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CHAPTER THREE

MORE THAN LOSING

RHODES

Now

A few days later when we get in the car and Levi asks about Elle, I skip the park plan and drive to Elle’s house. We worked our asses off at practice this week, but now I have the afternoon off, and I can’t leave things hanging with Elle like this for another second.

I park in her driveway and get Levi out of his car seat, carrying him to her front door so he doesn’t get tempted to explore. Elle’s eyes widen when she opens the door and sees us.

“Elle!” Levi cries.

“Hi!” She yanks me in the door, as she frantically scans outside.

“Did anyone see you?” she asks, shutting the door.

I was hoping I’d exaggerated the weirdness between us in my head, but it’s still off as all hell. With me. With Levi, she beams when he holds out his arms for her to take him. Once she’s holding him, he lays his head on her shoulder and her eyes close as if she’s soaking it in.

When she looks at me, I realize she’s still waiting for me to answer.

“No, no one saw me.”

“Don’t be so sure of yourself. Brock, next door, is watching my every move and he would love nothing more than to pal up to the Mustangs’ tight end.”

My face curls up in annoyance just hearing her neighbor’s name. The dude kept coming over when I was trying to move Elle in and could barely keep his eyeballs in his head for staring at Elle’s ass.

I have a hard time tearing my eyes away from her myself. Beyond her gorgeous face, she also has a body that just won’t quit. She’s always been the most beautiful girl in the world to me.

And I’m not the only one who thinks so. But there’s something about the way her neighbor ogles her that makes my blood boil.

“Is he bothering you? Do I need to go over there and make my presence known? ”

She rolls her eyes and stalks into the living room. “No. I can handle Brock.”

I can read her expression because I know her so damn well. It says: You’re the one who’s driving me crazy.

“I like my job and I want to keep it,” she says instead.

“Levi asked about seeing you, and I couldn’t resist. He asks about you all the time.”

She deflates and her eyes are sorrowful. “That kills me. I got to see him at Sadie’s the other day, but it wasn’t long enough. He hardly even played with Caleb because he didn’t want to leave my side.”

Since she became a cheerleader, we’ve still snuck in ways for her to see Levi, but it’s not as often as they’re used to seeing each other.

“Lisa’s not messing around though. I don’t want to be on the cheerleader director’s bad side, Rhodes. The other day after practice, she lectured us about fraternization. She's hot about me being at that dance recital. Now that I'm on her radar, she's not going to let up about it. We cannot be seen together.”

I stare up at the ceiling to gain my composure because I really don't want to be at odds with her.

“I hate this,” I say out loud and then cringe.

Normally I can say anything to Elle, but we’re on shaky ground right now.

“I don't want things to be weird between us,” I add. “That's why I'm here, to make sure we’re good. I miss you. I'm worried about you. I’m worried about us. You’re my best friend, and I don’t like hiding our friendship, but I want to be supportive of you being on the team. You look amazing out there…”

She shoots me a nervous smile, which is not like her either. We’re so off our footing, this tension, the skating around each other.

“Are we ever going to talk about it?” I ask quietly.

She glances away, setting Levi in front of the little basket of toys she keeps for him, and then walks into the kitchen. “Would you like something to drink? Water? Gatorade?”

“Elle.” I follow her into the kitchen, and Levi glances at us from across the room before plopping down on the floor to read his book.

He’s happy just being able to look across the room at Elle.

So am I.

But the need to fix this between us is overriding everything else.

“Why talk about it?” she says, finally leveling her gaze on mine. “We already said plenty.”

“I’ve regretted the things I said that night...and wish I’d said more. But I don’t regret kissing you.”

She holds up her hand and shakes her head. “Don’t do this,” she says quietly. “We made a pact, remember?”

“Maybe it’s time we rethink the pact.”