Page 15

My wet ponytail slapped against my back as I ran across campus trying to get my mind off Matty and my bright-pink vibrator. Breathing heavily, I powered through the pain as my feet pounded against the sidewalk.

“You’re mine.”

I still couldn’t believe those words came out of his mouth. What was he? A caveman? I was desperately trying to convince myself that I hated it, but for some asinine reason, I couldn’t stop thinking about it.

Reducing my pace, I took a few breaths and shook my head. Slowing down meant I thought about Matty more.

Visuals of him watching while I got myself off with the vibrator haunted me, and it didn’t even happen… but why did I want it so badly?

Ouch.

My toe rammed into a large paver, and I lost my footing. Okay, that was an understatement. I was heading straight for the hard sidewalk with nothing to grasp on to. Cringing, I closed my eyes, ready to bear the humiliation of breaking my nose on the concrete when a pair of hands caught me with ease.

When I gained enough courage to open my eyes, I was hovering over the sidewalk, my face so close to the concrete I could almost lick it.

“Coming up,” a deep voice said as I was lifted back onto my toes, and I smiled when I saw who was holding me.

“Erik.”

“Beanie Girl,” he said as though that was my actual name. Then he took his hands away and dusted off my arms even though I didn’t need it. I hadn’t actually fallen, thanks to him. “You still running?”

I huffed out a breath. “I only just started.”

“Not true. You’ve been running all morning. You started when you ran out of class earlier.”

Still flustered, I wiped down my leggings as though that would somehow calm me.

“So you saw that?”

“Kind of hard to miss. You looked like a deer in headlights again, staring at Marty for the longest time before you bolted.”

“Yeah.” I stepped away from him, adjusting my ponytail so I didn’t have to look at him. “You know his name is Matty, right? Not Marty?”

He shrugged, offering me a cool smile. Nothing seemed to faze this guy. “Of course I do. Everyone knows him. He’s the best kicker we’ve had in this school in years. Or, at least, that’s what the papers would have you believe. All I’ve seen is a performance I’d class as subpar.”

“It’s only been a few games, and he’s had some stuff going on.” I offered an explanation, but I hadn’t spoken to Matty properly since we came back. I assumed the looming pressure of becoming a father was the thing making his kicks less accurate.

“Yeah, but there’s always stuff going on.” He pointed at his head. “Part of being an elite athlete is getting out of your head for as long as necessary to win the game. But I gotta ask because I figure you’ll know the answer to this question. Is he an evil genius or something? I heard he took down Southern Collegiate with one stroke of a keyboard. Is that true?”

“I wouldn’t exactly say that.”

“But he did release some videos, right? There were articles about it.”

“He had good reason.”

A smile played on his lips, and he shook his head, looking to the sky wistfully. “Man, I’ve got to find me a girl that will defend me as hard as you do Marty.”

“What do you mean?”

“Not trying to be shady, but it doesn’t matter what I ask, you’ve always got an excuse for him. It’s cute. Why he doesn’t see it as the biggest green flag, I’ll never know.”

“Matty’s my friend. One of my best, so I’ll always stick up for him.” I shrank into myself. The sole reason we were in this mess together was because I was always there for him. He was off being too nice to Olana, and I was acting like a side piece being too nice to him.

“I guess so, but honestly, the guy’s an idiot for not seeing what’s staring right at him.”

“And what’s that?”

“The most devoted woman a guy could ask for.”

Devotion. Fuck. Was I that obvious?

Nodding, I tried to force out a laugh. Why was Matty the first thing everyone wanted to talk to me about? I decided to change the subject.

“Thanks for catching me. I have no doubts I would have ended up with a bloody nose and at least one black eye if you weren’t there.”

“No problem.” He shrugged before pointing to the ground. “You might want to tie your shoelaces next time, though.”

“Shoelaces?”

Glancing down, I laughed. Sure enough, they were untied. My message to Spillit came to mind. This was the meet-cute I’d always hoped for, yet it wasn’t with the guy I wanted. No offense to Erik or anything. He’d been nice helping me out with Matty the other night, but it only complicated things further, and I didn’t want to lead him on when I was still in the throes of mending a broken heart.

I pushed some of my wayward hair out of my face and smiled. “Uh, yeah. You’re right. I’m a klutz. My brothers are always telling me I should buy shoes with Velcro so I don’t have this problem.”

“That’s not a bad idea.” He grinned at me, taking me in. “Funny, though, isn’t it?”

“What?”

“Seeing you on campus again after everything that happened the other night. I watched you run away and then you ended up falling at my feet.”

“Yeah, it’s hilarious,” I said deadpan.

He bit his bottom lip before saying, “I’d probably stop running, though. You’re not going to get far. The universe isn’t going to let you.”

The universe also wouldn’t let me forget about Matty.

“Maybe I need to have a talk with the universe,” I grumbled.

Erik chuckled, elbowing me in the ribs. “Nah, I think it’s fate you need to talk to, because you’re ignoring it.”

I rolled my eyes when he winked, then laughed.

“On that point, I have one question for you,” Erik said.

“Shoot.”

“Are you going to the Players’ Ball on Friday?”

“Uh …”

He raised his hands, stepping back. “I’m only asking because I thought you might be going since Sienna’s covering it for the hockey team. Figured you’d be doing the same for the Wildcats.”

“Yes, I’m going.” But now I was thinking about getting a new dress. How could I wear the one in my room and not think of Matty while I was in it?

Visions of me hiding in a closet while Matty slipped his hand between the slit, pushing the fabric up over my waist and kneeling in front of me wouldn’t stop flooding my mind.

It was wrong, but every fiber of my being felt like it was right. It only confirmed I wasn’t sure my knees could garner enough strength to keep from buckling under the pressure of being in his presence in that dress.

“Are you going?”

He gave me a wry smile, taking me in. “You know it. I can’t miss an opportunity to party with my teammates. We’ve got to make sure we keep our reputation of debauchery alive,” he joked, barking out a laugh.

I just shook my head. “Sorry to say, I think the football team has had that title for a while now. No offense, but I barely hear about the hockey team, much less any of your ‘debauchery.’”

“Haven’t you heard of the naked campus run?”

I shook my head.

“How’d you miss that? It’s how we haze the freshman players. Make them run around campus naked with only their gloves to hide their sticks.” He wiggled his eyebrows as though I should be impressed.

I pulled my lips in before giving him an apologetic look. “I’m sorry. I was too busy covering why Aiden Matthews and his roommates had pink glittered jock straps to care about your antics.”

“Ah, well, you missed some fun, then. But it makes sense because I have no doubts if you saw me running like that, you’d forget about the football team in a heartbeat.” His lip curled as he thought about that day. “If Scotty wasn’t there, everyone would have watched me win, though. Seriously, the dude could barf in a helmet and the women would still line up to rub his back.”

“You know, you mention Scotty a lot. Is that the first time in your life you haven’t been center of attention?”

He pouted his lips and rubbed his chin. “Yup, but it’s not the last.” Then he looked at me seriously. “So, if you’re going to the Players’ Ball, are you going with Marty?”

“Matty.”

“Beanie Girl, you can correct me all you want, but when I’ve christened someone with a new name, that’s what I’m sticking with.”

I adjusted my bag and looked at him with unease, not wanting to answer that question.

“Why does it matter?”

With his hands stuffed in his pockets, he leaned back, letting out an uneasy smile. “If you’re going to the Players’ Ball, Marty’s going and, well, I’m going too.”

“Oh, yeah,” I said meekly.

“I’m guessing Marty thinks we’re still ‘dating,’ right?”

“Yeah,” I drawled out. “I was going to tell him that we’d broken up, but I haven’t seen him long enough to talk about that.” It was a white lie, but I couldn’t exactly say I didn’t have time to tell him because Matty was threatening to use a dildo on me.

“Now, why would you do something as silly as that?”

“Because we aren’t actually dating.”

“As you’ve said several times. Doesn’t mean we can’t keep messing with the idiot that hasn’t chosen you yet.”

“He’s not an idiot, and I really don’t like you saying that.” Mainly because it technically wasn’t true. Matty had made it clear countless times he wanted me, but he was having a kid, which meant there wasn’t room for me.

Erik raised his hands. “Sorry. You’re right, I didn’t mean to offend you, or him. I’m just trying to help you out, so let me start again. Would you like to go to the Players’ Ball with me, Britt?”

“Even though the offer is very nice, I think it’s best that we put a stop to this. It’s not benefiting anyone.”

“Okay, I get it. But how about this? If you get stuck in any difficult conversations, you just call me over, and I’ll be happy to help.”

“That sounds like a good plan.” I smiled, happy that there didn’t seem to be any animosity between us.

“Oh, I just thought, the room is large, you might have a hard time finding me. You know what? You’ll probably have to text me. So, I guess I’ll need your number.” He tried to look nonchalant, but his smirk grew wider.

“My number?”

“Yeah, you know, just in case you need me to help you out, or if I need to talk to you about football. Sienna tells me you’re a big fan.”

“She’s not wrong.”

“Baseball too?”

“Yup.”

“Gah,” he said, looking up to the sky and shaking his fist. “Why didn’t I pick baseball over hockey in high school?”

I laughed. “Because clearly you’re awesome at hockey.”

“Let’s be honest, I’d be great at any sport I put my mind to. But if I’d have known one of the prettiest girls on campus would only look at me if I knew how to handle balls instead of pucks, maybe I would have gone down that route.”

I rolled my eyes. “What a line. Does that normally work for you?”

“Honestly? No one else makes me work this hard.”

“Is that why you’re desperately trying to get my attention?”

“Nah. Sienna just thought we’d hit it off, and she mentioned you a couple of times. She also told me I should persevere before giving up.”

“Wait, she said that?”

“Yeah. Said you were coming out of a situationship that you’d been in since you were a freshman. I can confirm your situationship with Marty McFly is more confusing than the scientific explanation for how the Doc managed to get the Delorean to time travel.”

“I’m going to kill her.” Honestly, it was partly my fault. I should have been honest with her from the start, but as the weeks went by, I stopped talking about Matty, so the whole situation started to become a moot point.

“No. No. Don’t do that. She’s only trying to help you.”

“Yeah, well, she’s screwing things up for me instead.”

“Okay,” he drawled out, not sure where to look. I didn’t blame him. It wasn’t his fault I was in an angry mood. I’d missed my class, and my situation with Matty had been pointed out to me yet again, as though I didn’t already know how crappy it was. “It was worth a shot, but you know what? I get it.”

“Sorry. I wasn’t angry at you. There’s just a lot going on at the moment.”

“No problem, Bean. I get it, but my offer still stands. If you need a helping hand, I’ve got two.”

He raised his hands and wiggled his fingers.

“Thanks.”

I waved him off before continuing my run. By the time I got back to my apartment, I was nowhere closer to forgetting about Matty, but when I checked my phone, I laughed. Erik had airdropped me his number with a message:

Erik: In case you need this. I’m ready to be your superman.

Shaking my head, I strolled into my apartment, not sure how this would play out but worried I’d screwed myself over either way.