Kellan sits across from me, chewing his food like it’s alive and about to walk off his plate at any given second. Bennett and Shane argue about which car is faster.
Cole slams his phone down onto the table, and I look over at him. “What’s wrong?”
I roll my eyes at myself the moment the words are out of my mouth. Like he’s gonna tell me. And like I really care. Not even sure why I asked. But he surprises me by answering. “Celeste isn’t responding to my texts.”
“Why are you messaging her?”
“Coach wants a meeting after school, and I need Celeste to go get Lilly since I’m having to stay late. I don’t want them to put her on a bus without warning.”
“I can do it.” All the guys fall silent. Kellan even stops chewing his food, and his brown eyes glare at me. “What?” I ask, looking at Cole.
He stares down at me. His blue eyes search mine as if he’s trying to decide if I would be a better option than putting her on a bus. “She likes me,” I say as if that will make a difference. I don’t have a lot of experience with children, but Lilly is six. She can tell me if something is wrong. She can tell me if she’s hungry. She can go to the bathroom by herself. All I gotta do is drive her home.
Finally, he nods.
“Cole—”
“I’ll call the office and let them know,” he interrupts Kellan.
“Can you do that?” I ask, just realizing what he said. “Isn’t that a parental thing? You’re not really her dad, are you?” I ask, and he tenses.
“Cole is …”
“Kellan!” he interrupts him again. Then he looks at me. “After lunch, I’ll give you my car keys. They’re in my locker.” Everyone resumes their previous conversation, making me think I’ve missed something.
Then a thought hits me. “Uh …” I trail off, and he looks back down at me.
“What?” he barks.
I ignore his anger and lower my voice. “What about your gun?” I don’t wanna get pulled over in his car and go to jail. Then again, maybe that is his plan.
“It’s not in there,” he answers.
I eye him skeptically. His eyes narrow on mine, angry that I don’t take his word for it. “It’s never in the car when Lilly is present.”
“Oh.”
He looks away from me, dismissing me once again.
CHAPTER TWELVE
COLE
I stand in the locker room after our meeting with Coach about our upcoming season. My phone beeps, and I pull it out of my pocket to find a text from Austin, and my heart starts to pound. I shouldn’t have let her pick up Lilly. I don’t want them getting close because I don’t want to hurt Lilly when I push Austin away after I’m done with her. But Celeste wasn’t answering, and Lilly and I haven’t gone over the procedures for her to ride a bus yet. It’s second semester of my senior year. Even last semester when I had after-school meetings or meets, I always had someone lined up when I couldn’t make it. Either the nanny, Blanche, or Celeste helped me out.
I open it, thinking something is wrong, but it’s a picture of Lilly sitting at a round red table eating a cup of ice cream. A big smile on her face and a text from Austin.
She said she had a great first day back, and she made a new friend. His name is George. I hope you don’t mind. I took her for ice cream.
I smile. I’m glad she had a good day, but this George shit won’t work.
“What the fuck are you doing, man?” Kellan asks from behind me.
I close out of the text and place my phone back in my pocket.
“Drop it,” Deke warns.
“No! This shit is getting out of hand,” he snaps. “He’s in way over his head.”
I whirl around on him. “You doubting me?”
“Yes.”
I grind my teeth.
“You’re not thinking clearly. I understand you wanna fuck her over, but this is too far. She is gonna burn you. And I’m not gonna go down ’cause you wanna get your dick wet.”
I step into him, but Bennett grabs Kellan’s shoulder and pulls him out of my reach. “Watch it,” I warn.
“I’m gonna watch it all right. From the sidelines when she blows everything up in your face,” he shouts. “You think she’s any better than he is? You think she’s not gonna find out that you’re using her? That you want to fuck her dad over?” He shakes his head.
“I have it handled,” I growl.
He snorts. “She’s out with Lilly, for fuck’s sake, Cole. When she takes everything you have, you’ll only have yourself to blame.”
I step into him and punch him in the face. His head snaps to the side, and he stumbles back, running into Bennett. I punch him again before he can recover, and then I’m yanked back.