I knew he was a soccer player. Whether he really was any good, I had no idea, but he had the attitude of a star player. He acted like he was God’s gift. I knew from Neil that he’d just moved to town, so it was quite possible he didn’t know anyone yet. Unlike Ox this guy looked like he’d be extremely popular with the ladies, yet he probably didn’t know any so he was equally useless.
Awesome.
Other than that we had Neil, who’d already snagged his one ace-in-the-hole female athlete with Avery.
As for Avery, she’d come up just as empty-handed as Neil since most of her lacrosse friends had left town for the summer. And then there were Doug and James, two guys who were currently so caught up in their phones that they weren’t paying any attention to me.
In short, we were still at square one.
We didn’t make much progress after that. We talked strategy a bit, but with the knowledge that we might not even have a team to begin with, it was hard to get anyone too pumped about tactics and positions.
It was a relief to pay the bill and get out of there. Levi and Ox took off immediately, heading in different directions as soon as we hit the parking lot. Neil and Avery headed off together and I gave them some space.
James and Doug lagged behind and it was soon clear why. “Dude,” James said in an over-the-top bro voice.
“Aw yeah, dude,” Doug responded.
I turned to see where they were looking and immediately wished I hadn’t. They’d spotted a group of girls sitting at a picnic table outside the ice cream shop next door.
Callie.
I would have recognized her anywhere under any conditions so the fact that she was sporting a baseball cap and an oversized tracksuit jacket did nothing to disguise her in my eyes.
Not that she was going for a disguise. Callie had always been a tomboy, more at home in a baseball cap and ponytail than skirt and dresses.
Not many girls could make it look so good.
Freakin’ A. This was what I was talking about. Thoughts like that made it impossible to forget that this was Callie. Callie. Eric’s off-limits little sister.
My neighbor and friend and….oh hell, what were Doug and James doing?
They’d already crossed over in the direction of the girls and I was standing there torn down the middle. To go over there meant having to deal with Callie, and the next time I talked to her it needed to be in private so I could apologize.
Just the thought of being alone with Callie made my stomach clench and my blood catch fire. That portion of my brain that had a mind of its own was already dreaming up ludicrous fantasies of how she’d take off that baseball cap and shake out her hair, giving me that pouty-lipped smile she did sometimes when she was teasing.
I drew in a deep breath and cursed out my stupid, stupid brain. I just wanted to go back to seeing Callie as Eric’s little sister, but I couldn’t. It was like a switch had been flipped and there was no going back.
I wanted to run. But then again, I didn’t. It was always like this when I was around her these days. Ever since the damn injury.
I wanted to make her smile, but I was terrified of crossing that invisible line. I wanted to get closer to her, but I needed to keep my distance.
Holy hell, when had my best friend’s little sister become my own personal albatross?
“Hey, ladies,” Doug said. That surfer boy drawl had all the girls looking up at once.
James positioned himself at Doug’s side. “What are you girls up to tonight?”
My indecision came to an abrupt halt without me even realizing it. My feet started in their direction.
I shouldn’t do this. I should let it go and talk to her when my mind was clear and I could be reasonable…
I heard Doug murmur something and the girls all laughed.
Oh hell no. There was no way I was going to let these two hit on my girl.
No, my friend.
I meant…I let out a rough exhale as I stormed over to their table. I meant, Eric’s sister.
“Hey bro,” James said as I reached them. “Good news!”
My gaze was fixed on Callie and the tentative smile and wave she gave me as I approached. I stared back, completely at a loss as to how I should respond.
“Yeah man,” Doug added. “These girls are softball players.”
It took a heartbeat for those words to click and when they did I turned to Doug with a glare, my heart pounding like crazy as my mind envisioned what exactly would happen. Callie on my team, playing ball together like old times, cracking jokes and getting close.
I could picture it clearly because it was pretty much the entirety of my relationship with her. We’d always horsed around and played ball together, ever since we were little kids. The problem was, last summer everything had changed…for me.
Not for her, clearly.
Then the diagnosis had come back and all the life-changing realizations that had come with that. And then over winter break…well, let’s just say it all became clear that any dreams I’d been harboring about me and Callie were just fantasies.
But if I had to spend more time being Callie’s buddy, being her friendly confidante and her pal who she joked around with…
“She can’t,” I said quickly.
I couldn’t. I couldn’t do it. It was one thing to have that sort of friendship before. I’d gone quite some time in a lovely state of denial. But once my eyes had opened, it was impossible to close them again.
Speaking of eyes… All eyes were on me, including Callie’s, and I quickly amended what I’d said. “They can’t.” I cleared my throat. “They’re here for that softball clinic, they’ll be gone by the end of the week.”
I was the voice of doom. I could feel their stares, a mix of confusion and mild disgust at the giant party pooper in their midst.
Callie was the first to pipe up, her voice sweet and charming and so optimistic it hurt. “Actually, Maddie could—”
“Come on, guys,” I interrupted as if she hadn’t spoken. Was it rude? Hell yes, it was. I’d ignored her outright, spoke over her to silence her. I was a jerk and I was going to hell.
But you know what? In the long run, she’d thank me. If I had to stay here and listen to her talk, if I had to interact with her for one second longer…
“But—”
I heard her small protest, but this time she was drowned out by Doug who was already asking everyone where they were from, starting with the two girls who were smiling up at him like he was a rock star.
Doug and James had clearly moved on from their beneficent team-related motives—and, let’s face it, that was probably just a ploy to strike up a conversation with a group of pretty girls anyway. I could dimly note that the other three girls at the table were cute. But for me, they were washed out in the glow that was Callie.
She was staring up at me, her gaze intently fixed on me while the others were focused on Doug, who was chatting them up about something inane. I wasn’t listening. How could I when Callie was watching me like that? My gaze met hers and she wouldn’t let go.
It was like she was talking to me silently, and I had the sinking sensation that I could get trapped in that warm stare. I could drown in those eyes with their infinite tenderness and their understanding and their laughter.
“You guys should come,” I heard James say.
What? Come where? Ah hell, I’d been so engrossed in Callie’s freakin’ eyes that I’d missed whatever Doug and James had been saying.
“Where’s the party?” one of the girls asked.
Party? What party? A panicky sensation started up in my gut as I realized where this was heading. Oh no. Apparently talk had turned from chit-chat to party plans. The guys had mentioned some house party to me earlier and I’d cried off. I wasn’t a big party guy and today of all days I wasn’t in the mood. I had big plans of going home to wallow in disgust at the poor way I’d handled my first run in with Callie.
But now…
Well, now the conversation was
getting way out of hand.
“Ooh, a party,” a petite girl with brown curly hair said, her eyes wide with excitement.
“Maddie.” Callie’s voice and expression held a world of warning. In that one word she’d managed to speak volumes. This is a bad idea. We shouldn’t. We need to get back.
Even I could hear all that but her friend was asking for details and the other two girls were clearly on board as well.
Meanwhile, I was spiraling. My mind was leaping ahead to imagine Callie at a college party filled with drunk frat bros and handsy, flattering charmers.
“They can’t,” I said. She can’t. Callie didn’t belong in a place like that. She could get hurt, she could be taken advantage of. She was way too sweet to be surrounded by guys with a one-track mind. “They can’t go to the party.”
I was so busy convincing myself of just how bad an idea this party was when I realized that I’d just interrupted an ongoing conversation.
Once again everyone was staring at me with looks of surprise.
The girl Callie called Maddie finally said, “Excuse me?”
She did not sound pleased. Her brows were arched in challenge.
“They can’t,” I repeated, this time directing my words of warning to Doug and James. I couldn’t bring myself to meet Callie’s gaze again, though I could feel her eyes on me. “They’re only in high school.”
One of the girls made a scoffing sound. “Thanks, Dad, but I go to parties all the time at home.”
“Yeah, relax dude,” James said, giving me a not-so-subtle look to back off. “They’re going to be seniors, they’re not little kids.”
That reminder made my throat constrict with something close to panic. I pointed a finger in Callie’s direction without looking her way. “She’s a kid,” I said a little too emphatically. “She is just a kid.”
I heard her gasp but I still didn’t look. I was caught up in something I couldn’t explain. I knew without a doubt that I looked and sounded like a crazy person and Doug and James’s matching looks of confusion confirmed it.
“Well, I think we should go,” one of the girls said. Maybe that Maddie girl, but I couldn’t be sure. I still couldn’t bring myself to look at the girls at the table because I didn’t want to see Callie’s expression.
I could feel myself losing this battle and the panicky sensation grew worse…as did my insanity. “They have a curfew.”
It was definitely Maddie who laughed loudly at that one. “I hate to break it to you, Dad, but we already snuck out. Another hour or so playing hooky won’t make a difference.”
The two girls who’d been so excited at the prospect of a party grew even more animated with their excitement now that Maddie was on board.
I could feel my grip on this situation slipping, if I ever had any control here in the first place. I looked to Doug and James, hoping one of them might understand. This was Callie. Sweet, innocent, trusting Callie. She could not go to a party with a bunch of drunk guys who wouldn’t understand that beneath that pretty face and the hot body was the heart of an angel.
“She doesn’t drink,” I said, jabbing a finger in Callie’s direction.
“But I do,” one of the girls piped up, her voice laced with laughter. “And I love to party.”
Ah hell. Doug and James weren’t even looking at me, they were grinning at the girls like a couple of salivating dogs.
“They can’t go,” I started again. But no one was paying attention to me. The guys were watching the girls, and the girls were all looking to Callie, as if waiting for her final verdict.
I turned to face her too, and blinked in surprise at the anger that flushed her face and lit up those magnificent eyes.
“We’re going,” she said.
Chapter Three
Callie
Forget jumping out of planes. Screw sneaking out for ice cream. Neither of those could match the adrenaline rush that had me shaking right now. But this adrenaline wasn’t born out of fear, it came from sheer, blinding rage.
“She doesn’t drink,” I mimicked in a childish sing-song voice better suited for a five-year-old. “Who does he think he is?”
Gabrielle and Lacey, two of our teammates who’d joined us for our little outing tonight, talked amongst themselves in excited whispers about the party we were heading to. It was their first college party, I gathered, and they were ecstatic.
Me? Not so much. I was only heading to this party out of spite.
Maddie cleared her throat and when I glanced over I saw her giving me nervous looks out of the side of her eye. “Um, Callie, you don’t drink,” she pointed out.
“Right,” I said. “I know that, and you know that, but Noah has no idea what I do or don’t do.”
I caught Maddie’s arched brow. “Um, he’s known you since you were in diapers. It sound like he knows you fairly well.”
“Not anymore,” I said. “He’s barely said a word to me since he left for college last summer.” I crossed my arms over my chest in righteous indignation. “For all he knows I’m a wild party animal these days.”
Maddie let out a snort of amusement at the mere thought and I dropped my arms from my ridiculous defensive stance. Okay fine, so maybe he could gather that I hadn’t changed that much. Maybe in his eyes I hadn’t changed at all.
She’s just a kid.
I inhaled swiftly as the words burned through me, just as humiliating as they’d been the first time he’d said them. “I’m not a kid,” I told no one in particular. “I’ll be eighteen in a few months. And even if I am still a minor, it’s not like he’s an old man.” I turned toward Maddie. “He’s not even two years older than me. More like one and a half.”
Maddie just widened her eyes and nodded, because what was she supposed to say to that? I was arguing with no one.
I tapped my hand on my thigh as Maddie drove us away from campus and into the rural surroundings where James and Doug had told us to go. It was an old farmhouse, apparently, that now housed a bunch of early twenty-something college kids. Cheap, sparsely furnished, and far away from any neighbors, it was a party paradise.
That’s what they’d told us, at least.
I couldn’t tell you anything else they’d said because the last few minutes of our conversation with those guys had been spent with blood rushing in my ears as I’d ignored the hell out of Noah.
He’d glared at the side of my face as I’d stared determinedly at James and Doug. At any other time and in any other situation I either would have cowered under that magnificent glare, or burst out laughing because…this was Noah!
Noah never got mad at me. Eric did. That was what big brothers were for. Eric was the one who’d get all pissy when I didn’t listen to his commands or when I tagged along when I wasn’t wanted. But Noah? His best friend? He’d always been on my side, sticking up for me and including me when Eric would have preferred to leave me behind.
But we weren’t kids anymore. And Noah had made it very clear that he was no longer my friend.
I didn’t even realize I was rubbing my chest until Maddie reached over and touched my arm. “Hey, are you okay?”
I blinked at her, trying to calm the emotions that threatened to rage out of control. “Yeah,” I said with a forced smile. “Just angry.” And hurt. And betrayed.
She winced. “Understandably.”
I nodded, my eyes wide. “Right? I mean, I’m not exaggerating how much of a prick he was, am I?”
She shook her head. “Oh no, if anything, I think you undersold his prickishness. You were being way too generous when you’d said he’d acted like a jerk earlier.”
On the drive to get ice cream I’d told Maddie about the way he’d treated me back on campus, what he’d said and how he’d looked at me. But now that paled in comparison to his epic weirdness about me going to a party.
A party you didn’t want to go to, a voice of reason pointed out.
That voice had no place here. I was in no mood to be reasonable. I was pissed, an
d there was only one person I could take it out on. One person whose perfect jaw and piercing eyes were in desperate need of a good smack down.
Not that I’d resort to physical violence, of course. Though the thought of it made me smile. No, I was more of a kill ‘em with kindness kind of girl. And with Noah…
Dammit, Noah needed kindness. Ugh, I hated to even think that. I didn’t want to be nice to Noah after the way he’d treated me but my conscience nagged at me to remember that he was going through a tough time. I didn’t want to let him off the hook—and I wouldn’t—but we needed to talk.
He was hurting, and I knew that better than anyone.
Maddie shot me a questioning glance as I let out a long, shaky sigh of resignation.
Crap. I’d have to be the bigger person.
I was the one who shared his dreams, wasn’t I? Of all his friends, including my brother who was basically a brother to only-child Noah, I was the only one who really got it. I knew that was the case because it went both ways.
When my brother mocked me for being so single-minded with my obsession, when my parents were on my case to give academics just as much attention as softball—it had always been Noah who’d been in my corner. Because he got it. He’d been just as focused, his dreams just as pinned to that hope of going pro, or at the very least earning a scholarship and playing at the college level.
He’d been well on his way right until the injury.
I swallowed down the vile mix of anger and pity. He wouldn’t want my pity and I hated being so angry. It wasn’t in my nature. I might’ve been competitive to a fault, but I didn’t have much of a temper.
Usually.
She’s just a kid.
I clenched my hands in my lap.
Not until Noah decided to put me at the kids’ table.
“This must be it,” Maddie said after we’d driven down what felt like an interminably long twisting backroad.
The party was well underway when we arrived, and I hurried after my friends who rushed headlong toward the rundown house that seemed to pulse with a bass beat. “Wait,” I said. This was my last chance to talk to my friends before a) the music grew too loud to be heard and b) they drank too much to understand me. I might’ve decided that a buzz wasn’t worth messing up my performance on the field, but my teammates didn’t share that view.
The Perfect Catch (Kissing the Enemy Book 1) Page 3