The Trouble with Dating Sue (Grover Beach Team #6) (12 page)

“Even if I wanted to”—which I absolutely didn’t—“I can’t. I’ve got a challenge going, remember?” Eyes narrowed, I took my watch from the locker and fastened it around my left wrist. “You don’t do that with a clingy girlfriend.”

“Ah, this is still about your brother’s girl then? Sue. That’s her name, right?”

“So it’s true? Ethan has a girlfriend now?” Will laughed scornfully, suddenly standing near us, arms crossed over his chest, head slanted. “What did you do to make that happen? Brainwash him over the summer?”

“Shove it, Will,” I grunted and turned away, zipping up my bag.

“Why?” His laughter died. “If you ask me, he’s only using the girl for cover.”

“I’m not asking you, though,” I gritted out. Argh, why tonight, of all nights? I was fed up with his shit.

As expected, he ignored me and just kept spilling bull. “Somebody should tell her that she’s not the type of
person
he’s looking for. Maybe if she grew some balls—”

“You know what?” I snapped, slamming the locker door shut, cutting him off abruptly. “I’m wondering why…” It came out slowly, all right, and it would probably have been wise to think again before saying what was on the tip of my tongue. But when I turned around and locked gazes with my teammate, there was no going back. Eyes in slits, I scrutinized his face, gritting my teeth, and drawled, “There was just a gym full of hot girls, ready to be picked up by a player after the game. And the only person
you
checked out was my brother.” I lifted both eyebrows in an unmistakable way. “How come?”

First, Will Davis’s face turned white, and then red with fury. A vein pulsated hard at his right temple, but words eluded him completely.

Silence from the idiot. At long last. But my mood was successfully ruined. Ignoring T-Rex and the other bystanders, I grabbed my duffel bag and headed for the door.

“I’m not checking out a
fag
,” Will spat behind me.

And that was that. The bag slipped from my hand, landing on the floor with a dull thud in what was suddenly a way too quiet changing room. I whirled around, bristling with anger, and planted a fist right on his chin.

Will staggered back into the metal lockers behind him. Everyone stood frozen, watching in stunned silence as he spit out a mouthful of blood. His face marred by a furious grimace, he lunged at me.

Fists were flying, his and mine. The pain hardly registered. Before I knew it, he’d tackled me, and we both fell over the low bench in the middle of the room. Someone was pulling hard at my collar. It couldn’t be Will, because the asshole was lying under me, slowly turning blue in the face with my forearm pressing on his throat.

“Chris, man—get off him!” Tyler’s voice exploded in my ear among other shouts. “You’re gonna kill him!”

I would, indeed, for insulting my brother one too many times.

More hands grabbed me, pulling me away from Will and twisting my arms behind my back as they hauled me to my feet.

“Stop it, dude,” Brady pleaded with me. “I think he got it.”

Jack shit he got. But with three guys holding me back and two more taking up protective positions in front of a coughing Will on the floor, the fight was over. Muscles still taut with anger, I yanked myself free from my friends.

Blood was dripping down my nose and over my lips. I wiped it away with the back of my hand, striding to the sinks in the shower room. One look in the mirror and I knew I was in trouble. My right eye already turning all shades of
punch-me
, there was no way I could hide this from my mother when I walked out of here. She’d have a fit.

I washed my face with cold water to at least get rid of the red trails, then sniffed back the blood, and shoved a piece of crumbled paper towel into my left nostril, the one still bleeding.

“Feeling better?” T-Rex asked from behind me.

Jaw tight, I met his gaze in the mirror. “Hell, yes.”

He folded his arms over his chest, leaning against the doorjamb. “You know you have to talk this out with Will before next practice.”

“And you know you can bite me.” I turned around, meeting his gaze for real, grinned cynically at his face, and walked past him without another word.

“Before next practice, Chris…” his annoying, sing-songy voice followed me.

Screw the team captain.

“Whatever,” I grunted. The next basketball practice was Monday. That gave me forty-eight hours during which I would
not
think about that jackass Will Davis, who was still hunched over on a bench, struggling to recover from a little shortness of breath.

I grabbed my duffle bag, pulled up my hood, and walked out the door. Time to face the
mom
ster.

AS I PULLED the door open and stepped out into the hallway, I froze. My brother stopped dead, too. One look at my face, and he stiffened. His sharp breath echoed in the corridor.
That bad, huh?
Obviously, he was just about to walk into the looker room, maybe to find me. Mom and Sue sat on the vinyl chairs along the wall. Luckily, Ethan blocked me from their view.

He opened his mouth, but I didn’t give him a chance to say anything. “Let’s go,” I mumbled. Head dipped low, hiding my face inside my hood so my mother wouldn’t see my swelling lip and the shiner just yet, I strode off toward the exit.

The clacking of Mom’s high heels followed me fast. “Chris, wait!” Grabbing a fistful of my sleeve, she spun me around. “What’s up with—” Her face paled with shock, her mouth dropping open.

An endless moment passed in silence. I was prepared for her to explode on the spot, bringing down the entire gym with her when she did. What staggered me, though, was the brief pain in my brow as someone suddenly dabbed at the cut there with a tissue. Wincing, a hiss left me. Then I narrowed my eyes at Sue. What the hell was she doing?

Startled by my reaction, she gasped. Her hand hovered in midair. “Sorry,” she mumbled.

I closed my fingers around her wrist and slowly brought her hand down, searching her face, trying to understand the worry in her eyes. Heck, I didn’t need a nurse right now. But after her unexpected compliment in the car earlier and the way she tended to me now, she made me believe she was feeling a twinge of concern for me. In spite of all the jibes, she actually cared. A funny warm feeling started in my gut.

“I don’t like seeing anyone hurt,” she explained in a low voice, apologizing for her mindless action.

“I'm fine,” I replied, somewhat stoic, not wanting to give away how much her concern touched me just now.

Her hand with the blood-stained tissue slipped away from mine as she dropped her arm. As if she needed to be protected from me, Ethan sidled up to her, locking a hard gaze with mine.

“What in the world happened?” my mother squeaked then, reaching for my chin and forcing me to face her once more.

I heaved a deep sigh, turning my face away. “Leave it, Mom. It’s nothing.” I was a boy. Fights happened between boys sometimes. “Can we go now? I’m hungry.”

“No, we certainly can
not
go,” she hissed. “Look at you! Who did this?”

Thank God, we were alone in the hallway. But I didn’t intend to stand around and wait for my teammates to file out of the changing room and get a front-row seat for the Donovan family drama. Without responding, I strode through the double glass doors out into the parking lot wrapped in darkness. Street lamps flickered here and there and gave away the position of Mom’s lonely SUV.

Fetching the keys from my pocket, I unlocked the doors and tossed my duffle in the trunk. I didn’t get a chance to open the driver’s door, though, let alone climb in. Mom yanked the keys out of my hand and snapped, “Where do you think you’re going?”

What the heck?
We had deal. I won the game, now she was going to take us out for dinner. “To Oceano,” I muttered. “As was the plan.”

“But not with that black eye.” Furious, she folded her arms over her chest, pulling her cardigan closed over her dress. “And we’re not leaving until you tell me what happened.”

Will called Ethan a goddamn fag. I tried to kill him.
“Someone had to shut up Will Davis, that’s what happened.”

That bit of information didn’t sit well with her. “What?” she whispered, more than just angry now. Oh no, I had
disappointed
her. “You started it?”

“I didn’t start it, no,” I defended myself. “He got on my nerves, and I broke his face.” Since Ethan was near again, I leveled the briefest scowl at him. If anyone was responsible for this fight, it was my brother. He kept playing hide-and-seek with us. Left us guessing. And now he brought a girl home. What for? To fool our mom? Our friends? The entire
town
? Perhaps Will was right. Sue wasn’t his girlfriend, no matter how much Ethan tried to act like it. And in the end,
she
would be the one getting hurt.

Mom should leave me alone and have a go at Ethan instead.

But then, how would that change anything? If my brother felt how I believed he did, there’d always be morons like Will who’d make his life hell. He shouldn’t have to endure that for something that just
was
.

Anger swamping me once more, I grabbed the keys from my mother, pulled the soaked piece of paper towel out of my nose, and tossed it away. “He deserved it, so can we drop it and go eat?” For me, the argument was over.

For Mom, it obviously wasn’t. “What restaurant do you think will let you in with a bloody face like that? Certainly not St. James Steakhouse!” she barked. “And what will Susan think of you now? We promised to take her out to celebrate your team’s and
your
victory tonight.”

Ugh. As if the throbbing pain in my head and getting a lecture weren’t enough, she also had to give me a bad conscience. Mom stabbed a finger at my chest and then pointed at Sue. “You will apologize to your brother’s friend this minute for ruining our evening. And she even tended to you.”

Slowly, I moved my gaze to Susan. More than sorry for a ruined celebration, I felt sorry for her being pulled into an argument with my mother. If I could have, I would’ve kept her out of this. Ethan should have taken her for a walk the moment the argument started. Instead, the bastard simply stood there and watched the tragedy unfold.

To avoid making her feel any more uncomfortable than she already did, judging by the obvious horror in her eyes, I caved. There was time to discuss things with my family later, when we were alone. For now, I inhaled a deep breath and told Sue, “I’m sorry.”

Definitely not expecting that from me, she nervously chewed on her bottom lip. A second later, she moved closer to Ethan, again, like she needed protection from me. What the hell was wrong with the two of them? Jaw set, I narrowed my eyes, not at her, but at my brother. He and I were going to talk about a few things tonight, whether he wanted to or not.

As if being ripped out of a trance, Sue suddenly stepped forward and placed a hand on my mother’s arm. She didn’t look at me as she told her, “Really, there’s absolutely no need to apologize to me. I don’t care much for fancy restaurants anyway. We can just leave and…and…you can drop me off at my house. I’ll be fine with that.”

Her unease made my heart twinge with sympathy. She was apparently wishing for this night to be over already as much as I was.

It was Ethan who changed tack then and startled us all out of the awkwardness. “Bullcrap,” he said in a light tone as he rolled his eyes. “Of course you’re coming with us. We’ll go get a winner’s meal.” He clapped me on the shoulder next, like he’d done so many times before in real brotherly moments. “No one cares about your ugly face at Burger King.”

A smirk pulled hard at the edges of my lips. “Right back at ya, bro.”

Next, Mom’s hand shaped to my cheek. Carefully, she turned my head back to her and sighed. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have yelled at you.” There was a tremble in her fingers that made me think she was in more shock with all this than I’d assumed.

I nodded at her, not ready to rehash this conversion, then turned away, and climbed into the car. Silently, the others got in, too. Before I could drive off, though, my mother dropped a bomb as she buckled herself in. “By the way, you’re grounded for the next two weeks, buddy.”

I fixed her with an open-mouthed stare. Did she still not understand that none of this was my fault?

On the other hand…I’d picked a fight tonight. One that left my nose bruised and swollen and my right eye shining probably violet by now. The punishment could have been a lot worse.

*

Nobody spoke on the drive to Arroyo Grande. The air in the car was so thick with embarrassment, worry, and regret that one almost had to shovel it aside just to see through the windshield again. As for me, I only felt a throbbing ache in the right half of my face and the stinging pain of my tongue as I bit it to keep myself from asking Sue what the hell she thought she was doing tonight.

Coming to my game instead of going out with my brother. Telling me I smelled good. Tending to my injury.
And
defending me in front of my mother.

She hated my guts. At least that’s what I’d read in her continuous jibes the past few days. Was I wrong? Did she actually have a softer side, too? Like that moment when she let me feed her a piece of kiwi? What did I do in those moments to bring out this far more likable side of her? A side that fit her gummy-bear eyes and sassy ponytail a lot better than a snappy tongue. A side that intrigued me.

Stopping at a red light, I sneaked a glance in the rearview mirror. Sue’s eyes were on me. She didn’t look away when our gazes locked. We couldn’t do this forever, I needed to concentrate on the road, but now I knew she was watching me. Why was she, when Ethan sat beside her? She should talk to him. Call him out for not caring for a girlfriend. But she didn’t. Every damn time I checked the mirror after that, I found her mesmerized eyes pinned to my face.

I’d known this girl for five days now, and she confused me more than anyone else I knew. Challenge be damned, I was starting to want to understand her. Like really get to know her and find out what was behind that snappish façade of hers. I wanted to find out what it would be like to share a laugh with her like Ethan so often did.

A new song started to play on the radio. A duet from Charlie Puth and Meghan Trainor. For some reason I was sure this song would forever remind me of the copper taste on my tongue…and Sue shyly looking into my eyes through the mirror.

There were a number of empty parking spots in front of Burger King, so we had free rein. Except for a few stray patrons, the restaurant was mostly empty, too. Obviously, we’d picked a good time for dinner.

While I followed Mom to the counter, Ethan secured one of the tables in the back. Halfway through, he obviously noticed that Sue wasn’t following him. She stood, indecisive, between him and us, probably too shy to let us place her order, too.

“Come on,” Ethan prompted her, nodding his head toward his chosen table.

Sue cut us a brief glance and then started to walk away, but I reached for her hand and spun her around. Surprised, she stared into my face while I took my time studying hers. “What do you want?” I asked in a low voice, but with more persistence than I should have, considering she was Ethan’s…girl…friend?

Did she notice how I still held her hand and brushed the tip of my index finger back and forth over her skin? Because I had trouble not noticing how velvety soft her hand felt. Soft…and
cold
.

She swallowed. Two or three seconds passed, but to me it seemed like minutes, and she still owed me an answer.

Ethan and Mom must have assumed she was struggling to decide between a chicken sandwich or cheeseburger. Maybe that’s what I’d asked her anyway. Or not.

Casting a brief glance in Ethan’s general direction, she cleared her throat, then looked at me again with a small smile on her lips. “I have a soft spot for sweet and sour.”

Oh-kay. Make sense of that, Donovan.

A chuckle rocking my chest, I let her hand slip away. And only when she was gone did I realize I’d been the one to let go first.

Shaking my head at how this affected me, I sidled up to Mom with a smile and ordered a stack of cheeseburgers, one of them for Sue, and fries for everyone.

Sue and Ethan were having a hushed chat across the table as we walked toward them, but when they saw us coming, all conversation died. I parked myself next to Susan and handed the food out. Three burgers remained on my tray. I annihilated them while discussing the game with my brother. Mom didn’t like me talking with a full mouth, I could read that by her continuous narrow-eyed look. But she’d never played a hard game of basketball in her life. She didn’t know how exhausting it was. I was hungry. There was no time to waste on manners. My body felt like someone had stuck an IV into my arm and made me bleed out all my energy over the past hour. I had to refill.

When my fries were eaten up before I’d finished my last burger, I sneaked one from Sue’s tray. And another. And one more.

She didn’t seem to mind, didn’t even give me a funny look, so I assumed it was okay to help myself to another handful. Her pile of fries was vanishing fast. Soon, only one lonely stick of fried potato lay there helplessly. I reached for it, but Sue was faster. She stuffed it into her mouth before I could.

“Meany,” I whispered, amused as she provocatively munched the last fry with extra pleasure, grinning at my face.

“Hey, you can’t promise to treat me for dinner, then eat half my meal,” she complained. Then she leaned in a little closer and added in a low voice, “Anyway, it’s not my fault you gave away your chance at an unhealthy, half-pound steak that might have filled you up a little better.”

Was that a jibe again? Funnily enough, it didn’t feel like one. It felt more like she was drawing me into a bubble of conspiracy. A place where only she and I could be right now. “Ah, I don’t care.” I shrugged it off and let her in on a secret of my own. “Ethan’s steaks are much better, anyway.”