Chapter 28 Tabitha
Kai’s line-of-sight drifts to the parking lot, and the distinct sounds of Freddy’s car pulling away prick my ears.
“So, your brother dragged you down here?”
“Not because I didn’t want to. It’s just…”
“Awkward?” Kai suggests. “Umm, yeah. You saw my mom go haywire.”
“She obviously cares about you.”
“Ditto, about your brother.”
“That’s Freddy. He gets obsessed about other people’s happiness, even if it means meddling.”
“Would you have preferred not to be here today?”
I sigh, and every muscle inside me relaxes. “Absolutely not. I’m so glad Freddy drove me here.”
Kai drops the soccer ball to his feet. “You wanna kick the ball around?”
My heart swells and radiates tingles throughout my body. “I really do.”
“Wait? You’re actually excited?”
“Kai, you were amazing to watch. I figured you were good, but I didn’t realize you were that good.”
Kai rocks the ball under his foot. “Well, thanks. You know, I’m captain for a reason.”
I step in closer and hook a finger inside the collar of his hoodie. “Oh, I’m alone with the team captain, am I? Sexy.”
His eyebrows wiggle. “Oh, you have no idea.”
I giggle and swat his arm. “Naughty.”
“Hey, careful.” Kai shifts his arm out of my reach. “I just got my stitches taken out, remember?”
“Sorry, I didn’t realize you were such precious cargo.”
“I’m not supposed to be collecting more scars.”
I can’t help focusing under his left eye. “Is that something you do?”
He rubs under his eye. “Not on purpose.”
“Oh, so trouble just follows you?” I joke.
“Totally. Sometimes gravity and I aren’t on the same wavelength.”
I giggle. “Maybe my dad has a point about you?”
Kai snorts. “Your dad always thinks he has a point. I really think he enjoys making cracks at my mom’s parenting style.”
“He makes digs at your mom?”
He nods. “And she can’t help but take it personally. It’s not ideal when she and dad keep bringing up the fact they can take my car away.”
I clutch his hand and whisper, “I overheard something.”
He lights up with a grin. “What?”
“Your parents might be bluffing.”
Kai tilts his head. “Come again?”
“Like I said, I overheard them. They just worried about you hurting yourself.”
“Yeah, old news, Tabby.” Kai places a finger on the scar below his left eye. “I’ve been hearing that since I was six-years-old and got this scar.”
It takes me aback. “You got that at six?”
He nudges the soccer ball along the grass. “What can I say? I’ve been an adrenaline-seeker since I could crawl.”
“You must’ve been a handful,” I joke. “How did you get the scar?”
He wags a finger at me. “Nuh-uh. No one gets that story.”
“How come?”
“It’s too extreme.”
“Seriously? So, is my dad right? You really are a menace?”
“Ha. I wouldn’t go that far.”
“Fine, have your secrets.” I fake a pout. “Anyway, you must be so excited to drive your very own car.”
He hooks a finger under my chin. “Yeah, we can find somewhere to park together.”
Bashfully, I knock his hand away. “Okay, so who’s the naughty one?” I nudge the toe of my boot against the soccer ball. “How about you show me some of your moves, Cap?”
Kai flicks the ball away from my feet so fast I almost don’t see it. “I don’t think you’re ready.”
“Anyone ever told you, you’re cocky?”
His hand plants on his chest as he taps the soccer ball onto the field. “Who, me?”
Like I’m magnetically pulled, I follow him onto the field as he works the ball from foot to foot.
“How long did it take to learn all those fancy tricks?” I ask, too awestruck to lift my gaze from his shoes.
“Depends what you’re referring to,” he replies. “Some things I learned a long time ago. Other things I’m still learning.”
“Seriously? How many more soccer moves could there be?”
“Tons. And I need to be the best.”
“Do you hear the cockiness coming out?” I tease.
“I’m serious,” he says, flicking the ball into the air and hitting it with his thigh and then his chest. “If the goal is to play in the World Cup, then I need to be the best on the team.”
“So soccer is your number one goal?”
He steps onto the ball, and with an almighty swing, kicks the ball across the field and into the goal. He gulps for air, and says, “Absolutely.”
Kai coaxes me into jogging alongside him as we catch up to the ball, which spins idly between the goal posts.
Needing to clear the air, I say, “I hope me being here didn’t make things awkward between you and your parents.”
Kai laughs. “I think Mom was worried you were gonna tell her you’re suing us for your phantom foot injury.”
“I really didn’t mean to upset your mom. Dad never told me he called her.”
“Relax, Tabby. I’m playing.”
“Your mom did seem rattled.”
“Only because she wanted to yell at me and realized she was in a public place.”
“Well, besides your parents, I ran your friends out of here.”
“They were leaving anyway.”
“While giving me tons of side-eye.”
“Which friends are you talking about?”
“Well, Jamie seemed appalled that I was here, and Tyler’s eyebrows were bouncing so much they may as well have been playing jump-rope.”
Kai snorts. “Umm, yeah. Tyler knows I think you’re pretty.”
“Oh, gosh.” I pinch my fingers against the bridge of my nose. “What must they all be thinking of me right now?”
“Did Parker and Lewis notice you?”
“Not that I could tell. Why?”
“Because they have the biggest mouths. Ty keeps things to himself until someone comes out with information, and Jamie… Jamie doesn’t want to talk when I bring up the subject.”
“That’s a different tactic to how my friends act.”
“Oh, please. Nothing is as bad as your friends.” Kai rubs my arms. “I get it was huge for you to come down here today. Believe me, you scored extra brownie points today.”
“Mmm. Brownies sound good.”
“They have the best brownies down at Morton’s Café.”
I hesitate. “The one Jamie works at?”
“Yeah, that’s where everyone left the field to go. And Jamie doesn’t just work there. She and her aunt own it.”
“They own it? I didn’t know that.”
“Yeah, they inherited it. They work damn hard to make sure it’s the best café in town so they can afford to live here.”
“I’ve never been there.”
He smirks. “I’ve noticed.”
“Everyone’s allowed to have a regular place, aren’t they?” I defend. “Mine’s just Village Coffee.”
“Only because you’re following what Vanessa Ashworth does.”
“And you only go to Morton’s because of Jamie.”
“Yeah, because I care about supporting her.”
My palms grow sweaty. “I get it. It’s different. You’re being loyal.”
He flicks the ball on top of his foot and then bounces it off one thigh and then another before tapping it against the inside of his foot.
“Don’t be hard on yourself.” His foot lands on the ball and he rolls it behind him and then flicks it up onto his heel.
“You’ve been on the defensive for so long. ”
“Doesn’t mean I couldn’t be loyal to someone in the meantime.”
He swings his foot out and gets back behind the ball. “Well, you have. You’ve been super loyal to Camila despite her treating you like crap.”
I sigh hard. “It’s a never ending battle, trying to make that girl happy.”
“You’ll never win that battle,” he says, keeping still for a moment. “That girl thrives on feeling terrible.”
“She’s just hurt because of her dad.”
“Her dad already remarried. How much longer is she gonna keep using that as an excuse?”
It renders me speechless. I never considered Cammy would need to let go of her issues with her dad.
“Sorry.” Kai sighs and thwacks the soccer ball into the goal. “I don’t mean to make you think about her.”
“It’s okay. She’s part of my life.”
“And I hate that.” He gets on-side of the ball and stops it dead. “You wanna forget about her for a while and I’ll teach you how to pass the ball?”
My gaze is no longer fixed on his feet and the ball. I’m entranced by his hazel eyes and the crookedness of his grin. With a hint of devilishness, I sway my hips his way. “You know this is just an excuse to get you alone?”
He grins, letting the soccer ball roll away from him. “So, we’re giving up the pretense?”
I step forward and fling my arms around his neck. “Oh, yeah.”
Like we’re starved of human connection, our mouths lock like it’s our only hope for survival. Under my coat, his arms cinch around my waist and his hands make camp on my back. With hungry kisses and a firm grip on me, Kai walks me backwards until my back rests against the goal post.
A soft moan escapes me and Kai’s mouth travels along my jawline and plants butterfly kisses on my neck. My breath hitches and I’m more than glad I’m being propped up before I melt into a puddle.
My coat billows out and I wonder if I should slip it off.
Although I might lose my balance, one of Kai’s hands lowers.
It traces the hem of my jeans and then brushes against my thigh and increases in pressure.
When I moan at his touch, he guides my thigh higher.
Following his lead, my foot leaves the ground as the inside of my thigh brushes against the outside of his.
The hand on my back lowers, and in a strong action, he uses both his hands to prop me up and I’m suddenly straddling him as my back rests against the goal post.
“Dang, Tabby.” He moans as his kisses leave my mouth and trail toward my earlobe. “You’re so beautiful.”
My hands comb through his short hair and it’s hard to see straight as I cling to him. I drag his face back and our gazes connect before I claim his lips once more. The kiss is pure ecstasy, and there’s no doubt I’m completely consumed and addicted to this boy.
“Wow,” I breathe as he gently puts me down. My legs quiver as my feet hit the ground, and I stay latched around his neck. “You need to help me stand for a minute.”
A breathy laugh pours out of him as he grips my hips. “I’ll take any excuse to keep holding you.”
“I can’t believe I went from never being kissed,” I say, catching my breath, “to knee-weakening kisses like that.”
His hands slide around to my lower back. “Knee-weakening, huh?”
“Didn’t the kisses make you feel things, too?”