Page 26 of The Surprise Play (Nolan U Football #3)

WILY

I gaze up at Satch, wondering what her problem is. Why was she hiding in the aisle? She’d obviously seen me and looked like she was about to bail.

Did I do something wrong?

She seems so nervous and uncertain right now. She won’t look at me, and her face?—

Wait a second.

What the fuck?

A low growl rumbles in my throat as I lightly take her wrist and ask, “What happened to your face?”

She bulges her eyes at me, wriggling her wrist out of my grasp and shaking her head. “What… what do you mean?”

“Your face.” I reach up to gently brush my thumb over the red stain on her cheek.

She flinches away from me, darting a look over her shoulder before pulling out her chair and not taking a seat .

“Satch.” I place my finger under her chin, forcing her to look at me again.

When she’s standing beside me and I’m sitting like this, we’re basically eye level.

I study the blemish, anger rising through me like a firestorm. “Did that bitch come near you again? Did she do this to you?”

“No.” She eases away from me, unbuttoning her coat and shrugging it off her shoulders.

Her hands are shaking as she hangs it over the back of her chair, clearly avoiding eye contact.

I stare at the unblemished side of her face while she takes her sweet time getting organized.

“Satch,” I try again, my voice gruff and ragged.

“It’s nothing.” She bends down to focus on her bag. The zipper sounds loud in the quiet space between us, and I grit my jaw as she takes forever placing her laptop down along with paper and her pencil case.

Finally taking a seat, she glances at me and admits, “I tripped on my way here and whacked my face. It’s embarrassing, and I didn’t want to tell you.”

My insides settle, although I still hate the thought of her falling over and hurting herself.

“Are you okay?” My tone drops to a soft whisper, and I reach for her face again. “What happened?”

She doesn’t fight me so easily this time and lets me look. “I was running late, and I slipped and smacked my face on my doorframe.”

Brushing my thumb over the red mark, I can picture it all so clearly and hate that I wasn’t there to catch her. “Can I get you an ice pack or something?”

“No, it’s fine.” She brushes my hand away and gives me a tentative smile. “Really. I’m okay. I’m a bit of a klutz, so this isn’t new for me.” She lets out a self-deprecating laugh, but it’s too tight.

Is she too flustered for a simple whoopsie, or does it hurt more than she’s letting on?

What actually happened?

I don’t know what to believe, especially when her eyes dart back to the tabletop.

Shit. She’s probably embarrassed, and I’m making a big deal out of this. Forcing her to tell me was a dick move.

Annoyed at myself, I give her arm a light, playful tap. “Hey, don’t worry about it. We all fall on our asses at some point. And I embarrass myself on the regular.”

Her laughter is soft and breathy. “I highly doubt that.”

“Oh no, I definitely do.”

She glances up and I wink at her, hoping she’s starting to feel better.

I don’t know why I’m so compelled to see her smile turn genuine. Maybe it’s because she’s a good, kindhearted person, and I don’t like seeing her hurt.

“I’ve got a bunch of stories I could tell you.

” I lean back in my seat, looking at the ceiling as I pick the most embarrassing one I can think of.

“Like last summer, my sister, Blake, and I were playing hide-and-seek with our little cousins, and I had the best spot. It was under the decking of our beach house, and she had been searching for ages. I was crammed into that space quietly laughing because I could hear how annoyed she was getting, not being able to find me…” I tut and shake my head.

“And then I had to go and stand on a fucking crab. The thing pinched my toe, and I thought I was being eaten by The Meg. I freaked out and started screaming, running out from under the deck and completely beaning myself on the cross beam.”

“Oh no.” She gasps.

“I had a lump on my forehead the size of Everest, and Dad had to crawl under the deck to pull me out of there.” I give her a cringing smile.

“Not my proudest moment. Blake’s never gonna let me forget it.

And that little butt face made sure all my teammates knew about it as well.

She sent pics to Zander and Grady and…” I shake my head.

“That’s awful.” Satch’s face is all sympathy, her eyebrows wrinkling.

“Yeah, if you saw the size of the crab I was freaking out about, you’d understand why everyone laughed themselves silly.” I wink and grin at her, stoked when her lips curve into a twitching smile.

I wait a beat and watch it slowly grow, her face flushing a pretty pink.

Leaning forward, I catch her eye, and she finally looks right at me, her smile growing even brighter.

“So… I figure that’s enough embarrassment for one day. Should we get started?”

She nods, reaching across me to pull my wayward stack of papers toward her and…

Damn, she smells good.

I lightly sniff the air and have to resist the urge to bury my nose in her neck and get a good whiff.

Did she smell this good last time we were together?

I can’t remember.

Whatever she’s sprayed on… holy shit. She mustn’t ha ve been wearing it last time, because I don’t think I would have been able to concentrate.

Leaning back in my seat, I give her a minute to look through my haphazard notes and try to focus on math and numbers and anything that isn’t Satch smelling like a fucking goddess.

What the hell is wrong with me?

She’s my tutor.

My friend.

That’s it.

Glancing at her, I can’t help quickly checking her out. She’s wearing this blue dress that looks good on her. I like the scooping neckline; I can see that line where her boobs are touching and?—

Don’t check her out, man!

Forcing my eyes back to her face, I notice the way her lips move as she tries to decipher my shitty handwriting.

“My professor talks really fast,” I try to explain. “I can’t keep up sometimes.”

“That’s okay.” Her tone is sweet, her smile kind when she looks at me and says, “Why don’t you tell me in your own words what this test is going to be about?”

I open my mouth to respond, and that familiar infection seems to spread right through me again, blank spaces filling up my mind as that pressure takes over.

“Hey.” She pats my wrist. “Breathe in, then breathe out.” She smiles when I do it. “And again… Good. That’s good. Now, let your mind relax… and grab something to fidget with.”

“Oh, yeah.” Rummaging in my bag, I pull out the fidget toy she gave me and focus on the blue plastic as I roll it between my thumb and forefinger and try to think .

“Breathe,” she reminds me.

I suck in another breath, then exhale and tip my head back.

“Okay. Finances. I think the test is gonna be about… investment, maybe? They were talking about growth funds and how we can use them to build personal finances for retirement or something.” I cringe and look at her.

“Does that sound like a thing? Are growth funds a thing?”

She grins, her smile wide and beautiful as she looks through my paperwork. “Growth funds are definitely a thing. Good job. Why don’t we go over what you’ve learned so far this term. You tell me what you can remember, and I’ll compare it to these papers here and we can fill in any gaps.”

Shuffling in my seat, I do my best to recall what I can.

In all honesty, I’m surprised by how much I remember. I don’t necessarily understand it all, but there are a lot of words swimming around in my brain, and they seem to pop out in an order that makes sense.

As usual, Satch stops me when I lose my way, asking me questions to get me back on track and jotting down notes as we go.

I like her handwriting. It looks like a font, all neat and evenly spaced. It’s not scribble like mine. I can actually see each letter of each word like I’m reading a print book. Holy fuck, how does she do that?

“Okay, so my guess is that this test is going to give you a few scenarios about a particular financial situation, and then you’ll be asked to consider the best course of action.”

I nod, a spike of worry cutting through my abdomen .

Shit. I hate being put on the spot like that. Test situations always suck.

“It’s nothing to worry about.” She rests her hand over mine. “I know tests are scary, but you can do this, and there’s no need to rush. There’ll be plenty of time for you to take a breath and have a think before you have to start doing any kind of calculations or writing, okay?”

I nod, not really believing her but not wanting her to feel bad. She is trying to help me, after all.

She pauses, watching me for a second and obviously thinking something through.

“You know what… let’s try this.”

“Try what?” I ask as she stands up and points to her chair. “What are you doing?”

“You sit there.”

My face buckles with confusion, but I do as I’m told, shifting into her seat and wondering what the hell she’s up to.

“Now, I want you to pretend that I’ve just moved to the US, and I have my first job here. My English is good, but it’s not my first language. And I don’t really know how the money systems work in Colorado or across the United States.”

I squeeze my fidget toy. “O-kay.”

“I want you to teach me what I need to do in order to help me grow the finances I already have and what I should be doing with the money I’m now earning.

I’m not a full citizen yet, I’m on a permanent resident visa, so I won’t have access to government benefits.

I’ll need to start by using the stock market for long-term investments, so… how do I do that? ”

My throat restricts, making it hard to swallow. “You…” I point at myself. “You want me to teach you?”

“Yes.” She smiles.

I like the shape her mouth makes when she does that.

She’s got pretty teeth.

Can people have pretty teeth?

I don’t know, but hers are pretty.

Or maybe it’s those plump lips I’m digging.