Second Down (Moving the Chains Book 2) (17 page)

Chapter 18

Listen to Your Heart

Eva

            
 
Rob storms up to my locker clutching the rose, note, and protein shake I’d left on his. “What the hell is this?”

              I glance around the hallway. It’s still early and thankfully, Kerri isn’t here yet. She’d probably be grinning like the Cheshire cat over this scene.

              “Well, you never agreed to go to Homecoming with me, so I thought maybe you needed a little convincing? I might never have been to a dance before, but I know some of the guys pull out all the stops to get a girl to agree to go with them.”

              “Exactly,” he fumes. “I’m supposed to be asking you, not the other way around.”

              “You really don’t get the whole concept of gender equalism, do you?” It’s all I can do not to laugh in his face. If he wants to fall for classic reverse psychology, I’m not about to stop him. At least he isn’t outright saying no. “I don’t know what the equivalent of flowers are for guys, so I went with a classic. Red symbolizes love, but I can go with yellow tomorrow if that works better for you.”

              He quirks an eyebrow at me. “What does yellow symbolize?”

              “Friendship.”

              Somehow, that only manages to make him angrier. “No more roses!”

             
Keep cool, Papageorgiou. Don’t lose your temper. Just give this your all, and if he still walks away, that’s on him; not you.

              “Really? Nothing similar at all? Would a new video game convince you? Who’s your favorite professional athlete? Maybe a jersey would get you to say yes?” I drop my voice to a whisper as the halls fill with our classmates arriving at their own lockers. I can’t believe I’m practically begging. Who the hell am I, anymore? I got one tiny taste of Rob that I can’t even remember, and now I’m some kind of addict.

              He crowds my space, nearly shoving me into my locker. If it weren’t for the somewhat relaxed expression on his face, I might feel threatened. “Come on.”

              “Come on, what?”

              “I’ll sit with you at lunch, but that’s hours away. Hug me now and get your fill to last you until then.” A tight smile pulls at his lips. Not enough to make me believe he really wants what he’s offering.

              Still, I can’t pass up his mouthwatering scent and ironic comfort. I press my face to his hard chest and wrap my arms around his waist. Surprisingly, he embraces me back.

His warm breath tickles my ear when he lowers his face. “No more asking me to Homecoming. That’ll only make the rumors worse. I promise I’ll try harder to act normal, so there’s no more blowback on you.”

I squeeze my eyes shut to staunch the threatening tears. It’s so fucked up that this guy who makes me feel safe can bruise my heart as he hugs me.

He nuzzles his face against me, pressing a quick kiss to my cheek. “Kisses are a guy’s equivalent of flowers, Evie. But you don’t have to do that for me.”

He pulls away, then strides down the hall to his own locker.

Was that kiss an act? Or real?

Chapter 19

Broken

Rob

Evie limps off the field, her shirt soaked with sweat and clinging to her body. She pulls off the old helmet I found in my garage that fits her better than anything Coach could have offered her from the locker room. I wasn’t about to take chances with her skull after her last concussion. Her hair cascades down in a tumble of curls; she shakes it out behind her like a cape.

I’m damn near ready to wave the white flag over the sight.

She’s every football player’s wet dream, coming toward me on the sideline like some kind of ghost from the past.

Sharp, stabbing pain races through my gut, and I swallow thickly. Glancing at my teammates beside me to see if they’re watching her, I breathe a sigh of relief to find they’re too busy ogling their own girlfriends.

She smiles up at me, but it doesn’t reach her eyes. She’s exhausted.

“Did you wreck my band, Falls?”

Of course she’s more worried about her band than her pretty head. “No, I was fucking awesome just like I told you I would be. Did anyone tackle you? Make you run?”

“No.” She rolls her eyes. “I have a feeling
someone
made sure they’d go easy on me. You don’t happen to know who, do you?”

I hand her the bottle of water I filled fresh from the fountain before I came out here. She grabs it and sucks from it like a greedy little thing.

“I have no idea what you’re insinuating.”

There was very little insinuating in the weight room this morning. I flat-out threatened my teammates. If anyone so much as laid a finger on Evie during this stupid practice switch, I’d make what I did to Jackson look like child’s play.

“Are you sore? I know Coach was planning to make you girls run drills. Give you a little taste of what we do every day.”

She releases her lips with an audible pop that catches the attention of several guys close enough to have been drooling at the sight of her suckling the water bottle. A quick death glare from me has them averting their eyes.

“Superjock, I will never ever call you a dumb jock again. I feel like I’m doing to die.”

I wince at her poor choice of words, but she doesn’t seem to notice, too busy draining the rest of the water. “You just called me Superjock.”

“Yes,” she pants. “And I mean it. You are an amazing, skilled, badass, completely masochistic quarterback.”

Oh, she has no idea what a masochist I am.

“I’d like to say that I’ll see you at six, so we can go to the mall and pet shelter like we planned, but honestly? I don’t know if I’ll be able to move in a few hours.” She rolls her neck and moans as if she needs to prove the point.

Sweaty shirts, flowy hair, moans? I don’t think she’s going to die so much as possibly kill
me
.

“Take a really hot shower when you go home, and maybe two or three ibuprofen. It’ll help. I’ll still be there at six, and we’ll see how you’re feeling by then.”

“Whatever you say, QB.” She shrugs, but immediately winces.

I drop my helmet to the ground at my side. My brain screams for me to stop, but my damn body operates on auto-pilot until my hands rest on her shoulders, massaging her obvious aches.

Her eyes slide closed and she throws her head back, exposing her long, slender throat to me. “Satan, is that you?”

Choking back my laughter isn’t even an option. “What?”

“Your skill is unholy. I might melt into a puddle of goo if you keep that up.”

“Are you putty in my hands, my girl?” It slips out. I bite my cheek until I taste blood for that infraction.

“Uh huh,” she groans.

              Coach blows the whistle, telling us to get our asses on the field so we can get in a half hour of actual practice. Thank God for good timing.

              She snaps her gaze to me when I remove my traitor hands. “I’ll see you at six, Superjock.”

              I watch her walk away, knowing I’ll still see her even when she’s not around.

***

Evie really could be a crazy cat lady. She’s sitting in the middle of the pen, two cats on her lap, a cat on her shoulder, one perched in her arms, and a kitten is trying its best to climb up her back. She laughs and takes turns nuzzling them all like she’s in the height of her glory.

I’m not even trying to pretend that I’m not jealous of the little fur balls.

“I thought you said your cat plan was on hold until after college?” A loud calico climbs into my lap like I’m her personal throne. Her constant meowing sounds more like a growl. I think she’s pretending to be a dog. She’s almost cute. Right up until she digs her razor-sharp claws into my legs. I lift her off me to set her on the ground. She leaps back into my lap and whips her tail under my nose. The cat whisperer, I am not.

“I know, but they’re just so adorable. Can’t we stay and play for a few more minutes? Then we can go get a goldfish or hermit crab or something.”

“I don’t think this one is playing.” The cat is staring at me as she continues to speak her weird-cat language. I don’t know if she’s telling me a story or begging for a treat.

Evie’s laughter rips my attention away from the mangy-looking animal. “I don’t think so, either. More like she’s marking her territory. You have yourself a new admirer, Falls. It’s not so surprising really. You kind of have a habit of making girls fall for you.”

Evie’s giggles cut out, and she aims a glare over my shoulder. I twist around to locate the source of her displeasure.

              Kerri’s standing just outside the cat enclosure, smiling at the ridiculous scene. “I never pegged you for a cat person, Rob.”

              I don’t respond, too busy searching the area for Eddie’s sorry ass. I felt bad for Kerri getting paired up with him on Court, but I’ve been too busy with Evie to make sure he hasn’t pulled any shit with Kerri.

              “Would you mind helping me out with something for a minute?” Kerri asks.

              Hell no am I leaving Evie alone. “Where’s Eddie?”

              “Oh.” She shrugs. “His younger brother got a flat tire. He ran out to help him change it. Said he’d be back to pick me up in a bit.”

              I turn to Evie to make sure she’ll be okay without me, but she’s ignoring us. Her attention is solely focused on the felines surrounding her like she’s their queen. I guess she won’t miss me if I go help Kerri.

              I dump the calico from my lap and exit the enclosure, leaving Evie to her happy place. “What can I help you with, Kerri?”

              She grabs my hand and drags me to a different wing of the shelter. “I want to adopt another bunny, but I need a second opinion on which one to choose.”

              I know from Rachel that Kerri already has several rabbits at home. It’s kind of hard to escape being spoon fed information like this since Rachel keeps me company when I’m home alone. Unless Rachel and Kerri are out somewhere together. They’re not just cousins; they’re also best friends.

              “Do you want to grab a bite to eat after we’re done here?” Kerri pushes open the door to the bunny room, motioning me to follow her.

              My appetite is slowly returning, but the mere thought of Evie and I going on a double dinner date with Kerri and Eddie curdles my stomach. Hell, I don’t even want Kerri going on a date with that asshole. “Are you all right being paired up with him? He hasn’t said or done anything to you? Because if you need me to have a little talk with him, I will.”

              And by little talk, I mean with my fists. I’ve been so caught up in shit since Evie’s attack that I almost forgot I still have to make Eddie pay for what he did to her.

              Kerri’s tinkling laughter echoes off the tiled walls. “Just because he got a little revenge on Eva for making him look like a fool doesn’t mean he’s a bad guy.”

              She’s too busy playing with a floppy-eared bunny to notice me openly gaping at her. “How in the hell do you call what he did a ‘little revenge?’”

              Shit. I’ve probably said too much.

              Kerri doesn’t seem to notice my slip. She moves to the next cage and pulls out a brown thing that looks way too big to be a rabbit. “Please, Rob. Tell me she hasn’t fooled you. She strung that poor guy along for months last year, then refused to take things to the next level. She got what was coming to her.”

              I can’t believe my ears. She can’t seriously believe what she just said. I bite my tongue instead of replying. My blood pressure’s going through the roof, and I don’t want to say anything I can’t take back. Evie made me promise to not talk about it anyway.

              “I’m just glad you dumped her before she could play you the same way she played him.”

              Am I hallucinating this entire conversation? “What are you talking about, Kerri?”

              She puts the bunny back in its cage and rises to her feet, gazing at me with an expression full of pity. “It’s stupid that you were put together on Court after you broke up with her. But at least after this week, you won’t have to deal with her anymore.”

              Oh my God. I’m such a selfish asshole. I never once considered how it would look if people thought Evie and I weren’t together after her attack. All I thought about was getting rid of the pain that felt like it was ripping me limb from limb. Sure, Evie confessed to me that she’s taking heat for my shitty play lately, but I never stopped to consider
why
. Do people think I abandoned her? That I don’t want her anymore? I don’t want to hurt her; don’t want her to remember any of it.

              “I never broke up with Evie.”

              Kerri’s eyes widen. “You didn’t? She actually dumped
you
? Did she not think you did enough for her or something? Typical Eva,” she scoffs. “Only a self-centered bitch like her would throw away a guy that actually saved her life.”

              Kerri’s words punch me in the face.

              “She didn’t break up with me. We’re still together.” Jesus Christ. Did I say that aloud? Was that my voice?

              Kerri chews on her lip for a moment, studying me. “And yet you’re here with me and not with her.”

              What the fuck is going on here today? “You asked me for my help. I wasn’t planning to be gone from Evie long or to
abandon
her.”

              But that’s exactly what I’ve done, haven’t I? Alex was right all along.

              I gotta get my shit together.

              Starting right now.

              “I’ll see you tomorrow at school. Just…be careful with Eddie. Don’t go anywhere alone with him. You can’t believe all the rumors you hear.” I head for the door and back to where I’m supposed to be.

              Evie’s still in the same spot in the cat pen, humming and cooing at her little friends.

              I sit down beside her, close enough that the smell of her overwhelms my senses. “So am I getting you a new crazy cat lady starter package or an early birthday present today?”

              She raises an eyebrow at me. “What’s the difference?”

              “Well, the way I see it, the first option means you’re going back to being lonely by choice. The second…maybe not.” I reach over to pet the black cat curled up on her lap.

              “And does the second option mean I’m not going to be lonely…
with
you?”

              I blow out a breath. God, this is hard. Harder than before. “Maybe. If you want. I’m not…I’m sorry I haven’t been a very good friend to you since the attack. I’ll try harder. I’ll even talk to the therapist this week instead of just sitting there. I dunno.”

              She picks up the calico that’s sniffing at my pant leg. Holding her in front of her face, she gestures with her paw, talking in a high-pitched, squeaky voice. “Take me home, Rob. I’ll be the best therapist you ever had.” She places the cat in my lap. “Seriously. I know something about useless therapy. That’s why I haven’t bothered to go this time around. Gatoula really was the best thing for me. Sometimes it helps to talk to someone who
can’t
really listen and definitely won’t respond. For some reason, saying it aloud is easier than trying to work through it in your head.”

              “When were you in therapy? After what happened with Eddie?”

              “What?” She scrunches up her nose. “Why would I have gone to therapy after Eddie?”

              I shrug, then glance around to make sure the asshole didn’t sneak back in when I wasn’t paying attention.

              “Anyway…no. It had nothing to do with Eddie. It was years ago. I was in sixth grade.” She swipes her slender hand down the cat’s fur in long, rhythmic strokes. “My dad…he, uh…he beat me up this one time. It was only once,” she rushes. “I wasn’t an abused kid or anything like that, but my mom and grandparents went batshit over it and insisted I see a therapist. She was creepy as fuck and made me really uncomfortable. Yeah…so. Get a cat. They’re just better. Trust me.”