swept her hair off her shoulder and dipped her mouth to my ear. “I want you, let’s sneak off to the locker room.”
It would have been so easy to say yes.
So easy to let her drop to her knees and help me forget all the bullshit.
“Jason, what do you say? Shall we get out of here?” She nipped my ear, but I was too busy watching Felicity.
Watching her watch me.
“Maybe later, yeah?” I gave Jenna an easy smile, sliding my eyes back to Felicity.
But she was gone.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Felicity