Fucking bitch.
Okay, walk away, Frankie. Time to walk away.
She was, but she didn’t look happy about it, even if Jake brought her straight toward us.
Red hand print blazing on Bubba’s cheek, he tracked Frankie’s progress with a look so close to devastation, I almost thought it was real.
Ian
The sting on my face barely registered as I tracked Frankie stalking away from me. The hurt and anger in her expression had seemed damn real. It made me raw and ache inside.
“Are you all right?” Sharon asked, reaching up to touch my still smarting cheek. It took everything I had not to wrench away. As it was, I still flinched a little, and she slowed her action. “Does it hurt?”
Had she not been paying attention? “I’ll live,” I gritted out. “You were saying something. You know, before.”
Because the sooner we got this over and done with, the better. “I’ve just been worried about you,” she said, then stepped in closer to me. I shifted back until we were out of the flow of people exiting the building. More than a few curious gazes flew in our direction.
Maria, for one, and that junior Coop had been dating, and Cheryl. I didn’t catch where she went, but I trusted Coop and Archie to keep Frankie safe.
“Look, Sharon,” I tried to pitch my voice a little lower, as if I liked having her this close. “I have to get to practice.”
“I know, it’s that day. I could wait for you. We could go hang out after.”
I’d rather dip my dick in bleach. “Probably not a good idea,” I admitted with a sigh. “Things are just…messy at the moment.”
“How can I help?”
I shook my head. “You can’t.” If she’d just fuck off and leave Frankie alone, that would be great, but she wasn’t going there on her own, so now we’d make her go there.
“Bubba,” she continued, clasping my arm, and as much as I wanted to shake her off, I had to play my part. “You know there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you. I’m pretty sure I proved that this summer. Remember?”
“Yeah.” The thought made me sick. “I was pretty much an ass to a lot of people this summer. Not sure that’s something you should be proud of.”
“Why not? I made you feel good. I mean, I know you played with some others, but you came back to me.”
Wow, did she really think so little of herself? I fucked around on her, and that was okay? To be strictly fair, I didn’t specifically cheat when I was with her, but I wasn’twithher that long.
“You know I’ll do anything for you.”
“Look, Sharon, being around me isn’t a good idea. Look at the crap Frankie’s taking. People won’t leave her alone, and we’re not even dating anymore.”
Her eyes glittered with unsuppressed joy. I clenched my fist on the strap of my backpack to keep from responding when she dug her nails into my arm.
“The last thing I’d want is for someone to do to you what they’ve been doing to her.”
“Oh, baby, you don’t have to worry about that.” She laughed. “Frankie needed to be taken down a few pegs. Stuck up little bitch thinks she can walk off with everyone’s guys, and we wouldn’t do anything about it?” A very unfriendly sound escaped her in a snort. “Let’s just say I’m providing her with a crash course in real life. All that repressed bad girl coming out in her is turning her into a slut. You know the whole team is talking about it, and then her setting up Mitch that way…”
Was she really that delusional?
“…I mean, sure, he probably just wanted to tap that because he wanted to tap everyone you guys did. But it doesn’t matter, right? I’m on your side, and you don’t have to worry about me.”
“No?” I raised my brows. “You already fuck Mitch, Sharon?”
“Maybe.” She gave a little shrug. “I figure a little tit for a little tat is fair. You strayed. I tested out your teammates. I figured I’d get your other boys, but I wouldn’t do that to the girls. I have some sense of loyalty.”
I just shook my head. “That’s what you call loyalty?”
“What?” Sharon frowned.