“Enjoying the show?” Lucas is barely winded. The shine of sweat and his messy hair pulls at my belly. He motions for my camera. “Can I see?”
“Um.”
It’s difficult to find composure being so close to Lucas while he’s shirtless. Mashing my lips together, I flip my camera to show him the back, clicking through the last few photos. They’re of Lucas. Most of the images on the card feature him.
I couldn’t help myself.
Lucas seems pleased, but then a shadow falls over his features. It’s visible for a scant second before he brightens again.
The flash of emotions tug at my instincts. I want to know more about that Lucas. Why did he look almost…sad to see himself throwing the football?
“You got my good side.”
“That’s because your bad side isn’t on the surface.” I take my camera back and set it down on my bag. My hands rest on the fence. “I guess I’m the only one that knows about that side.”
Lucas purses his lips to the side and squints at me. He steps up to the fence and cups my face. Before I know what he’s planning, his lips are on mine.
He kisses me in the middle of practice, stinking and sweaty.
And I give in.
I lean into the kiss, my fingers flying up to curl in the damp hair curling at the nape of his neck. Distantly, I’m aware of the other guys on the field howling like wild coyotes. A whistle blows.
Lucas laughs into my mouth and I dig my fingers in his hair.
He pulls back, his breath a hot puff over my lips. “Come with us after practice. We’re going to the lake to hang out.”
“Oh. I, uh—I don’t know.”
Lucas caresses my face. There’s a beat where I’m torn between the face of my entitled tormentor and the guy that makes my head foggy when he kisses me.
“I should really—”
“Come on,” he murmurs. “It’ll be fun.”
I cling to reluctance for another minute. He gives me another kiss that steals my breath away.
Then I’m nodding before the daze clears.
“That’s my girl.”
“Saint! Get your loverboy ass back to practice!” Coach shouts, interrupting the moment.
Lucas winks and jogs away. As I watch his back, I wonder what the hell I just got myself into.
My whole plan this year is to avoid and fly solo. Hanging out with Lucas and his friends is the exact opposite.
* * *
The sky is ablaze with the fading afternoon light over the lake. Music thumps from the dock’s fancy speak system. I’m sitting next to Alec out of some misguided sense of seeking a security blanket so I don’t vibrate out of my skin.
This isn’t my scene anymore. I don’t have any interest in fitting in with the girls in bikini tops and chunky cardigans with cut-off shorts and flirty shirtless football players. Everyone is drinking and swaying to the beat as they giggle.
It pulls up the uncomfortable memories. It’s not as bad as the first time I came to Lucas’ house to pick up Alec, when it was crowded with people and everything was happening in excess. But it doesn’t totally go away, either.
Lucas disappeared inside a while ago and now I’m floundering for a reason to be here. I should’ve said I couldn’t come.
My palms prickle, an itch irritating my skin that I can’t satisfy no matter how many times I scratch my palms raw.