I didn’t have a lot of time today because I had a fight tonight, but I felt like coming out and sitting by the lake for a bit. Jax and Shaw were at basketball practice, and they had no idea I spent so much time with the girl outside of school. It didn’t mean anything. We were both going through some shit with her trying to figure out where to go to school without pissing off her mom, and me trying to make sure I made the right decision about which school to sign with. The offers were coming in and I had a few impressive schools that I hadn’t expected to recruit me. The whole experience was humbling.
“Hey. What’s up?” I said as I walked down to the water and watched Adelaide trying to skip a rock for the millionth time. I couldn’t take it any longer. The girl had clearly never been taught how to skip a rock properly.
“I’m practicing my rock throwing skills,” she said.
I came up behind her and reached for her hand. I’ll be damned if my dick didn’t jump to attention at the mere contact. I’d never cared much for oranges and cinnamon, but now it was the scent that I craved. This was why I didn’t do attachments. The last thing I needed was to be craving anything about Adelaide Edington. I wrapped my large hand around her small one, forcing her to grip the rock between her fingers.
“You don’t fucking chuck it. It’s not a baseball.” I pulled her arm back, and her head settled against my chest. “Slowly and with purpose, let it go with enough finesse to skim along the top of the water.”
She let me move her hand forward before she released it and it was far from my best work, but it was a hell of a lot better than anything she’d done to date. It bounced a few times before sinking out in the distance. We stood there watching it before I realized her hand was still in mine and I jerked it away and moved to sit on the large rock beside her.
“Wow. That wasn’t bad, right?” she asked, clearing her throat.
“It wasn’t terrible.”
She laughed. “I didn’t think you’d come out today. I thought you had a fight?”
Was she keeping tabs on me now? I guess when you hung out with someone every day, this is what happened. It wasn’t my thing normally, but for whatever reason, I didn’t mind telling her what I was doing.
“I had some time to kill. I got a verbal offer from UCLA today, so I met with Coach Stephens after school to talk about it.”
“Wow, Jett, that’s amazing. What do you think you’ll do?”
I shook my head. “My gut still tells me to go with Coach Devo at TU. I verbally committed, and my word means something, at least to me it does. And I wouldn’t be able to afford to fly home to see my mom and Gram if I were in Los Angeles. If I’m in Austin, I can hop on my bike and come home whenever they need me. And they can come see my games if I’m close too.” I knew that was important to my mom.
“I think you have your answer. But it’s got to feel good to know that you have options.” She pressed her hip up against mine as there wasn’t enough room for two people here. Didn’t stop her from crowding my space though.
“How about you? How’s that essay coming?”
“Well, Alec has texted me forty-two times today, and he made a scene when I left school because I didn’t want to talk to him. That was a fairly negative experience.” She laughed hard. “But I think the admissions committee might be looking for something deeper?”
I rolled my eyes. “What the hell is that dude’s deal?”
That dickhead, Taulson, had no problem cheating on her, but now that they were broken up, he suddenly couldn’t live without her.
“I don’t know. He wants everyone to feel bad for him, but according to Ty, he and Karina are still hooking up, so I have no idea why he’s hell-bent on getting back together? I don’t know why he doesn’t just date Karina? I’m actually disgusted that I dated him for so long. I don’t think I ever really knew him. And there’s this weird awkwardness with Mama T. Almost like she blames me for our breakup.”
What were we, girlfriends now? Why was she telling me all this stuff?
This was a shit ton more information than I normally wanted—but I liked Adelaide, and I didn’t even mind hearing about this stupid shit. Although it aggravated the hell out of me how Taulson’s mom treated her. Hell, I hated the way her own mother treated her.
“She’s an asshole, just like her kid, if you ask me. He fucks around on you, and she blames you for ending it. That’s why that kid thinks he can do whatever he wants and not be held responsible. I’m so happy Clementine put her in her place a few weeks back.”
She laughed all over again at the memory. She’d barely been able to get the words out at the time because she couldn’t stop laughing.
“The girl gets ninth place in the Texas state cross-country meet as a freshman and comes home to find our mom and Mama T talking about me and Alec. They never even asked Clem how she did. So, yeah, she gave it to them. She reminded Mama T that Alec was the one who went poking around with Karina James. No pun intended, she’d said. I thought Mama would faint at her words.”
“Maybe next time you should stand up to her too. Don’t let her intimidate you.” I pushed to my feet because I needed some fucking space from the girl. She was all-consuming in the most unexpected way. And oddly, I only wanted more, which scared the shit out of me.
“I might have to take a tip from the Clementine Edington handbook.” She chuckled. “So, you’ve got the fight tonight. Are you nervous?”
“Nah. I’ll go out and do what I need to do.” I kicked at the dirt beneath my feet.
“And Kylie’s coming in town this weekend, right? Are you excited to see her?” she asked, and her gaze locked with mine.
Fuck. I wasn’t much for lying. She’d inquired about Jessica, my homecoming date, and I’d told her we were just friends. And then she’d asked about Kylie because apparently Adelaide Edington had done her research and knew a bit about the college girl I’d had a brief fling with this past summer. I’d let her believe there was something more between Kylie and me than there actually was. Hell, it wasn’t a complete lie. Kylie wanted more. I didn’t. We had good sexual chemistry, and I didn’t mind hooking up with her when she was in town. But she’d been calling and texting a lot more than normal, and I’d cut ties when she left for school a few months ago. I wasn’t looking for anything deep. She asked if we could meet this weekend when she was home to talk about why I’d ghosted her. I’d let Adelaide believe there was something more there for reasons I couldn’t even begin to explain. Adelaide and I were friends. I didn’t need a goddamn safety net from this girl. But for whatever reason, I needed to make sure this friendship never crossed the line. I’d never hung out with a chick this much before, and it made me—uncomfortable.