That seemed to stump them all.
All except for the drunken moron who clearly had a face to save in front of his friends. “Are you seriously going to listen to her?”
He was blustering. Never a good sign.
Maddie pursed her lips and planted her hands on her hips as she turned a withering gaze to the idiot from the party. “Do you think I’d cheat on my boyfriend with someone like him?” She turned to Alex. “Come on, Alex, you know this guy.” She jerked her head toward the moron. “What sounds more believable, that he was hitting on a girl and her boyfriend got pissed or I decided to hook up with a guy like him.”
I could have told her not to challenge a guy like that in front of his friends. He was the kind of small-pricked wuss who would feel the need to prove himself. He took a step toward her, his face contorted with disgust. “You wish, slut.”
I didn’t think, I just moved. Kind of like the other night when I just sort of found myself at the party, I now found myself in the jerk’s face with Maddie safely behind me. I lifted him by his collar and slammed him into the back of my truck, making his teeth rattle.
“Ox, let him go!” I heard Maddie cry out behind me.
But an old anger that simmered in my blood was at the surface now, and I didn’t know how to make it stop. It was an anger that came from spending too many years as the helpless victim, and it was an anger that was impossible to stop.
“What’s going on out here?” I distantly heard my coach’s voice coming from the distance. But when one of the loser’s friends tried to pry my hands off, I acted on instinct, backhanding him so hard he plopped down on his butt on the pavement. I rammed the loser up against the truck again. “Apologize.”
He spit in my face. I saw red. And that’s about the last thing I saw. My teammates were there and it all happened so quickly. I don’t think any actual punches were thrown. There was just a lot of shoving and pushing and shouting until the coach and some other teachers had broken it up.
When the melee ended I looked around with panic tightening my chest. Where was Maddie? I spun around, breaking loose from the coach’s grip as adrenaline ripped through me. He was talking to me but I couldn’t hear him over the roaring in my ears as I sought her out in the crowd that had gathered around us.
She wasn’t there.
Where the hell—
“Come on, Oscar,” my coach said, grabbing me by the arm. No one called me by my real name and the sound of it jarred me out of my crazy long enough to realize that Maddie was gone.
She’d left.
I let the coach lead me back into the school, ignoring the students who clustered around gawking and taking pictures on their phones. Something told me this would be all over social media in minutes. Thank God my mom didn’t know how to work the remote let alone the Internet.
Though the moment the coach sat me down I knew there was no way I was going to get out of this without my parents hearing about it. Coach was…not happy.
Neither was I.
Where had Maddie gone? Was she all right? This was where my mind was during the brief meeting that nearly ended my football career. If I’d had my head on straight I might have said the right things. I might not have been great with words but even I knew the coach expected some sort of apology, some sign of contrition at the very least, for having fought on school grounds.
But could I do that? No. I didn’t regret going after that little weasel, and I didn’t care how I had to pay. All that mattered was finding Maddie.
I was almost out of his office again, ready to do just that when his voice reached me. “If you walk out that door, you’re suspended for the next three games.”
I slammed the door shut behind me. My gut was churning with anger and frustration. The next three games? The next game wasn’t a big deal, but the one after that? College scouts would be there, he knew that.
But once again I couldn’t focus on that. Football would have to wait.
“Ox!” Levi shouted my name from down the hall and when I turned I saw him and Kate chasing after me.
“Are you okay?” Kate asked in that quiet voice of hers. She tucked some hair behind her ear as she nibbled on her lower lip with worry.
I gave her a little nod. “Maddie?”
“Man, that was awesome,” Levi said, interrupting before Kate could answer. Kate was Maddie’s best friend. If anyone knew where she was, it was her. Levi kept talking. I tried to tune him out but the guy was annoyingly persistent as he gave me a play by play of the fight I’d just been a part of.
The fight I’d instigated, according to my coach.
“Maddie,” I said again, interrupting Levi’s play-by-play.
Kate’s eyes widened and I had a feeling I’d spoken louder than intended. “She, uh…” Kate gestured toward the parking lot. “She left. She ran away from the fight and I saw her ask Kelly for a ride home.”
Kelly. One of Maddie’s many friends. Maddie had no lack of friends. I turned away from two such friends right now and ignored them both as they called after me. I didn’t want to talk. I didn’t want to relive it.
Maddie was safe, which was good. She was safe, and probably still pissed at me for not listening to her the other week. Or maybe she was pissed at me for fighting. Or maybe she still liked that Alex guy and was pissed that I’d gotten into a fight with him.
Whatever. She was okay, and she’d left.
I was on my own.
Good.
That was the way I liked it.
The crowd had scattered by the time I got back to my truck and no one else tried to stop me. This was what I got. That thought kept playing on a loop. This was what I got for having a friend.
I put the car into gear and shoved thoughts of Maddie and her hurt expression far into the recesses of my mind. She had friends, she had tons of friends. They could look after her. She didn’t need me around.
I’d been a charity project; I’d known that from the very start. But for some reason I hadn’t tried to stop her. I fell for it. I let her lure me into friendship even though I knew exactly why friends couldn’t last. Because in the end, they’d turn. They’d run. They always did.
And Maddie had just proved it.
Chapter Four
Maddie
I would never speak to him again. Sure, I’d thought that before, but this time I meant it. Ox was dead to me.
I sat across the table at Cazmo’s, our favorite restaurant, and watched Levi and Kate be sickeningly cute together.
Noah waved as he headed out the door. He was my other best friend’s boyfriend and he was on his way now to drive home for the weekend to see her.
Sweet. I was so happy for him, and for her, and for Kate and Levi. I really was.
I stabbed my straw into my soda with enough force that ice spilled out over the side. Levi and Kate stared at me. Kate leaned forward, her long brown hair brushing the table as her brows drew together. “Are you okay, Maddie?”
I nodded and forced a bright smile. “Of course! Why wouldn’t I be?”
She and Levi exchanged a look that drove me nuts. Couples. Why did they always act like they could read one another’s minds?
Levi broke the silence first, as if by some unspoken agreement between them. “Maybe because we’ve been sitting here for twenty minutes and you haven’t once mentioned Ox or that crazy scene that went down in the parking lot yesterday?”
I stared at Levi in shock. It might have been the first time since I’d met him that his tone wasn’t caustic and filled with sarcasm. I sighed as I looked between him and Kate. She really was good for him. I’d known she would be.
I’d seen the two of them coming. I’d known they would fall in love the moment I saw them interact. They were different, sure, but the sparks between them had been through the roof. Same with Callie and Noah. She’d been telling me for years about her brother’s best friend all while assuring me that they were just friends.
It had been a struggle to keep my mouth shut a
nd point out that most people didn’t get all breathless with excitement when talking about “just a friend.”
So yeah. I was surrounded by love, and now I had a whole new understanding of the phrase “always a bridesmaid, never a bride.”
I didn’t realize I’d sighed again until Levi and Kate exchanged another worried look.
“What?” I said. Okay, maybe I snapped at them because Kate sat upright in surprise.
“Nothing,” she said. Then she ducked her head and blushed. “It’s just…you’ve been sighing a lot over there. Are you sure you’re okay?”
I gritted my teeth together. Yeah, sure, I was fine. Great. Never been better. My ex was back, along with his horrible sidekicks, and the guy I’d thought was a friend had gone and gotten involved when I’d expressly told him not to.
I toyed with my straw as I studiously ignored the pressure building up in my belly, spreading to my chest.
“What happened in the parking lot yesterday?” Kate asked gently.
I shrugged. “You were there. You saw.” I took a deep breath and focused on the menu, which I knew by heart.
“Yeah but…” Kate started. She seemed to lose her courage and Levi stepped in.
“Who were those guys? Why were they harassing you?”
“Nobody.”
Silence.
“I don’t want to talk about it,” I said.
Levi gave a snort of amusement. “You don’t want to talk?”
I glanced up at him with narrowed eyes. There was the sarcasm I was used to.
A long silence followed.
“Where’s Ox?” Kate’s quiet voice cut through the silence and something about the softness of her tone, the caring sweetness there—it made me want to cry.
I slammed my menu shut. “How should I know?”
And what on earth was wrong with me? Other than that breakup business, I hadn’t cried in years and now it seemed like I was permanently battling tears.
I hated this.
I hated Alex.
I hated his stupid friends.
Mainly I hated Ox. Why? Because he shouldn’t have gone back there. He shouldn’t have gotten involved.
He shouldn’t have seen me cry.
I picked up my straw again and feigned a deep and abiding interest in the contents of my glass.
Okay, all right. Maybe it was irrational that I was still pissed that he’d seen me in a weak moment. Logically I understood that part wasn’t his fault. But the fact that he’d disregarded my express orders to leave it be? The fact that he’d gone and confronted him anyway?
That still stung.
Did he think that I couldn’t take care of myself?
Jerk.
I hadn’t needed him to step in on my behalf at the party and I definitely hadn’t needed him to cause a scene in the parking lot by starting a fight.
He’d ruined everything. Twice. I’d been on my way to putting Alex back where he belonged, in the dark recesses where memories went to die. But now he was back in my life, and it was all Ox’s fault.
Not only was Alex back, now it was all a million times worse because everyone at school was talking about it. Sure, no one knew the details…yet. But everyone knew that I was involved in that parking lot scuffle and there would be questions.
So many questions.
All thanks to him.
Big dumb Ox.
I stopped stirring my drink. Wait, was that why he’d gotten that nickname? If so, it was fitting.
Kate leaned over and placed a hand over mine. “Maddie, we’re worried about you.”
I stared down at her hand on mine and some of my anger faded just a little bit. It wasn’t Kate and Levi’s fault that I was having a bad week. I’d been the one to invite them out tonight so we could celebrate their new coupledom and here I was, ruining the vibe by moping over the big dumb ox.
“You know you can talk to us, right?” Levi said, his tone uncharacteristically sweet. “If you want some alone time with Kate, I can go. Maybe Noah wants to hang for a bit before he goes off to see his girl.”
He looked around as if hoping to catch Noah on his way out. The fact that Levi would willingly go hang out with Noah when the two of them annoyed the crap out of each other was oddly touching. I let out a little huff of laughter. “If Kate and I want to listen to you and Noah bicker over by the bar we’ll let you know. But thanks for the offer.”
He shrugged.
“Honestly,” I said, pulling my hand out from under Kate’s. “There’s nothing to talk about.”
They stared at me in obvious disbelief. A muscle in my jaw twitched. Here was the thing about secrets. They had a tendency to accumulate.
It wasn’t like I didn’t want them to know about Alex, but a year had gone by and going back now and reliving the whole thing—the heady falling in love, and then the heartbreak that followed, not to mention all of this recent drama—it felt like way too much to tackle over a slice of pizza.
Maybe if I’d told Kate at the time…
But I hadn’t. I’d kept our relationship a secret and then I’d buried the heartache because I’d always been a believer in faking it until you made it. I’d smiled and joked my way through the pain then and I could do it again.
I froze as a new memory took hold.
“What is it?” Kate asked.
I hadn’t just smiled my way through it. I’d worked my way through it.
A smile tugged at my lips. Last year about this time I’d put all my energy into a new charity project and that had helped me take my mind off the breakup. If it worked once, it would work again.
“You guys are still on for the flag football league, right?”
They stared at me like I’d lost it. Kate spoke first. “What exactly does that have to do with Ox or the fight in the parking lot?”
I stared right back. “Nothing.” Everything. “But time’s running out and I need to work out the logistics.” And distract myself from my ex that no one knows about. “Maybe I should do something different this year, you know? Keep it fresh?”
I sipped my soda as they stared at me. Man, keeping secrets wasn’t easy, but once you started it was kind of hard to stop.
“Maybe Ox could help,” Kate said. Something about the way she said it put me on high alert.
Or maybe it was the way she was looking at me, or maybe it was just hearing Ox’s name said aloud again. I thought we’d moved on from that particularly unpleasant topic.
“Why would he want to help?” I asked. For reasons I couldn’t name, I didn’t mention that I’d already asked.
He’d said no.
The waiter came over to take our order and I was forced to wait patiently. When he walked away I asked again. “Seriously, why would he help?”
Levi opened his mouth to say something, but I was on a roll. All of my original irritation with Ox came back in full force. “He never wants to join anything, and he definitely doesn’t want to be friends—he’s made that abundantly clear. He didn’t even want to go to that stupid party last weekend.”
I shoved a piece of pizza in my mouth to keep from saying more.
That party.
That was how this whole debacle got started and I didn’t want to go down that path. I didn’t want to think about the drunk idiot or Alex or what either of them had said. Out of sight, out of mind. It was easier to focus on the stubborn, silent, irritating guy I’d thought was my friend.
The one who couldn’t leave well enough alone.
When the silence stretched long enough that they were sure I was done ranting, Levi answered. “Well, for one thing he’ll need something to do. Ox will have plenty of time on his hands now that he’s been suspended from the team.”
I stopped chewing as I stared at him.
“What?” I managed around a mouth full of food. I hurriedly chewed and swallowed as Levi told me what he’d learned from the social media posts I’d so valiantly been ignoring.
Once again—out of sight, out of mind
was sort of my mantra regarding all things that related to Alex, drunken morons, and giant brutes named Ox. By the time he was done talking I was wholeheartedly wishing I hadn’t just devoured that food.
I felt sick. Physically sick.
“But—” I stopped to swallow down the nausea. “But he can’t miss the big game.”
Everyone at this table knew what the big game was and its significance, especially for Ox, not to mention the rest of the team.
Kate and Levi wore matching looks of regret. “Sucks,” Levi muttered. “I actually feel bad for the big guy.”
“Me too,” Kate said.
I was positive I felt worse than both of them combined because this was all my fault. He wouldn’t have been suspended if it wasn’t for me.
He was protecting me.
No, he was being a tough guy. It had nothing to do with you. You told him to stay out of it.
I chewed on my lip as I studied my pizza. He wouldn’t have gone back and confronted that guy if I hadn’t cried in front of him.
But you told him not to.
Kate’s hand covered mine again. “Maybe you should talk to him. It might make you feel better.”
I took a deep breath and met her gaze. Kate, who was always so practical. She was the one who’d convinced me that I shouldn’t be so freaked because he’d seen me cry. “Act like everything’s normal,” she’d said.
It had almost worked for a little while there.
Almost.
Now here she was trying to convince me to talk to him…again. I sighed. “Maybe you’re right.”
It might not have totally been my fault, but there was no denying the guilt in my gut. A guilt that was making it impossible to enjoy my pizza. I toyed with the half-eaten slice on my plate. “We’re supposed to be celebrating,” I muttered.
Levi gave me a sarcastic grin. “And this is one hell of a party you threw for us.”
“Shut up,” I said. “There was supposed to be one more person here, and I couldn’t go all out because Kate would never have forgiven me.”
The Perfect Score (Kissing the Enemy Book 3) Page 5