“Shut up.” I laughed. “And Alex is a striker, near the front?”
She nodded again, humoring me. “Yep, Alex and Nolan are strikers, and they usually score the most and showboat the most. Rafe is a center forward.”
“Center forward,” I said, running the position around in my head. “I’m guessing that’s offense?”
“Oh yeah,” Mattie said. “It’s why Rafe’s footwork is so spectacular. He’s actually famous for running the ball the entire length of the field, through all the players, and scoring. His speed and skill are second to none.”
I already knew that from their practices, but once the game started, I realized that Rafe had been going easy in practice, no doubt because he was playing his own team and they were only mucking around.
“Oh my god,” I said, watching Rafe run through the opposing team. He was smooth, graceful, drop dead sexy, and—
Stop it, Violet!
Biting the inside of my cheek, I forced my gaze away from Rafe’s strong legs and tight ass and back to where it should have been all along. On my boyfriend.
Alex was running down the field along with other players, and the look on his face was pure determination. Mattie had told me when I’d first arrived that Alex and Rafe competed for everything, even though they’re on the same team. Maybe that’s why Rafe was such an insufferable prick to me? Because Alex had won? But that would imply that Rafe had been interested in me like that, and considering he was both betrothed and pretty much the most insulting fuck I’d met, that seemed unlikely.
There was really no good excuse for his actions.
“Tsinghua is good,” Mattie commented, her sharp gaze following the opposing team as they gained control of the ball. “I think we’ll still win this, though. The guys are already playing so much better than I heard they did against Oxford.”
I cringed at the reminder. The game against Oxford. The one I’d missed because Brandon had beaten the snot out of me, and the one the guys had played like shit in because their minds had been on me and my injuries. Or at least, that had been Alex’s reasoning.
For the next while, we watched as the ball got passed back and forth around the field. I cheered when Mattie cheered, and made a huge point of screaming for number fifteen—along with countless other female voices. When halftime rolled around, the Arbon Royals were in the lead, one-nil. Their coaches called them over into a huddle, but my heart soared when Alex looked up into the stands, his gaze searching. When he found me, his smile was blinding, and he pressed his fingers to his lips in a kiss.
“Holy shit,” Mattie muttered while I silently swooned. “He’s laying it on thick today. Pretty sure every girl in this stadium is searching for who he just blew a kiss to.” She smirked, giving me a sly look while the boys turned their attention to their coaches. “I guess he’s just being… great.”
“Oh my god,” I growled at her, “shut up about that. He still made me come every time; it wasn’t dud sex.”
My best friend cackled with laughter. “Never said it was a dud, girl. It was great.”
“You’re the fucking worst,” I grumbled, folding my arms over my chest and sinking into my seat. “I’m never telling you about my sex life again.”
This only made her laugh harder as she prodded me in the ribs. “Yes, you will. You love me teasing you.”
I rolled my eyes but couldn’t disagree. I’d never had a friend like Mattie before, and I was pretty sure if push came to shove, I’d happily pick her over any boys. No matter how great the sex.
“Shut up and watch the game.” I scowled at her. “Actually, I might run and grab us snacks before the second half starts. You want nachos?” I’d seen someone walk past with a plate of seriously gourmet nachos earlier, and my stomach had been rumbling ever since.
“Yup, you know it,” she replied with a huge grin. “Need me to come with?”
I shook my head. “Nah, stay here and save our seats. I don’t want to end up with a shitty view.”
Mattie gave me a small salute, and I made my way out of the row we’d been sitting in, aiming for the concession stand below us. Food and drinks at these games were complementary, probably because students paid such an exorbitant price to attend. But it made things easier on me that I wasn’t scrounging for cash to buy nachos and a soda.
Once I was loaded up with a tray of food and drinks, I started carefully weaving my way back through the crowd to return to my seat.
A sharp shove in the center of my back sent me stumbling, and if it weren’t for my superior reflexes, my whole tray would have ended up on the ground or, worse, all over the people in front of me. As it was, though, I managed to catch it again before more than a couple of drops spilled from Mattie’s soda.
“Watch where you’re going, pauper,” a girl sneered at me, and I turned slowly to confront her.
She was pretty in that rich girl kind of way. The way that required a shit ton of money to maintain her appearance. But otherwise I didn’t recognize her.
“Excuse me?” I replied, arching a brow. “What the hell is your problem?” Because it was pretty damn clear she’d been the one to shove me. Her gaze flicked to my tray, and her nose wrinkled in an unattractive way, like she was pissed I hadn’t dropped it.
“You’re my problem, gutter baby.” Her sneer was really unattractive, and I retracted my thought of her being pretty. “You have no right to be here. No right to be running around with the royals like you belong. You don’t.”
Both my brows hitched now, and I figured it was probably a safe assumption this girl was friends with Claudette.
“Actually, as the Arbon Academy ballot winner I have every right to be here. So I’ll repeat myself, what the hell is your problem?” I was being sarcastic because it was pretty clear what her problem was. She was an elitist and thought that the ballot was watering down the royal and aristocratic gene pool. It was a common view shared among upper aristocrats but, interestingly enough, rarely by the royals themselves. The fact that every prior ballot winner has gone on to marry into the royal families proved that. I wasn’t sure if any had ever married a crown prince though--they usually stuck to their own. The very reason I’d been wary of Alex initially.
The girl sneered again. “You think you’re so fucking special because you’re spreading your whore legs for Alex, but just wait until you end up like Jasmine, broken to pieces at the bottom of his staircase because he couldn’t control his jealous rage.” She smirked and leaned in closer like she was telling me a secret. “You know she was pregnant when she died?” Her face was so smug I couldn’t help myself; I tipped my tray just enough that Mattie’s drink over-balanced and dark brown soda poured all over her skimpy black-and-gray miniskirt. Oops.
The girl howled with rage, but I was already moving past her. If I engaged any longer, I was likely to strangle the bitch.
When I made it back to Mattie, my hands were still shaking and my jaw hurt from how tight I was clenching my teeth. Jasmine had been pregnant? Alex had not mentioned that in his version of events.
Could it be true?
And what the fuck had that chick meant about Alex’s jealous rage? I’d never seen that side of him…