Chapter 8 Cass
***Cass***
“Yo, dude. You need to come to practice with us. You could teach us some shit.” Casey, a guy I’d met on the field after running over him, grinned at me with a wide-eyed wonder that I’d gotten used to.
I’d grown up playing football under Coach Carrington’s tutelage, USC’s head coach.
He hadn’t taken me seriously out of his back yard but he’d treated me as an equal when I was playing with his son and friends.
I was used to guys being impressed by ‘a girl’ playing so well.
They didn’t know that I was funneling every ounce of the anger and disappointment I felt in my life into every hit.
I was basically shooting up emotional steroids before stepping onto the field.
I needed to play hard to be able to sleep at the end of the day.
I held back a cringe at being put in solid dude territory so early on. “Talk to my manager.”
“Where’d you learn to play like that? You shouldn’t be able to hit so fucking hard, man.” Another guy, whose name I hadn’t caught, shook his head and held out his hand to fistbump me. “I was expecting to feel a little nudge but you knocked me on my ass.”
Before I could answer the group of guys around me parted to let Weston, Cash, and Hayes through. I flushed hot under the bulky pads I was wearing and had to fight the urge to touch my hair. It didn’t matter if it was messy. I had no business trying to impress the Ford brothers.
Weston cleared the field around me with a mean looking snarl. Then he was right there, in my personal space, big hand gripping the back of my sweaty neck. “Two things. Why’d you run? And how the fuck are you so skilled on the field? You were amazing.”
I might’ve swooned under the praise if I wasn’t so aware of everyone still hanging out on the field watching us.
As it was, I was struggling to meet his eyes.
He was in his cowboy hat and he smelled like warm leather and expensive bourbon, aka he was overwhelmingly attractive.
I still wasn’t used to reacting to anyone but Cole so it was a shock to my system.
I’d been working overtime to convince myself that I was remembering it more intensely than it was but I couldn’t lie when Weston was in front of me and the attraction was burning through me.
“Um…” I wanted to slap myself. I wasn’t that girl. I didn’t lose myself over men. Especially after everything with Cole. I cleared my throat and tried again. “I am skilled, aren’t I? Thank you for noticing.”
Cash wasn’t shy about touching me as he slid into place behind me and gripped my hips. Even through the thick pads I could feel his body heat seeping into mine. “Let’s try this again, Cassidy. Go out with me.”
Weston’s lips lifted in a scowl. “No. Go out with me.”
It was pathetic but I looked over at Hayes, greedy for more of their attention. He was watching me with a smile twisting one side of his mouth and his blue eyes crinkled at the corners. I felt like he could see straight through me when he looked at me like that.
“Oh, I want to take you out, too, Strawberry. I’m just waiting on my brothers to roll their tongues back up and get out of my way.” He came closer and lifted his hand to stroke his knuckles over my cheekbone. “You were impressive on the field. I’d love to take you out to celebrate.”
“Strawberry?” That was the easiest thing for me to focus on and I was being a coward.
Hayes leaned in close enough that his lips brushed the shell of my ear as he answered me. “You smell like a delicious, ripe strawberry that’s begging to be eaten.”
I swore to myself when I felt my face darken. I also promised to thank Aunt Jolene for only using strawberry scented bath products.
“Say you’ll go out with me, Strawberry.” Hayes’ eyes traced every curve of my face and burned so sincerely that I felt the world shift under my feet. “Please.”
My heart stuttered as I looked past my own lust and saw just how serious they were being.
They touched me with raw hunger, sure, but the way they looked at me was deeper, more intense.
The men I’d planned to hurt were looking at me like maybe I hung the moon and it hurt.
It hurt so much that I couldn’t catch my breath for a second.
The connection I’d felt with them, the connection I’d been starving for for so long, was right there in front of me and I’d lied to them by omission.
I knew who they were, who their sister was, and I’d been best friends with the guys they believed caused their injuries.
I’d played the villain to their sister’s hero and I knew they’d be disgusted by all those things.
I didn’t want to spend another second longing for men who didn’t want me, the real me, so I couldn’t let them go on thinking I was someone else.
If I stopped it right then and there, I’d escape with my heart still intact.
Or at least as intact as it’d been when I met them.
I ignored the pain radiating from that broken, hopeful organ in my chest and stepped to the side so I could face them all.
It wasn’t easy extracting myself from their grips and they immediately started to follow me until I held up my hands.
“I need to tell you guys something. I’m not who you think I am. ”
Cash snorted. “Is this where you admit to being an Olympic athlete or something? Who cares right now? Come here.”
For something that wasn’t supposed to be involved, my heart sure felt like it was cracking. “No, I’m serious. I’m not-”
I hesitated for a moment to enjoy the last time they might ever look at me without hate in their eyes, I'd rather lose them honest than keep them with a lie. I'd already lived through one man not wanting the real me. I wasn't signing up for three more.
“The truth is….”
A catcall distracted me enough that I glanced towards the sound and saw something so strange that I shut up.
There was a group of the football guys huddled around their phones, eyes shifting to me and then back again.
A sick feeling crawled up my spine, the same one I’d gotten after everyone at USC turned on me.
It wasn’t just that one group of guys, either. All over the field there were groups gathered around their phones. Some were actively pointing at me. There were more catcalls and then the laughter came. My skin rippled with unease and I felt myself shrinking.
I glanced up and saw Weston was glaring around at everyone but Hayes was walking towards his teammates to snatch one of their phones away.
For some reason, I knew it was going to be bad.
I wanted to scream at him to drop the phone but it was too late.
I saw his eyes trace whatever was on the screen and when they moved back to me, they were full of doubt and just the start of what was surely going to be a storm of anger.
“What the fuck is it?” Weston snatched the phone away from his brother and held it out so Cash could see it, too. “Who took this fucking picture?”