“Sorry,” he said, shouldering up to me. I took a step to the side. “Humor is my ego’s default when it’s hurt.” He crossed his arms, looking on the field as the teams lined up. I took another step to the side in case Jude looked up before the hike. I knew he’d march right off the field mid-play if he saw Sawyer sidled up against me. “How’s Jude?” he asked tightly.
I glanced over at him, looking purposefully at his jersey tucked into his jeans. Then the place he occupied on the bench. “Kicking ass.”
Sawyer laughed, glancing at the scoreboard. “I can see that. From the looks of it, if he keeps annihilating the rest of the game, he’s going to get about twenty football scholarships tomorrow morning.” Looking up into the stands, he focused on the clump of visor wearing, school color representing scouts. A dozen had turned into two dozen and every last one of them had not taken their eyes off Jude tonight. They were drooling for him, and I was so damn proud of him, I’d made special arrangements for tonight. Much to my dismay, Jude had insisted we take things slow these past few weeks, but with the lingerie I’d picked out and what I had in mind, he’d swear slow off for good.
I forgot Sawyer was there until he cleared his throat. “I’ve missed you, Lucy.”
Damn, I didn’t need this right now. The dance squad was getting ready to hit the field for the halftime show and I was pretty sure Jude had just caught a glimpse of Sawyer beside me. I weaved farther into the cluster of my dance mates.
“Why are you avoiding me?” Sawyer asked, sliding right up beside me again. “What did Ryder tell you to make you turn anti-Sawyer Diamond?”
I’d resisted for three weeks, but I was coming very close to following Jude’s words of advice and kicking him in the balls.
“I’m avoiding you because Jude told me to, because he said you’re not someone I should be hanging around,” I said, feeling no need to explain myself to him, but it felt good to shout a little at him.
“You do everything Ryder tells you to do?”
Okay, now I was seething. Implying I had no backbone and did my boyfriend’s every bidding turned my temper switch to the on position.
Spinning on him, I took a step into him and then another, until he was backed up against the fence. “Listen to me, you arrogant ass,” I said, resting my hands on my hips so I wouldn’t slap him. “I’m avoiding you because I don’t like you. I don’t like the way you look at me, or the way you smile at me, or the way you have this sense of entitlement. I don’t like the way you saunter down the school halls like you own the place, and I really don’t like the way you throw corn kernels at the band table every day. You’re pretentious, and sneaky, and rude,” I said, ready to fire only about a hundred more insults when I heard the buzzer announce the end of the quarter. “And ugly,” I added, knowing this was the one that would sting the most for a guy like Diamond.
“You asked him about Holly yet?” Sawyer said suddenly, pushing off the fence and stepping towards me.
I stepped backwards. “I don’t need to,” I said. “I trust him. Trust, Sawyer. You might want to look that one up in the dictionary and give it a shot one day.”
“And maybe you and your trust should follow him one day to a derelict trailer down in Valley View Park,” he said, ambling back to the bench. “You might find Jude’s the one who needs to look up trust in the dictionary.”
I waited until Sawyer turned before plopping onto the grass. I couldn’t breathe. I couldn’t move. And I had to dance lead in a brand new routine in three minutes. I was pissed at myself for letting Sawyer get to me, and I was even more pissed at myself for letting him drop that seed of doubt in my mind again. I could trust Jude. I did trust him.
So why did I feel my heart in my throat? Why did my stomach feel like it was about to explode? Why did I hate the name Holly on principle alone?
The dance team was making a circle around me, everyone kneeling around me, asking if I needed some water. I shook my head, looking up at where Jude was leading the team off the field. I could trust that man. I was falling in love with that man.
Like he could read my thoughts, he looked over just then, his eyes falling on me, a smile already in position until he took a good look at my face. He stopped abruptly as a wave of players passed him. The smile faded from his face as he jogged across the field towards me.
Not now, not now, I told myself. Halftime when he had twenty of the best coaches in the country here watching him was not the time to bring up Holly. Later, after the game, so I could put the Holly ghost that haunted me to rest.
“Luce,” he said, sliding his helmet off. “Are you all right?” Lifting his hands, he ran them over my face.
No was the honest answer, but yes was the answer I needed to give. Perhaps I needed to review the finer points of trust too.
“I’m fine,” I said, resting my cheek into his hand. “Just a little light headed. I forgot to eat dinner again,” I said, rolling my eyes like I was hopeless.
“Somebody get me some water!” Jude shouted. “And a granola bar or something!” Turning back at me, he kissed me softly. “Dammit, woman, you mean too much to me. Eat, okay?”
I nodded, taking the Styrofoam cup from someone’s hands.
“I’ve got a defensive line that needs a tongue thrashing, so I better get going.” He kissed my cheek and stood up.
“And a couple dozen scouts to impress,” I added, taking another sip.
“That’s already been taken care of,” he said, snapping his helmet back on.
I smiled. “All right, cocky, run along. I’ll wait for you after the game. I’ve got something planned,” I said, lifting my brows.
He stopped, glancing back, his face unreadable. “Hey, Luce, rain check on tonight, okay? I’m sore as all hell already and I’m going to be lucky if I can make it home upright. Tomorrow night?”
That stomach exploding feeling peaked. “Don’t you need a ride?”
“Meyers offered to drive me home,” he said, looking down the field. “That way you won’t have to wait for me and listen to a big baby crying for ice and painkillers.”
I couldn’t talk.
“I gotta go, Luce,” he said, jogging backwards. “I’ll call you tomorrow.” Turning around, he headed for Southpointe’s team tunnel. “Your turn to kick some dance ass on that field, Luce,” he hollered over his shoulder. “Don’t let me down.”
I bent my head over my knees. “You neither.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
I was staging a stake out on my own boyfriend. So much for the trust I was so confident I had in him a couple hours ago.
Southpointe, as anticipated, obliterated the top seeded team in the conference, making Southpointe, for the first time in its history, number one. Jude came back from halftime like a twenty-four point lead was inexcusable, widening that gap by another twenty-one. It was like watching a team of Gods play a team of mortals, Jude playing the part of Zeus.
I’d managed to suck it up and dance my ass off during halftime before running to the girls’ locker room and changing so I could blend into the herd of raving fans in the bleachers. I knew he was looking for me, even hurt I wasn’t down on the sidelines cheering him on, but I was in no mood to cheer. Not even in a mood to pretend to cheer and I couldn’t give him any reason to suspect something wasn’t right.
I couldn’t have him checking over his shoulder for his girlfriend, identifying her crouched down and hoodie up behind the wheel of her car. Because then, like the good, trusting girlfriend I wasn’t, I couldn’t tail him to see where he was really headed tonight.
It was nearing the hour mark following the end of the game, when almost all the players’ cars were long gone, when he emerged from the locker room. Scottie Meyers wasn’t with him, no other player was; he was alone.