Chapter 14 #3
I look off to the side. Then back up at him.
He watches me intently, his tongue running along his bottom lip. “I guessed as much.”
Heat crawls up my neck. I may as well have VIRGIN tattooed on my forehead.
“Yeah well, you do what you want with that information.” I lift my backpack and step around him. “I need to go bury my head in a pillow.”
And maybe switch schools.
He turns with a soft laugh and follows me. “Hey, slow down.”
I keep walking. “And be the joke of the day? I’ll pass.”
“Isla, wait. No one’s laughing.”
“You are.” I push through the cold steel door.
He huffs out a breath, like he’s tired of chasing me. “Yeah well, I also made you smile nine times yesterday, doesn’t that count for something?”
I freeze.
Another coincidence? Or…did he actually count how many times I smiled?
Because I did.
I don’t turn around. He steps around to face me and takes my backpack wordlessly.
“Come on, I’ll take you home.”
“I don’t need a ride. I’m just going to walk back to the library.”
“It’s Sunday. You’re working?”
“No. I’m off today other than tutoring, which you basically monopolized.”
His blank, unashamed stare throws me off.
“You are going to cancel the others, right? I mean, there’s no point in you coming to the library for fake tutoring.”
There’s a beat before he answers. “Yeah, sure, I’ll get right on that. Tell me again why you’re going back there then?”
I blink. Terrified, for some reason, to tell him about my roommates. “It’s just easier. To…concentrate and read. Plus, I might go back to Gino’s later.”
He nods. “Right. But I’ll see you at the game tonight?”
Well, I don’t know if he’ll see me. But I’ll be there. “I don’t know.”
He nods understandingly.
“What, that’s it? You’re not going to try and convince me how important it is or how much you think you need Shadow to win?”
He smirks and points the key fob toward his Jeep. It chirps as it unlocks, his bicep flexing the sleeve of his T-shirt in the process. “Only works if it’s two-sided, Sunshine. If you’re not feelin’ it…” he shrugs. “I won’t either.”
I’m back at my usual corner desk in the library, staring at the clock on my phone screen as game time inches closer, and the dread in my stomach builds.
I don’t know why I’m feeling so much pressure tonight, especially when the man gave me an out before he left.
But how do I not, knowing what it means to him? I don’t believe in superstition, but most athletes do. And what would it take, really? Just a few words.
My heart hammers. No pressure though.
What would I say?
More importantly…what does it mean now? I’m still wildly attracted to him. Kane knows it and there’s no hiding that. But surely he knows nothing can happen between us now.
I’m basically a transaction.
A means to a goal.
Maybe I could preface this. Tell him, or really myself, that by no means is this an invitation for something real.
Only works if it’s two-sided, Sunshine. If you’re not feelin’ it…I won’t either.
Shit.
How the hell is that the sweetest thing any guy’s ever said to me?
There’s a serious plot hole in this ridiculous thing he’s asking of me. One that I’ve lost track of who started.
“This was so much easier when you didn’t know who I was,” I mutter.
“Isla?”
I jump when Fletcher pops his head from behind the wall of books. “What? Oh, hey.”
“Hey. Thought you were done for the day.”
I clear my throat. “Um…yeah, just came back to uh… plan out my week in peace.” I hold up my phone.
Still haven’t figured out the best way to tell people that if you find me in peace, leave me in peace.
It’s not that I don’t like Fletcher. I’m sure he’s great at what he does, an asset to the library. And he’s nice. But his kind of nice makes me uncomfortable.
“Didn’t mean to startle you, I just…saw you leaving with Kane Andrews earlier and…”
My eyes flash. “It’s nothing. I’m tutoring him.”
His gaze drops to my phone. “Right, of course. I just wanted to make sure you’re alright.”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
He steps further inside. “Look, I know Kane Andrews seems…desirable right now. But dating the hockey captain is kind of like…borrowing a library book that’s constantly being checked out.”
I stare blankly at him. Cute. You come up with that all by yourself? “I’m not dating him. I don’t want to date him,” I snap.
But it’s a cold, hard lie, and if the tone in my voice doesn’t say it all, I don’t know what will. Because as annoying as Fletcher’s metaphor is, it fucking worked.
Fletcher watches me like he can read my mind. “Are you sure?”
“Of course I’m sure. In fact, that was our last tutoring session. He’s going to cancel the ones for next week.”
His brows jump. “Oh. Then someone should tell him that, because Mr. Ames said he called and bought out your sessions for the rest of the semester.”
“What?”
“Yeah, said with the season being uncertain, the team will need a tutor on hand every weekend.”
What the hell kind of game are you still playing, Kane19?
Fresh anger burns my skin.
The first wave was from Fletcher’s reminder that I’m not the only girl Kane’s paid attention to. And I won’t be the last.