17. Chapter 18
Chapter 18
CHRIS
I ’m on my way to practice with the boys after lunch when I catch sight of Danger.
“Fucking finally,” I mutter as I halt in my tracks. I’ve been trying to run into him all week. Not that I charmed his student adviser into giving me his schedule or anything.
A brick wall crashes into me from behind, followed by a curse, and a “Dude, what the fuck? It’s called walking.”
I turn, hands on my hips, glaring like a pissed-off parent to find Damon scowling at my back. Arching a brow, I motion to the phone in his hand. “Maybe if you’d stop doom scrolling or whatever the hell it is you’ve been doing on that thing all damn day, you would’ve seen I stopped moving.”
His cheeks color as he shoves his phone back into his pocket and mumbles, “Sorry.”
“That’s more like it.”
“As much as I’d love to stand on the sidewalk and chat all day, ladies, we have practice,” Jace interrupts, motioning toward the stadium. “You wanna move your asses, or what?”
“Wait here just a second or go on without me; I have something to take care of,” I say as I swing my duffle bag off my shoulder and rummage inside for the hoodie I’ve been carrying around with me ever since I stole it from Charlotte’s room on Sunday.
Jace frowns as I straighten again, following my line of sight and zeroing in on Danger. “You gotta be fucking kidding me,” he says with a groan.
“What is it? Who are we looking at?” Brandon asks, craning his neck to see. “Oh, shit. Soccer Guy?”
“What are you doing?” Jace asks, wasting no time getting to the point.
“Don’t worry about it.”
“You’re our best running back, so I’d like to know if whatever you have planned is going to get your ass benched.”
I ignore him as I finally spot the navy-blue hoodie and yank it out. Straightening, I find all three of my friends staring at me with equally concerned expressions.
“What?” I shrug and hold the hoodie out. “I’m just returning something to him, that’s all. And maybe while I’m at it, have a little friendly conversation.”
I watch as Danger heads this way, his head down, gaze trained on the book in his hand like he can’t put it down for one second to walk. Fucking nerd.
“Do we wanna know why you’re giving him a hoodie?” Brandon asks, placing a hand on my arm to hold me in place.
“It’s his. I’m just returning it. See?” I shake it out in front of them like evidence. “I’m doing something nice. ”
“Why the hell do you have another dude’s hoodie in the first place?” Damon asks.
Jace narrows his eyes on the side of my face as I shake Brandon’s hand off. “Please tell me this doesn’t have to do with Charlotte.”
“Okay”?I grin?“I won’t tell you. Now, run off to practice like a good boy, and I’ll meet you in a few.” I shoo them away with my hand, making a beeline for Soccer Guy before they can stop me.
“Yo, Hazard!” I call out.
Danger pauses on the sidewalk, his gaze lifting from his book, his brow creased in confusion. “Me?” He points to his chest.
“Yeah, you.” I fight an eye roll.
“It’s Danger .”
“Whatever.” I wave him off.
“Do I know you?” he asks, eyeing me warily.
If he recognizes me, he doesn’t say so, which kind of pisses me off. He may not have seen me kiss Charlotte at the party, but I know damn well he saw us talking.
“Not really, but you can help me with something.” He shifts on his feet, his gaze dropping to the shirt in my hands. “You can stay the hell away from Charlotte.”
He barks out a laugh, meeting my eyes once more. “What?”
“Here,” I say, shoving the hoodie at his arms as he fumbles for it, not giving a fuck if he drops it or not. “Looks like she won’t be needing this anymore.”
“How the hell did you get this, anyway?” he asks, eyes darkening as they lift to mine.
“Don’t worry about it. All that matters is that I make myself very clear. From this moment on, Charlotte Baker is off-limits.”
Danger scoffs, actually fucking scoffs. He’s got balls at least; I’ll give him that.
“I think Charlotte can decide for herself who she wants to see, but thanks.”
“You’re right. She can, and she’s seeing me. Looks like she decided.” I start to turn away from him to head back toward the guys who didn’t budge an inch and are currently staring at the clouds in the sky and pointing like they haven’t been listening?fucking idiots?when Danger puts his hand on me.
I pause, zeroing in on the fingers locked on my bicep with raised brows before I glance back up at him with a look so cold it could fucking freeze the sun.
“Does Charlotte know about that?” he asks, not backing down.
“Considering she had her tongue down my throat at your party, and all night on Sunday,” I say remembering how our lip lock outside the dorms turned into a full-on make-out session in her room before Samantha interrupted, “then yeah, I’d say she fucking knows.”
Danger’s grip tightens, his eyes narrowing to slits. “And I’m supposed to just believe you? How do I even know you’re telling the truth?”
I chuckle and glance down at his hand before I peel his fingers off one by one. “I’m not fucking around when it comes to Lettie.” I shrug, my expression passive. “Ask her yourself if you don’t believe me, but put your hands on me again, and you’ll be glad the only thing you need are your feet to kick a ball down the field.”
Danger stares at me for a moment as if taking my measure.
“Now that we have that settled, you can look, but you can’t touch. We clear?”
Danger takes a step back. “Yeah, whatever. I don’t do drama.”
“Great.” I smooth a hand over my own hoodie, one corner of my mouth curving as I say, “Because I don’t share, at least not when it comes to Lettie.”