Still, the entire squad had been on fire, showcasing yet again that we were a team to contend with this season. After our bowl win last year, we had a lot of eyes on us — and now, we were two and zero, and had just defeated a team we barely scraped out a win against last year by more than twenty points.
“Um, excuse me,” Riley said, jogging up beside me after a post-game interview on the field. Her hair was soaked, dripping down over her shoulders and in her eyes as she hung her hands on her hips and glared up at me. “Do my three successful field goals not deserve a shoulder ride into the locker room?”
I grinned, reaching for her slight hips and easily helping her climb up. She saddled my shoulders, hands gripping mine as I stood before she lifted them in the air and started chanting one of our team cheers. Player after player filed in around her, joining in, and I ran her through the crowd for high-fives on our way toward the tunnel.
She laughed and squealed with every sliding step I took until I carefully placed her back on the ground once we were inside the stadium. As soon as I did, Zeke swept her up in a hug from behind.
“Nice pick out there, Johnson,” he said, and I clapped his hand when he held it up for mine.
“Next time it’ll be a touchdown. Mark my words,” I promised.
“I have no doubts.” He paused, giving Riley a look that apparently told her to get lost, because she made some excuse about needing to talk to Coach before she disappeared down the hall.
Zeke turned back to me.
“So,” he said. “How are things going with Giana?”
I smirked. “Nosy much?”
“Like you weren’t the same with me and Riley last year,” he shot back, deadpan.
“That was different. Giana and I are great. And not denying our feelings for each other like you two were.”
Something in my stomach rolled when I said those words, but I ignored it, throwing my arm around Zeke’s shoulders.
“Why are you so concerned?”
He sighed. “I don’t know, man. Giana is a nice girl. I… don’t take this the wrong way… I wanted to make sure she wasn’t just some sort of rebound.”
I cracked my neck, removing my arm from around him as Holden’s warning came back to memory. “Why is everyone assuming that’s what she is?”
“Because you were devastated over Maliyah breaking up with you like, a month ago, and now you’re making out with Giana every chance you get.”
“She’s hot. And fun to make out with. And my girlfriend,” I said. “I’m confused as to why this is such an issue for everyone to accept.”
“You’re right,” Zeke said, holding up his hands in surrender. “I’m sorry, man. I shouldn’t have assumed. I’m glad to see you doing so well, honestly. I was worried there at the start of the season.”
“You weren’t the only one,” I confessed, and as we rounded the corner toward the locker room, we were met by a dozen giggling cheerleaders.
Maliyah included.
She was soaked head to toe, every inch of her uniform sticking to her lean body. Water was still gliding down her arms, her abdomen, her legs, more and more of it being released from her hair and adding to the stream.
Her laugh stuttered when she saw me, and her eyes flicked from me to Zeke and back again while all the cheerleaders watched her.
Watched us.
“Hey,” she finally said.
I swallowed. “Hey.”
One of the cheerleaders looped arms with two others and pulled them forward, the rest of the girls following and leaving us alone. Zeke gave me a look, a tilt of his chin his only farewell before he ducked inside the locker room.
Then it was just the two of us.
“That was a great game out there,” Maliyah said, and something of a smile bloomed on her lips with the words. “You’re even faster than I remember. They don’t stand a chance of being open when you’re out there.”
I sniffed. “Thanks.”
It wasn’t what I expected, standing there with her, finally alone for the first time since school started. I’d dreamed about having this moment for so long, what I would say, what I would do… but none of it felt like I thought it would.
Part of me longed to hold her, to reach out and pull her into me, to demand answers and ask why she was doing this.
But there was another part of me, louder than it had ever been, that was just… annoyed.
“Daddy was watching, too,” she said. “He wanted me to tell you how proud he is of you.”
That burned me more than I cared to admit.
Cory was the closest thing I’d had to a father figure since my dad left. They’d been close friends when I was younger, and I didn’t know if it was because of that or because of Maliyah that he’d taken particular interest in my life. He helped me when school got tough and Mom didn’t know what to do, or when I needed to shake off the mental pressure of football. He was a lawyer, calculated — but smart as hell.
His pride was something I wanted, even when I hated to admit it.
“I appreciate that,” I said with a little less bite.
Maliyah folded her arms over her chest, eyes a bit sad as she asked, “How are you?”
“How do you think I am, Li?”
My chest ached with the nickname, and I wondered if it did the same for her because she looked down at her shoes, rubbing her arms with her hands like she was cold.
“You seem to be doing fine,” she said to the floor, then dragged her eyes back up to meet mine. “With Giana.”
Fire sparked in my lungs with the mention of her name, both because of what I’d promised her I’d do, and because I knew just by that assessment alone that Maliyah had noticed us.
And that our little game was working.
“And you with Kyle,” I shot back.
“Kyle means nothing to me.”
She waited, like she expected me to say the same about Giana, but I knew Maliyah well enough to know that if I gave in too quickly, she’d lose interest just like she had before. I’d loved her for years, and one thing I knew better than anyone was that she loved a challenge.
And she loved to win even more.
When I didn’t respond, Maliyah sighed, looking around to make sure we were alone before she uncrossed her arms and stepped into me. Her warmth invaded my space, and she reached out, just the tip of her fingertip trailing my forearm.
“I see the way you still watch me when you’re with her,” she said, smiling as my skin pebbled under her touch. “What exactly is it you’re doing, Clay?”
Her eyes slowly slid up to mine, and she smiled coyly, leaning even more into me until her chest was flush with mine.
And again, I felt myself at war.
The urge to crush her to me and claim her mouth with my own battled with the powerful desire to give her a taste of her own medicine.
And something else… something foreign that I couldn’t quite name.
“I’m doing exactly what you wanted me to,” I said, angling my mouth for her ear.
She tilted her neck back, hand wrapping around my arm and squeezing tight as her lids fluttered close.
“I’m moving on.”
I whispered the words against her neck before abruptly pulling back and peeling her hand off me. I pushed past her and into the locker room, not bothering to turn and revel in seeing her jaw on the floor.