Page 279 of Forbidden Billionaires: Vol 4

One of the captains called his name almost immediately.

He ignored the captain for a second. “Are you mad at me because I didn’t text you after you left? I wanted to, but I realized too late that I never got your number.”

“I don’t have a cell phone.”

“Felix,” the captain called again.

“Can we please just go outside and talk?” Felix asked.

I kept my eyes glued to the captains. Felix would forget about me soon enough. Besides, he was wrong about us being on the wrong side of the popular crowd together. Everyone loved him. He wasn’t like me.

Felix raised his hand.

“Yes, Felix?” Coach Carter said.

“Brooklyn and I changed our minds. Can we run instead?”

“Too late for that, your name was called.”

Felix cursed under his breath and joined his team. The captain high fived him like he was thrilled he got so lucky with a late pick. Felix whispered something in the guy’s ear. And the next time the captain called a name, it was mine. There were still ten people standing here that had to be better at this stupid game than me.

I walked over to the team, keeping my distance from Felix. But he quickly appeared at my side.

“You didn’t have to do that,” I said. “I can handle getting called last.”

“I told him to pick you because we’re in the middle of a conversation. Not because I pity you.”

“Good, because I don’t need your pity.”

For the first time Felix wasn’t smiling and joking around. He looked frustrated. And annoyed. All of it aimed at me.

“Is this because of what Matt said?” he asked. “Because I swear to you, I didn’t realize you were drunk. I would have cut you off if…”

“Can we please not talk about this right now?”

“When are we supposed to talk about it then? You’ve been avoiding me all day.”

I’d only run in the opposite direction of him twice today. Notallday. Well, and the whole dodgeball thing.God, why am I about to play this stupid game if he’s talking to me anyway?

Coach Carter blew his whistle, at least saving me from answering Felix.

But it didn’t stop Felix. The game was in full swing. I was trying not to get hit, but all he seemed focused on was talking to me.

“I don’t know about you, but I had a really nice time on Friday.” He caught a ball perfectly even though he wasn’t paying attention.

“You don’t have to lie.”

“I’m not lying.” He used the ball in his hand to block one from hitting me and then launched it across at the other team. It slammed into one of our opponent’s chests.

“Nice one, Felix!” someone called.

He seemed annoyed that other people were talking to him and I wasn’t. He grabbed my arm and pulled me out of the way of another ball. “For someone who loves dodgeball, you’re pretty terrible at it.”

I laughed. I couldn’t help it.

His smile returned.

And for a second I remembered how nice it was when he’d held my hand on Friday night. And how easy it was to get lost in his eyes. I looked away.