Chapter 24
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
TY
“Here, pull up some seats,” Rami tells Avery and the guy she’s with.
I watch as they each grab a chair and head to the open space right across from me.
This dude’s really going to let her carry her own seat?
The guy sits first, and then Avery wrangles her chair into place and plops down.
She tries to keep her back to the room. Watching her now, her unease almost makes me uncomfortable.
She never looks up, just smiles her typical cheery smile and sips on her drink.
I pick up mine and chug some down, not quite sure what to do.
Should I leave? Do the guys really not know she’s a cheerleader?
It’s likely that they have no idea. I wouldn’t know a single Kings cheerleader if I hadn’t run into her in the parking lot that day.
Given the whole “no fraternizing” thing, it’s not uncommon for players to never meet any of their cheerleaders, save for the limited contact they might have at a Kings sponsored event.
Still, if I go and she stays, she’s the one who faces irreparable damage.
If she’s suddenly not bothered being seen with players, then why should I be the one to bow out first?
Avery, what are you doing?
She hasn’t just raised the stakes for her and me, but everyone here.
Ramiel, Foster, the other guys too—none of us should be seen together with her.
It’s irresponsible. Despite Avery’s flaws, that’s not typically a word I’d use to describe her.
She can be absent-minded, and maybe sometimes that could be mistaken as irresponsible, but she’s not.
Not from what I’ve witnessed over the past couple months at least.
“What’s your name?” Foster asks, nudging Avery with his elbow.
Her panicked eyes drag up from her cup to meet mine, but before she can utter anything the DJ is blaring some wild alarm that silences the noisy bar. I jump. Avery snickers, and I have to pinch my lips into a tight line to keep it together. I admit it. He got me good.
Everyone at our cobbled-together table turns to watch the DJ rattle off the rules and themes of the night from behind the booth.
Which happens to be, and I quote, “Anything and Everything.” Why doesn’t he just say there’s no theme?
Then he raises his phone over his head and directs everyone to put theirs away.
No phones allowed or you’ll be disqualified, maybe even kicked out.
These people take their trivia seriously, but I’m okay with no phones.
No phones means no pictures, no chance of Avery and me getting caught together in public.
Even if it’s unplanned, we’re traversing thin ice here.
Avery watches as I take another long pull from my glass. I raise my eyebrows at her, and she smirks.
“What?” I mouth her way.
She peeks out of the corner of her eye and checks either side of her. Neither Foster nor her boy bats an eye.
“Hi,” she mouths back.
Because our table is still locked in on the DJ—who is now directing everyone’s attention to the screen over his head—I make a bold choice.
As subtly as possible, I lift a finger off my glass, motioning to her date.
Her gaze slides to him, then back to me, and I frown, morphing the point into a thumbs down.
Now she frowns, tilting her head. I hold my thumb in place.
She rolls her eyes, takes a drink, then shakes her head.
Which, for some reason, catches her date’s attention. He motions to her half-empty glass.
“No, I’m just going to have one tonight,” she answers.
It’s barely audible over everyone mumbling at the table, getting everyone’s roles in order. Ramiel will be writing the answers, it’s finally decided.
Avery watches as her date knocks back his glass, finishing it. He stands and shuffles toward a waitress standing along the wall with a notepad in her hand.
“Ryan! Could you get me a water?” Avery calls after him, but Ryan has already skulked away. Her eyes drop, her cheeks turning a faint red. “He works here,” she says by way of explanation.
Foster nods, and so do I.
“I’m Foster, by the way,” our kicker starts. “Thought you should know that if we’re gonna be on the same team.”
“Avery,” she says quietly.
A few other guys chime in. Ramiel pipes up, then Cole. Avery stares at me expectantly.
“Oh, I’m. Uh. Ty.”
Cole snorts next to me, and I shoot him a dirty look.
“Hi, Ty.” The look in Avery’s eyes is something I wish I could shrink up and keep in my wallet for a rainy day. No one else would notice the shift—I hope—but I do. She stares at me like we’re the only ones in on a secret, which I guess we are.
“You said you wanted a water?” I say, rattling the ice in my glass and casually sipping.
She flops a chunk of her raven hair back over her shoulder. “Yeah, but it’s no big—”
Before she finishes her sentence, I’m standing, making my way to the wall where Ryan is perched, laughing along with the waitress.
My jaw tenses, releases. “Ryan, right?”
He nods.
“Ave— Your girl asked for a water.” I turn to the waitress, motioning toward the table. “Might as well get a round of waters for all of us.”
She nods.
Ryan pipes up. “Yeah, I was actually just ordering—”
I don’t wait for him to finish. I’m already halfway to my seat when it hits me. I said his girl.
Something about it curdles any drop of brightness hiding inside me.
I sit, downing my drink in hopes of washing away the words.
Avery can only be someone else’s, I remind myself.
She can’t be mine. Paying a fine for breaking a contract contingency is not the same as what it would put her through.
She’d be crushed. She’s worked too long to get to where she is.
She slept in her car, for crying out loud.
I keep my head down as everyone deliberates about whatever question the DJ just asked. Something nudges me under the table. When I look up, Avery is staring right at me.
“Come in,” she says.
“What?” I ask, my eyes darting around to my teammates.
“What must you say to a vampire before they may enter your home?” Ramiel says, repeating the trivia question.
“Come in,” Avery reiterates, beaming at me.
“Yeah. She’s right,” I confirm, nudging her back with my toe under the table.
She smirks.
“I think everyone knows that,” Foster adds.
Avery shrinks a little.
“I didn’t,” I say, eyeing Foster. “Not until recently.”
Which obviously isn’t true, but that was one of the last times I thought about vampires. When I invited Avery into my room. Apparently, she was listening despite being completely distracted that day. I won’t let anyone make her feel inferior, even if it is over a dumb trivia answer.
Avery smiles up at me, her honeyed eyes warm and grateful.
Swirling her straw through her sweating glass, she winks at me before bringing it to her full lips.
My grip tightens around my own drink. It’s all I can do to keep myself across this table.
If only we were alone at home. Maybe then I’d have the nerve to do something about this feeling. This longing.
A shrill sound breaks my trance. Maleko, one of our linemen, clamors to our table, adds a seat at the end, and plops down. “What I miss?”
“Our team’s full,” Foster hollers down at him.
Maleko throws a hand his way before finishing off a glass of dark liquid. He stands, scanning the table. “Any of you clowns need anything?”
His eyes land on Avery, and he arches a brow. “Except for you. You’re not a clown... I assume.”
She smiles widely and shakes her head.
“I’m Maleko,” he finally says.
“Avery.” She lifts a hand in a little wave, and I can’t help but smile. She seems comfortable with the guys. Maybe even more so than I am with most of them. Still, I can’t help but like it. Even if she technically—definitely—should not be here right now, she looks like she belongs.
Her date reappears, sliding in next to her, and effectively wiping my smile away.
Every now and then he’ll put an arm around her, drop it, talk to someone in some over-animated way, repeat.
There’s a grin glued to Avery’s face, but I’ve seen enough of her smiles to pick up on the nuances of each one.
Maybe it’s wishful thinking, but I’m fairly certain this one is tighter at the edges.
She’s not relaxed with him, and it only grows more strained with each brush of Ryan’s arm.
We come in third for the trivia tournament.
The guys are pretty competitive, and most of them are disappointed.
Avery is still riding the high of gaining extra points through her bonus trivia answer that boosted us from fourth to third place.
If anyone at the table was going to get Lena Lux lyrics right, it would be her.
I’m pretty confident the guys would have gotten that one wrong had she not been here.
Someone approaches Ramiel from a nearby table, phone in hand, asking for a photo.
He agrees and invites me to join. Once the picture is snapped and I turn back to face Avery, she’s no longer there.
And neither is Ryan. My eyes lock on her empty seat, and as nonchalantly as possible, I twist around to survey the room. She’s nowhere in sight.
I grab my drink, pushing away from the table without a word. Dropping off my empty at the bar, my body flips to autopilot as I move through the crowded space. All I can think about is that Avery left. With Ryan.
I know she was on a date—allegedly—but the thought of them leaving together.
.. My body tenses, and I duck into the dark hall outside the bathrooms. Why would she go with him?
Avery isn’t mine—she can do what she wants—but she should at least find someone who appreciates her.
Someone better than Ryan. I was only around him for five minutes, and he was intolerable.
I press my back against the wall to let someone pass, inching further into the hallway, and then I’m alone again.
The DJ cues up his playlist, the upbeat tune an ironic soundtrack to the montage playing through my head.
I squeeze my eyes shut as my imagination wraps me in a chokehold, casting images of possible scenarios behind my lids.
Avery with Ryan holding hands as they drive to his place together.
Ryan repeating to Avery the same inane jokes I overheard him telling our waitress.
A sudden fire burns through me at the thought of Ryan leaning in, puckering those thin, dry lips as Avery reciprocates.
I recline my head back against the paneled wall so hard it finally stops the torturous slideshow.
Pushing off the wall, I decide to end my wallowing and head back toward civilization when a loud creak and a crack of light emit from behind me, catching me off guard.
I pivot to face it, and there she is. Avery stands frozen as the door swings shut, swatting her in the back. She hops forward, advancing toward me.
“Were you waiting here for me?” she whispers.
“No. I wasn’t sure where you went.”
“So you were looking for me?”
“No, I don’t make a habit of stealing women mid-date.”
She offers a smile that’s flatter than any of hers I’ve ever seen. “Well, stranger, you shouldn’t be here. Lucky for you, my date’s almost—”
Some guy who clearly had one too many wobbles our way, yelling into a phone as he bumbles through the narrow space.
I turn my attention to the floor, and Avery steps forward abruptly, her hands flying up to my abdomen to steady herself.
Gripping her elbows, I pull us against the wall as he squeezes by, too out of it to even acknowledge us.
My pulse spikes, a warmth covering me like I’ve burst into flames on the inside.
Neither of us says a word until the door swings shut.
Her eyes are lit up and locked on mine. We stay this way for a beat too long.
I’m not even sure I’m breathing. She searches my face, and I let my gaze fall to her mouth.
It would be so easy to close the little space that’s left…
But she’s on a date. And we’re in public.
I let go of her, resting my head back against the wall as casually as I can muster, given my racing heart. “What were you saying?”
“What?”
“I told you, I don’t poach other guys’ women, and you were saying…”
Avery’s hands stay fastened to my middle, her voice dipping into a velvety whisper. “I was saying that my date’s almost over. And I was just leaving, but I’ll be home soon.”
My heart pounds in my chest. She called my house home.
Of course, that is her home—for now—but still, it’s shocking how nice it is to hear her say it.
I don’t know how to respond. I try to get a read on what she’s feeling, where she’s going with this, but I can’t.
All I can think about is her hands. Their warmth radiates through my shirt, and I want nothing more than to bring mine to rest on top of them.
“What was that movie you told me you wanted to watch? The one based on that book you liked.”
“Project Light Years.”
“Project Light Years,” she repeats. “I’m guessing it’s not a romcom.”
My lips tilt into a grin. “No, definitely not.”
“No romantic subplot?”
I shake my head.
“Then I’ll need popcorn. Lots of it. And maybe some Milk Duds to pull me through.”
I cock my head.
She tilts hers in response. “You asked me to watch a movie with you.”
“I did,” I say on an exhale.
“Well, tonight’s the night. Movie night. Your place. When I get home.”
Drunky stumbles back out of the bathroom still yelling into his phone. To my dismay, Avery drops her hands.
She waits to speak until he disappears. “I should probably go.”
She takes a step back, and I push myself off the wall, not ready for this exchange to be over yet. Something about it feels dangerous. And despite my better judgment, I like it more than I should.
“I’ll get the popcorn,” I say.
“Don’t forget the Milk Duds,” she adds, then turns and walks away.
She might have come here with someone else, but the way her skirt swishes as she fades back into the crowd is hard to ignore. I can’t help it when my eyes dip lower down her frame, slipping over her long, lean legs.
And then it hits me full force. Avery just planned our date.
Is this a date? I feel like, of all people, I should know whether or not it is.
I’m the one who asked initially, but she’s the one who stuck to the plan.
If it were up to me, I probably would have talked myself out of it.
Convinced myself it’s a bad idea. Which it probably is.
And yet, I’m already on my feet, sneaking out the back door without another word to the guys.