“Nothing much. Just some teammate drama.” I tried to lighten the mood, but it had already soured somehow. There was a dynamic going on that I knew nothing about and wasn’t my business.
Thankfully, the band started up again and I excused myself from the table as I went live on social media and started videoing their performance. The number of viewers steadily increased and I caught a few of the excited comments scrolling across my screen as I moved around the stage, filming the guys and their instruments.
After the song ended and they started into another, I ended the live stream, but continued to take short video clips and tons of pictures. I wanted to make sure I had enough material to last a month, if necessary.
Once I was done, I walked back toward the table, surprised to find Logan still there with Lauren. “They’re so good.” I shouted through my excitement.
“I know!” Lauren yelled back.
I reached for her arm and tugged her closer. “I’m ready to go. I have a lot of work to do for the band, and I really want to get started. I’m too excited to wait. You coming or staying?”
I knew Lauren wasn’t quite ready, and I honestly felt bad for asking her to go, but all I wanted to do was leave this place and get to work with the footage I’d taken.
“I can leave. He’ll call me later,” she said, motioning toward Jason on the stage as he rocked out, his eyes on us.
We both gave him a good-bye wave, and he smiled, letting us know he saw us without ever missing a beat.
“Can I walk you out?” Logan asked and I nodded.
Heading outside, the three of us walked through the small parking lot as I pulled the key from the front pocket of my jeans and pressed the button. The headlights turned on at the same time the doors unlocked with a loud beep that echoed.
“Is it too forward if I ask for your number?” Logan said as he stopped in front of the driver’s door with me.
“What are your intentions?” Lauren asked from the other side of the car.
“Uh”—he let out an uncomfortable laugh—“I plan on asking her out on a date.”
I shifted my weight and kicked at nothing.
“Eventually,” he added carefully.
“A … a date?” I squeaked out.
“Don’t sound so excited.”
“No, it’s not that.” I laughed awkwardly, knowing how bad that must have come off.
“I’ll let you two talk this out,” Lauren said before slipping into the car and shutting us out.
A date. And not just with a guy from class, but with someone who was also on Cole’s team. Wasn’t this against bro code or something?
I wondered how it would make me look—to date more than one person on the same sports team at the same school. Would people call me names or label me a baseball groupie? Cole had told me all about those kinds of girls before, and I had never once considered myself one of them. But was I? Would I become one if I said yes to a date with Logan?
“If you’re worried about Cole, I already asked him,” he said.
My heart stopped beating and fell to the ground at my feet. A second ago, I had been more worried about my reputation, but now, all I was thinking about was Cole’s reaction and just when the hell Logan had had the time and forethought to ask him.
“You did?” I questioned. “You asked him about me? When?”
“After the party. It was during practice one day. I asked him if he would care if I got to know you better.” Logan sounded sincere and nonchalant as my entire world was once again tilting around like an amusement park ride.
“What did he say?”
“He gave me his blessing. Told me to go for it. Said he didn’t care what either one of us did, to be honest.”
I had been right earlier in my assessment; Logan and Cole hated each other.
Whatever emotion I had been feeling instantly turned to anger.
He didn’t care?
“So, what do you say, Christina?” Logan asked. “Can I get your number?”
“Say yes, Christina,” Lauren shouted from inside the car where she could clearly still hear us even though I’d thought she couldn’t, and it made me laugh.
“Fine. Yes,” I said before taking his phone and putting my phone number in it.
Screw Cole Anders.
Screw him right to hell.
Where Is She?
Cole
My phone pinged four times in a row, and I almost shut it off instead of looking at it. That shit annoyed me—the bombarding of messages like rapid fire. Why couldn’t people just say it all in one text?
MAC: Your girl is here.
MAC: With Logan.
MAC: They look chummy.
MAC: Get the fuck over here.
Jesus. Christina was where? And with Logan? I fired off a text response to Mac, asking for all the details, and waited twenty seconds too long for his response. I almost tore my room to pieces in those twenty seconds. I hated the idea of her being with him. Logan had warned me, but a part of me hadn’t thought he’d be that stupid. He must be getting desperate if he actually crossed the line into my territory.
I told Mac I was on my way. Tossing on a tight Under Armour shirt over my low-slung black sweats, I hopped into my old, beat-up 4Runner and drove toward The Bar. The last thing I cared about was what I looked like or what I was wearing. All I wanted to do was get there and get there quick.
I had no fucking idea what the hell I was going to do or say once I did. But it didn’t matter. Logic didn’t matter. I was running on fumes and desperation. You could probably smell them both on my skin. Slamming the car door after I parked, I practically sprinted inside, the security guard not even asking to see my ID—he knew who I was. Looking around like crazy, I didn’t see Christina. Or Logan. But Mac came up to me, as if appearing out of thin air.
“You just missed them.”
“They left? Together?” I ground out, my jaw flexing, my hands balling into fists.
“They did. He went outside with her and he didn’t come back.”
“Do you think he left with her?”
“I don’t know.” Mac gave me a slow shrug.
“How’d you get in?” I asked as I remembered that Mac wasn’t twenty-one.
“I have a fake. And I wanted to see the band that was playing. They’re so good.”
I looked around at the guys gathering up their equipment from the small stage. I knew who they all were, and Mac was right; they were awesome.
“Did they come together? Her and him? Were they on a date?” My mind started racing, my anger soaring, my jealousy fucking raging like a wild beast. I had no right to be jealous. I had no right to be or do anything, yet here I was, in my fucking sweatpants, running here in the middle of the night because I would do anything to stop her from being with him.
I tried to convince myself that I’d be okay if it was with anyone but him, but that was a lie. I’d never be okay, seeing Christina with anyone who wasn’t me. So, why couldn’t I man the fuck up and tell her that? Why did I refuse to cross that line and risk losing her forever?
“Cole.” Jason, the drummer of the band, walked up to me, his hand extended.
“Hey, man. How was it?”
“It was packed. Great show. Sorry you missed it, but to be honest, I don’t even know how half these people knew we’d be here tonight,” he said with a lopsided grin as he pulled his sweat-filled hair back and slapped on a ball cap.