Chapter 10 #2
“Dude, you’ve been sitting out here for, like, five minutes. What the hell are you doing?” he says when I push my door open and climb out. “I saw Haven get out of your truck. What was that about?”
Part of me still wants to lie, but not to Noah. Not only because I trust him and I know he’d never make me feel bad, but also because I don’t want him to think something is going on between me and his sister.
“She’s tutoring me,” I mutter, less than enthusiastic. “Your old man’s idea.”
“Shit, I thought she was done with that for now since she’s so busy,” he says, walking beside me as I head toward the steps. “You’re lucky though. Everyone says she’s the best at it. I’m sure that’s why Dad suggested it.”
“I know,” I say, my voice low. “I’ll go get changed and we’ll head to practice.”
“Yeah, hurry the hell up. You wasted too much time sitting out in your truck like a weirdo, and now we’ll have to rush.”
“Yes, boss,” I grumble before heading upstairs to my room.
I feel guilty even looking him in the face right now. While he was making sure I got my head out of my ass in time to get ready for practice, I was thinking about his sister.
Maybe I need to spend time with another girl. That way, when Haven is around me, I won’t be so on edge.
Yeah, that could work.
Maybe.
Who the fuck am I kidding? That’s a shit idea. But I might just try it anyway.
HAVEN
Even though I darted out of Dallas’s truck as quickly as my freaking body would allow, once I got out of his sight and in front of The Nest, I realized I wasn’t ready to go inside yet.
I have one of those faces—the kind that can’t hide shit from anyone because it’s so obvious what I’m thinking, even when I try not to let it show.
Sometimes, it gets me in trouble.
Harley, Isla, and Gigi are all home. And when I notice a white car out front, I know Lilly is here too, and she has a weird way of making people talk about their feelings, which isn’t something I care to do right now.
Lilly is a new friend and a track star. She’s only a freshman, but for reasons I’m unsure of, she gets to live in the athletic house instead of the dorms. So long story short, I’m not going in and facing all of them.
Instead of that, I’m choosing to clean out my car, and that’s exactly what I’ve been doing for the past five to ten minutes in hopes I can stop thinking about Dallas’s stupid fingertips brushing my face when he got that eyelash.
Even just thinking about it has my heart skipping a beat.
I love spending time with him. He’s familiar and comforting in some odd way. Yet, when he’s around, my brain turns to literal mush. I go from being the strong, badass woman who is a leader on the field to a girl who can’t speak because he’s telling me to make a wish on a stupid eyelash.
I look at my car, realizing it’s no cleaner than when I first started. My brain is going a million miles an hour and I hate it.
They say you don’t ever get over your first love. Is that still the case if they obviously don’t love you back?
God, I hope not.
“I like your hair like that,” a deep voice drawls behind me, and I flinch so hard I almost smash my head off the roof of my car before I step back and turn to face him.
My stomach churns when I see Tabor standing five feet away, and I can’t help but wonder how long he’s been watching me.
“What are you doing here?” I say, keeping as far away from him as possible by pushing my back to my car.
His head cocks to the side slightly, and he flinches with agitation. “What? I can’t even come see you now?”’ He takes a step closer, and my heart pounds. “Too busy with Dallas these days?”
I know that I’m being dramatic. I was hooking up with the guy for weeks—I’d know if he was … dangerous. But there’s just something in his eyes. Something I noticed when we met at the coffee shop. It doesn’t seem quite right to me, but I can’t explain it.
I don’t owe him any explanation, and truthfully, the longer I’m here, the more creeped out I am. My eyes dart to the porch, and quickly, I walk between him and my car to make it to the bottom step.
“You’re really going to just walk away?” he barks out, his voice too close for comfort, and by the time I make it to the top step, he’s grabbing my hand to stop me.
“Just talk to me, damnit!” he yells out, and when I try to pull my hand away, he tightens his grip.
“Let go of me!” I scream, the blood pumping through my veins turning to ice when he only pulls harder, forcing me to turn to face him. I squeeze my eyes shut, not wanting to.
I’m a rugged girl. I’m strong—I have to be to play as hard as I do on the field. But Tabor is a defensive player on one of the country’s best college football teams.
He’s stronger. Even though I hate admitting it.
The sound of the front door swinging open hits my ears, and before I know it, Isla, Harley, and Gigi are rushing to both sides of me, making him quickly drop his hand from mine.
“Get out of here!” Harley roars. “I just saw her pulling her hand away and you didn’t let go!”
Gigi puts her arm around me, directing me toward the house, but Isla isn’t done yet.
“If you come back here again, I promise that you won’t like what happens,” she hisses. “Go!” she growls in a tone I didn’t even know Isla had in her. “Now.”
I walk into the house, but before the door is closed, I hear him yell one more thing.
“You wouldn’t act this way if it wasn’t for fucking Rivers!” he roars. “You’re fucking him now, aren’t you?”
If my dad could see how he’s acting or hear the things coming out of his mouth, he’d never play him again.
But I have heard my dad say with his own voice that Tabor is one of the best defensive linemen he’s ever coached and that they need him.
If I tell my dad about any of this, I’ll mess up his season.
He can’t know, and neither can my brother or Dallas.
Isla stands in the doorway, as if her tiny self is going to protect all of us from him if he decides to try to come in.
“Okay then, I’m calling the cops!” she says, and even from behind, I can see her reaching into her pocket. He must leave though, because before she presses the screen or brings it to her ear, she watches for a moment before backing inside the house and closing the door.
She turns the lock and then turns to face us—eyes wide.
“Haven …” she whispers, clearly shaken. “You need to tell someone what just happened.” She swallows, eyes wide. “Something with him … it’s not right.”
“Isla’s right,” Gigi whispers, standing beside the window and looking from me to back outside. “He could come back, you know.”
Harley hugs me from behind, pulling my back close to her chest and giving me a squeeze. “Are you okay, Have?” she whispers, and even though I’m not, I nod.
Inhaling sharply, I let the breath out in a sigh.
“I’m fine,” I say, swinging my gaze to all of them just as Lilly comes into the room.
I don’t have the energy to explain what happened.
Besides, she’s only been living with us for a few weeks.
The last thing I want is to scare the poor girl away when I’m sure everything is getting blown out of proportion.
He won’t come back. Why would he?
“I’m going to my room; I have some homework to do,” I say evenly.
“Please, let’s not make this a bigger deal than it is.
He’s one of my dad’s best players. I’m not going to ruin my dad’s chances of a perfect season.
” I swing my gaze to the three of them, thankful that Lilly has her headphones on anyway and seems clueless as she grabs a bottle of water from the fridge. “And neither are any of you.”
With that, I walk to my room on shaky legs, trying to seem like everything is fine. And when I walk inside and close the door behind me, I put my hand on my chest.
Because I have never been so scared in my whole life as I was when he wouldn’t let go of my hand.
The last thing I want to do is be overly dramatic when it comes to one of my father’s players. I know I have to keep this a secret.
Even if it kills me keeping it to myself.