3. Maddox
Maddox
C aleb: Picking you up in ten.
Me: Why?
Caleb: You’re going bowling with me and some guys on the team.
Me: I am?
Caleb: Yes.
I stare at my phone with disbelief, though I know that arguing with Caleb will get me nowhere. Honestly, though, I’m glad my best friend’s playing nice with his teammates. It makes me proud, as if I’m watching the hardheaded kid finally get along with the other kids in his class.
Patronizing, I know, but I really am pleased with him—even if I’m 110 percent certain that the only reason he’s going on this bowling outing is because of Nick. Caleb wouldn’t even think of going if Nick wasn’t there.
And I’m right. As soon as I climb into the car next to Caleb, there’s Nick.
Aside from them, their two teammates are here as well. Rhys is driving, with Killian in his passenger seat.
“You already know Nick,” Caleb tells me. “And this is Morgan… and. Ugh. This is Schultz. ”
I frown, annoyed by how he’s introducing them to me with only their surnames. Even if I know their first names without Caleb telling me, I say out of principle, “Those are your actual names or your jock names?”
Killian immediately turns around, and his wide grin takes me by surprise. “You can call him Rhys, and I’m Ki—”
“Great, thank you,” Caleb says, cutting him off. He ignores the baffled look I shoot him.
Why is Killian introducing himself to me, though? Does he not know I’m the same Maddox in his statistics class? The same Maddox he texted for tutoring?
The same Maddox he’s been staring at for the past few months?
I wonder if he truly doesn’t know who I am, but… that can’t be right. Is this some fuckboy game I’m not privy to? A strategy to get me to doubt myself?
What the fuck?
***
Not much later, we’re all at the bowling alley, and I’m watching Caleb and Nick shoot not-so-subtle glances at each other.
Oooh, so my suspicions are correct. My best friend’s in love , love . It’s finally happened. Caleb might get all huffy if he saw how ecstatic I am for them, so I avert my eyes and focus on putting my bowling shoes on.
I’m tying the laces when a shadow falls over me. I look up to see Killian standing right in front of me and giving me that wide grin of his.
“Hey there,” he says. “Caleb wouldn’t let me talk earlier, but I’m Killian!”
I frown. “Maddox.”
I hold back on telling him I clearly know who he is, considering I’ve called on him in class and replied to his text.
After months of never telling me his name, he’s suddenly doing it way too much.
To say I’m thrown off is an understatement.
I don’t think I’ve ever been this confused in my entire life.
He asks, “Are you any good at this game?”
“I do fine, I guess.” It’s not a lie. There was an old bowling alley in the neighborhood Caleb and I grew up in, and we used to hang out there on weekends. I’m not in love with the game, but I’m not bad at it either—though I can’t usually keep up with Caleb, with his out-of-control stamina.
And since I’m the only one here who isn’t an athlete, I’m guessing I won’t be able to keep up with the rest of them, either.
“I do fine, too!” Killian’s grin widens, and he takes a slight step back when I stand up. He’s so much taller than me that I have to tip my head upwards as he speaks. “Think you can keep up with four athletes?”
The teasing way he says it makes it clear that he’s not being mean, but it brings out the competitiveness in me anyway—never mind that I was just thinking the same thing.
“You’d be surprised,” I tell him. “Besides, bowling isn’t that complicated. It’s just physics. All you need is the proper combination of force, momentum, and all that.”
His mouth curls up in amusement, and he eyes my skinny biceps. “And strength.”
Self-consciously, I cross my arms. “I can lift a bowling ball, Killian.”
His eyes widen slightly and his lips part.
“What?” I ask.
“Sorry. Got caught off guard by you saying my name.”
“I—huh? But it’s your name? You mentioned it… several times, actually.”
“No, that’s—that’s not what I meant.”
“Then...?”
Before he can explain himself, Rhys calls us over and Killian gives me another huge smile before leading the way toward the other guys.
Caleb glowers at him, and when Killian makes a joke about playing in pairs—me and him versus Rhys and Caleb—I actually worry that my best friend’s going to lunge at him.
Of course, we don’t play as teams—and I dominate our first game, absolutely preening at the shocked looks the hockey players give me when I dwarf their score. That I felt the need to prove myself helped a lot.
“That was amazing!” Killian tells me, and he genuinely looks impressed.
I don’t tell him that my arm’s already aching just from one game.
He talks my ear off as we grab drinks, and Nick accompanies us.
I think he wants to pay for it. According to Caleb, the guy’s loaded.
Killian doesn’t even look Nick’s way the entire time that we’re at the counter, though Nick doesn’t seem to care.
If anything, Nick looks as if he’s trying not to smile at how excitable Killian’s being.
“You’re, like, a real genius,” Killian tells me.
“What are you talking about?”
“You know—all the physics stuff you were saying.”
I let out a surprised laugh, and he cocks his head at me. “That was a joke,” I say. “I mean, yeah, it’s basic calculations, but I’m good at bowling because we used to play a lot.”
Also, I’m really, really competitive.
“Ohhh.” Killian leans his arms on the counter and peers sideways at me, and he almost knocks the drinks over before Nick swiftly takes them and puts them on a tray.
I meet Nick’s gaze over Killian’s shoulder, and he gives me an amused look.
“Shit, I really thought you were doing some impressive equations in your head, like geniuses do on TV.”
“You can’t possibly be that gullible.”
Even if it only lasts for a moment, I catch how his expression drops. I wince, realizing how harsh that sounded.
“I’m not the sharpest tool in the shed,” he says, chuckling.
“No, sorry, I didn’t mean to—”
Killian raises a hand to stop me. “It’s cool, I get it. That’s why I need a tutor for statistics. Not that you’d remember, but I texted you the other day about that. Even this early, I’m confident that class is going to kill me. ”
I give him a look. Why wouldn’t I remember?
Nick suddenly speaks up. “Oh, are you considering tutoring Schultz, Maddox? Caleb mentioned you could probably take one person this semester.”
I stare at him. “Uh.”
Killian stands up straight. “Wait, you said you were fully booked.”
“I… yeah, I said that.”
“Why’d you tell me you were fully booked?” Killian pouts. He pouts, and I can’t help but give him a blank look. Behind him, Nick frowns as he pulls away with the drinks. Killian doesn’t seem to notice him go, and we’re left behind with a very awkward conversation.
I rally for a polite response. “It wasn’t exactly a lie. I can take on one tutee this semester, but I’ve had many requests, and I didn’t want you waiting around for me, especially if you need someone ASAP.”
Killian lights up. “So you can tutor me.”
“Uh.”
“Tutor me, please!”
I clear my throat and say, “I can’t.”
“Why not?”
Since being polite isn’t working out, I go for bluntness. “I don’t hang out with jocks.”
I refrain from adding, I also don’t hang out with hot guys who’d make me question my self-imposed no hookups rule.
Killian lets out a bark of laughter. “You’re friends with Caleb, and you’re hanging out with us now.”
“Caleb’s an exception, and also the only reason I’m here. I’m not tutoring you.”
“Harsh! But I think I can win you over.” He winks at me. “I can be pretty charming.”
Even if he’s ridiculously hot, he won’t get me to tutor him by turning on his so-called charm. “Sorry. Not happening. ”
With that, I push away from the counter and head back to the group, and Killian hurries to keep up with me. With only a few long strides, he’s already next to me, and I can’t help but be fully aware of his large and energetic presence.
“What if we make a bet?” he asks, gesturing at the bowling lanes. “Come on.” Killian nudges me with his elbow and waggles his eyebrows. “What, scared?”
“I just beat all of you.”
“So you’ve got nothing to lose. If I win the next round, you tutor me. And if you win… what do you want?”
Dear god. He’s like a dog with a bone. Specifically, he’s a golden retriever. I narrow my eyes at him and say, “Nothing. I don’t care about this bet.”
“Because you know you’d lose, baby.”
At the corner of my eye, I see Caleb scowl and get up.
I should be annoyed, too, but…
Killian’s confidence is getting to me, especially since I beat him so horribly in the last game. What is it with athletes and their egos? There’s something wrong with me because I want to do it again, just to take him down a peg or two.
What would I want if I won, he asked? I can think of one thing…
“Fine,” I say. “If you win, I’ll tutor you once. If I win, you stop staring at me in class.”
His jaw drops. “You actually recognize me?”
I give him a puzzled look. “Clearly. Your staring’s distracting, and I’d like you to stop.”
If I thought that would embarrass him, I’m sorely mistaken, because Killian puts on the dopiest smile I’ve seen on him yet and spins to his friends. “He recognizes me!”
Rhys frowns. “You… you heard everything else he said, right?”
Unperturbed even by Rhys’s comment, Killian makes an excited noise. I put a hand up to my mouth to cover my smile.
Killian Schultz is a ridiculous man, and I don’t know what to make of it.