Chapter 27
R en
Placing my fingers between my lips I whistled loudly and clapped as Myles scored.
He jogged back up the floor, giving me a wink.
Okay, I officially understood the fangirling thing that girlfriends did.
No matter how many times he did that, I blushed and smiled like I’d won the lottery.
It was insane, and I knew it, but I was slowly accepting the life of a teenager and not a caregiver.
I was never going to get over what happened, but I didn’t think my mum wanted me to lock myself away in my room and not experience a little bit of this time in my life.
Myles made me happy and I was embracing it. If I got hurt…well, I guess it was better to try than to live in fear forever. One of the opposing players bumped Myles, so I yelled at the refs. I still didn’t know if that was allowed, but I didn’t like it, even if it was.
“You’re certainly getting into the school spirit. What changed?”
I didn’t bother to glance up at Nash. I’d sensed him coming. More like I felt his eyes glaring into the side of my head as he got closer, but it was the same thing—an asshole alert.
I lifted my shoulder. “I just want to support Myles. Is that okay with you?”
“No, it’s not that. There’s something different about you,” Nash said, and this time, I looked at him.
“If you mean I’m not hiding in my room or the library, then yes, you would be correct.” I shouldn’t have looked at him. As soon as his eyes locked on mine, he ran his thumb over his bottom lip and smirked as I watched him do it. Shit. I quickly looked away.
“No, not that either. You’re all…glowy. Myles didn’t knock you up, did he? That would ruin your cute outfit.”
I crossed my arms and glared at Nash. “If you think you’re going to trick me into telling you about my private life with Myles, you can forget it.”
He smiled a little wider. “I can promise that what I’m packing is bigger.”
“And I can assure you that I don’t care.”
He chuckled, and I hated that the sound traveled along the nerve endings of my body. I forced myself not to shiver. “I bet I can change your mind if you give me two minutes,” he said.
“Only two?” I glanced up at him. “Honestly, I thought you’d last longer than that.”
Nash burst out laughing, and I looked at him like he’d sprouted a second head. I’d never heard him laugh like that unless he was torturing me, and it always held a condescending tone.
I held perfectly still as he leaned close to my ear. “I can last a lot longer than two minutes, but I guarantee that you won’t last that long. In fact, I’d bet on it.” The whispered challenge was there, but I wasn’t falling for it, no matter how much my body heated.
I also knew Nash wanted me to react, to move away, to feel intimidated or squirm under his scrutiny.
But I’d started to figure him out, and although I was positive he was lethal, he also wasn’t as evil as what he wanted everyone to think.
Turning my head, we stared at one another, our noses almost touching, and I gave him the sweetest smile I could.
“You’re right, I wouldn’t.” His lip twitched up. “I would’ve died of boredom at one minute.”
He snorted but smiled and stood up straight. “I like you, Princess. You don’t back down, but you better watch who you challenge. In a place like this, you never know where your enemies are lurking.”
Okay, that freaked me out. The sexual innuendos, snide comments, and teasing I could handle, but when Nash threw out veiled threats of monsters in corners, it scared me.
There was still so much I didn’t know about this place.
Blake was supposed to show me where the books about Wayward were stashed, but that had been put on hold for obvious reasons.
I’d lapped the library a dozen times and still couldn’t find them.
When he was feeling better and back at school, I needed to ask him to show me.
The buzzer sounded, and I cheered and smiled as Myles beelined straight for me.
“Ah,” I squealed when he picked me up, and I clung to him in all of his sweaty glory as he kissed me. “You’re so disgusting. Now I’m all sweaty,” I said as he broke the kiss.
“Not as sweaty as I plan on making ya tonight.” I could feel the eyes of those closest to us staring, and I cleared my throat. What was it with guys and their internal, inappropriate comments turning into word vomit out of their mouths?
“I hate to break up this make-me-want-to-throw-up moment, but I need you tonight, Myles,” Nash said, and Myles’s smile fell.
“Do I want to know?”
Nash shrugged. “Nothing that requires body bags, so that’s a win.”
I couldn’t tell if Nash was serious, and I didn’t want to ask.
“Give me fifteen. I need to shower,” Myles said, and Nash smirked at me before he walked away.
“He still buggin’ ya?”
“Ha, he’s incapable of not bugging me, but at this point, it would weird me out if he didn’t say something wildly out of line.”
Myles laughed and gave me another quick kiss before setting me on my feet. “See, that’s why I love ya, yer always a step ahead.” He jogged for the showers and left me with my mouth hanging open and my heart in my throat. “Wait for me,” he called out.
He couldn’t do that. He couldn’t drop an I love you in the middle of a sentence and then run off. Was it a real I love you or was it the I love you, buddy, or did he only mean it as a figure of speech? Great, I’d be analyzing that one line all night.
I sat down on the bleachers and spotted Vicky leaning against the wall.
She stared at me and then spoke to one of her cheerleading buddies I didn’t know before leaving as well.
She’d been quiet since the breakup and fight.
Getting out of the room once and for all was imperative, but of course, Dean Henry was away on business and wouldn’t be back until next Sunday, so I was stuck with the psycho for at least another week.
She might shave my head, shred all my uniforms, or plant something on me and call the cops.
I was constantly looking through everything and searching my person.
And forget about sleeping soundly. I’d never been paranoid, but you learned to be when you were shacked up with a snake, like Vicky, especially when she was as quiet as she had been for the last week—not a single word or shitty comment about my mum.
She’d been in and out of the shower at a reasonable time and didn’t invite her friends over.
It was complete radio silence, and I wasn’t sure what was worse.
It would be the same if Nash decided not to be an ass. I’d wonder what the hell he was up to.
“I hope yer not thinkin’ about me with that scowl?”
I jerked and looked up. “No, just me being me and thinking about everything and anything.”
I stood to greet Myles, who had zero boundaries when it came to PDA. His arms slipped around my waist, and he pulled me tight against his body. He’d started to wear me down because I expected it and would’ve thought something was wrong with us if he suddenly stopped. Was I being trained? Hmm.
“Anythin’ I can help with?”
“No. I just spotted Vicky. She looked at me, but no snotty comments or evil looks. She just left.”
“Yeah, that doesn’t sound like the Queen B at all. Are ya sure yer going to be okay going back to yer room?”
I had zero clue, but I couldn’t stay with Myles anymore. Not only was Blake supposed to be back today, but going from dating for a month to living together was insane for any couple. Blake being in the room was, well…hello, awkward.
“She doesn’t scare me, and the time apart has made me less murderous.” Myles kissed the side of my neck.
“But I love you all murderous,” he whispered into my ear.
I shivered. There it was again, those three little words.
I was overthinking it before. He was definitely using it as a figure of speech.
My heart sank a little, but like moving in with one another, saying ‘I love you’ was too soon.
Everything about him just made me want to jump in the deep end, and I chalked it up to hormones.
Taking my hand, he lifted his bag over his shoulder, and we walked to the door. It had cleared out pretty quickly, and our shoes echoed along the floor. Unsurprisingly, the scent of chlorine was strong and overpowering everything else. It really did match the asshole standing by the exit.
“Your biggest fan is back,” I whispered when I spotted the younger girl from the last game.
“I see that. I should say somethin’,” Myles said, as she openly gawked at him.
“You don’t need to do that.”
But Myles was already pulling us toward her small group.
Her eyes went wide when she saw us coming, and her friends scattered, leaving her alone and frozen in place.
“Alex, right?” She nodded, and I knew exactly how she felt.
I stared at him like that a lot, but I just made sure he didn’t see me daydreaming about him.
Myles didn’t need his ego stroked. He dropped his bag down and dug around inside until he pulled out what looked like a postcard with the entire lacrosse team on the front.
He scribbled To Alex from M. McCoy #17 on the back and handed it over.
She took it from his hand like she was handling the Mona Lisa.
“Alex, this is my girlfriend, Ren,” he said, and I smiled at her. She blinked and looked at me like I’d just sprouted out of the ground. “Ren said that she saw yer group of friends cheering the team on and doing a great job. Keep up the great work. The team appreciates it.”
Myles picked up his bag and wrapped his arm around my shoulders. “See ya, Alex.”
“That was very sweet of you,” I whispered.
“Hopefully, she got the subtle hint that there is only one girl I want,” he said softly back.
“I’m not really into crushing hearts, believe it or not.
” As soon as I looked up at him, he blushed.
“Okay, none that young. That’s just mean.
” I shook my head. He was ridiculous, but he had me falling down a rabbit hole after him.
Nash was leaning against the wall, staring at us, his gaze flat and unemotional, and yet I could sense the judgment—like he didn’t want us together. He didn’t say it, but there was an undercurrent to the looks.
“What the hell was that about,” Nash asked when we reached him.
Myles shrugged. “Just a fan of the team. You’d have fans, too, if ya weren’t such a prick,” Myles teased, and Nash rolled his eyes as he pushed away from the wall.
“I don’t want fans that young. I prefer to give my fans a tour of the locker room and what’s under my towel,” Nash said and pointedly looked at me. My body burned hot with the memory, but I managed to keep any reaction off my face.
“Shocked,” I drawled, and his lip turned up.
“Sorry about tonight,” Myles said as we walked outside.
“Don’t worry about it. I have a date,” I said, and Myles stopped moving so fast I jerked to a stop. He growled like a freaking animal, eyes dark with rage.
“Who am I killin’?”
He looked like he was serious…nope, I was pretty damn sure he was serious.
“Relax, I don’t mean that kind of date. Not with a guy.” His body relaxed, and the anger lifted. Wow, that was intense. Note to self: don’t tease him about dating other people. I guess Lizzy was partially right. Instead of leaving me, he would just kill Blake. Not good.
“My best friend Lizzy and I are going to do a video call tonight. We call it our date. She’s the one that requested the pictures of you and me in the car together.”
“Oh.” He ran his hand through his damp hair. “Aye, I remember her.”
“Can we hurry this up already,” Nash yelled halfway to the parking lot.
“I better go, but I’ll text ya when I get back. Feels weird that ya won’t be in my room and that I don’t get to hold ya tonight,” Myles said. His lip pushed out a little in a pout, and I laughed.
“We are two hallways away. I think you’ll survive.”
“I may not, and then how would you feel?”
My face fell, and his smile disappeared. “Oh my god, I’m such an arse. I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay, just…let’s agree that I won’t tease you about dates, and you don’t tease me about dying. Okay?”
Cupping my face, he kissed me softly, and I melted into him. “Deal. See ya later, Snowflake.”
“See ya.” I watched him sprint for Nash’s car—that he was revving annoyingly—and then waved as they pulled out.
Smiling, I walked to the main doors. Dinner and Lizzy. Agenda set.