My chest puffs out, ready to fight at his words.
“Has he?” I ask, calmer than I feel.
“Yeah, he’s been hard for her since she transferred. Thinks it’s only time until she realizes what’s in front of her.”
“That right?”
“I don’t know, man. Just telling you what I hear.”
I want to ask him more, but our time comes to an end, and before I know it, Hadley has disappeared from the field entirely as the game restarts.
We lose our advantage and almost lost the entire game, no thanks to my ruined focus. I hate myself for it, but my eyes keep drifting to where she should be to see if she’
s returned.
“Get your head in the game, Jagger,” Coach calls minutes before the final whistle blows.
Thankfully we make our last play and manage to scrape by for the win, but it’s by the skin of our teeth.
“Sloppy, girls. Very fucking sloppy,” Coach chastises once we’re back inside the locker room.
Not interested in having a dressing down from him, I rip my kit off and head for the showers.
“What’s the matter, Jagger? Too good to hear what your coach has to say about your piss poor performance tonight?”
“I know exactly how I performed. I don’t need you telling me about it,” I mutter, walking away from him and blasting myself with cold water.
By the time the rest of the team join me to clean up for tonight’s party, I’m done and ready to get the hell out of this place. I drag on some clean clothes and head for the door before Coach drags me into his office to rip me a new one.
There’s only one person I want to talk to tonight, and she’s the one who’s going to be giving the answers, not me.
“Fucking hell,” I mutter when I pull the door open and find none other than Marissa waiting for me, still in her cheer uniform with her foot propped up against the wall behind her.
“Cole, wait up,” she calls when I turn and walk away from her.
Any girl with an inch of self-respect would take that as a hint. Not Marissa.
“Are you heading to Hayden’s party? I thought we could ride together. Maybe make a pit stop on the way, if you know what I mean.” I jerk away from her when she slips her hand under my shirt.
“Get your hands off me, Marissa.”
“But I thought—”
“You didn’t think, that’s the problem. I pushed you away, or have you already forgotten?” I ask, walking faster to get away from her.
“No, I just though—”
“A bit of advice… Stop thinking,” I bark over my shoulder before digging my car keys from my pocket and dropping down into the driver's seat.
Yeah, I’m going to the party, but like fuck am I going anywhere with her.
I slam the car into drive and take off before she can ‘think’ again and come chasing after me.
Hayden’s house is already full, despite the fact that the team aren’t even here yet.
The second I walk inside, a sea of blue and white fills my vision as I set out on my mission to find the one girl I do want.
“You got here quick,” Remi says when she spots me.