The Playmaker (A Big Play Novel Book 1) (11 page)

#19:

The Letdown

Tori

I spend the rest of the day by Colt’s side, helping him through the assignment. He knows more about the history of football than he realized, and it’s fun seeing his face light with recognition when I point this out to him.

I take notes while he does the talking. It solves the whole handwriting/spelling issue, and he seems more relaxed that way. As the hours tick by, the assignment starts coming together. We break it up into three sections for him to tackle, and by five o’clock I’m confident he can do the rest of it on his own. He still has to type up the whole thing, but big sections are written word for word so it’ll only be a matter of copying.

“Thank you so much.” Colt’s earnest expression makes my heart squeeze.

He’s so gorgeous, and his eyes when he’s looking at me like that… I want to lurch forward and kiss him.

Pressing my lips together, I shift away from him and nearly topple off the step. He moves fast and grabs my arm, steadying me so I don’t fall on my butt. His hand is strong and sure as he holds me steady, and once again I wonder what it’d feel like gliding around my back.

Oh man, I want to know so bad!

I swallow, then murmur, “Thanks.”

“I’ll see you tomorrow.” His smile is sweet, showing off the dimple in his right cheek.

“Okay.” I nod and grip the strap of my bag as I walk away from him. It takes everything in me to resist the urge to skip. I just spent the whole day with Colt Burgess. I sat beside him, so close I could smell his deodorant and the fresh scent of his shampooed hair. He didn’t notice, but a couple of times while he was talking I lost the ability to breathe. Everything about him is so perfect to look at and when he talks about football, his face is so animated.

When he falls in love with a girl, she’s going to be the luckiest human on the planet, because if he looks like that when he’s talking about a game, imagine what he’ll look like talking about the woman of his dreams.

I want it to be me, but I don’t know if it’ll ever happen.

How can it?

How can I possibly put
my
desire over Colt’s need to graduate?

With a short sigh, I turn the corner onto my street and lope to my house. Stopping at the mailbox, I check it, even though I know it’ll be empty—force of habit. Clicking the lid shut, I start up the path and stop short when I notice Amy on my front steps.

“Ames.” The second I say her name, realization hits me like a tire iron. “Oh, no.”

I was supposed to meet her after lunch today. We were going to take a walk down by the river, then do each other’s nails. I glance at my chipped polish and wince.

“Where have you been? I texted you like multiple times.”

I scramble for my phone and light up the screen, seeing a string of texts and two missed calls. “I’m sorry. I had my phone on silent.”

“Why? Where were you?”

“With Colt. I…” My mouth opens and shuts a couple of times. I can’t tell her the truth. Colt would die if he found out I shared his secret. I won’t break his trust…but I tell Amy everything!

She slowly rises from her seat on the cold, stone steps. Brushing her butt off, she walks toward me and crosses her arms. The look in her eyes is making me want to crumble. She knows I’m hiding something.

I bite my lips together and look to the path. The sun is sinking behind me, illuminating my front yard with a bright orange glow. I look up and spot the color on Amy’s pale cheeks. It makes her look like she’s on fire.

“I’m sorry for bailing on you. I just totally forgot.”

“Of course you did,” she snapped. “Because you’re obsessed with
Operation Fall for Tori
.” Her mocking tone feels like a punch in the gut. “I’m glad it’s working out so well for you.”

“Come on, Amy. I said I was sorry. We can hang out now.”

“Forget it! I start work in twenty minutes.” Hitching her bag up with a huff, she moves past me and mumbles, “See you at school.”

I have no response to her angry tone. She has every right to be annoyed with me. I totally let her down, something I’ve never really done before. Sure, we’ve pissed each other off occasionally, but I’ve never forgotten about her. I can only imagine the thoughts wafting through her brain as she storms off to work. I wish I could tell her why I gave up an entire day to help Colt. Maybe if she knew it was for a good cause, she’d be more forgiving. But I can’t.

I won’t betray Colt, so I’m left with making Amy feel like she’s not important to me.

I can’t win.

And I hate that.

#20:

A Thrumming in the Ribcage

Colt

I love this feeling.

I have been on a high since yesterday afternoon. Tori left my place and I raced back up to my room, more motivated than I’ve ever been. It took me until midnight, but I managed to type up over half my essay, filling in the gaps we hadn’t quite finished.

The looming Friday deadline has lost its edge and I’m confident I can make the time…and the grade. I still want Tori to read over my final product, though, so I decide to swing past her locker on my way to homeroom to ask if she’ll have time to help me out.

I spot her mass of auburn curls before I see her face. An involuntary smile turns the corners of my lips.

“Hey, Colt.” Michelle glides past me with a wink and a smile.

I nod at her, then raise my chin at Tyler as he follows in her wake with a hungry look in his eye. I raise my elbow and catch his arm, silently warning him to stop being such a perv. He laughs at me and counters with a light swing to my torso. He catches my bruising and I double over with a hiss. It doesn’t hurt that bad, but I decide to have some fun and play it up.

“Oh, shit. I’m sorry, man. I’m so… Like, dude… I’m sor—”

My laughter cuts his apology short and he glares at me as I rise back to my full height.

“You suck.” He shoves my shoulder and gives me a dry glare.

I snicker and hitch my bag back up.

“How are you feeling?” One thing I love about Tyler is that, although he can come across like an idiot sleaze bag, he’s genuinely a good guy who really cares about the people he trusts.

“I’m all right.” I nod, glancing over Ty’s shoulder to make sure Tori is still there. I can’t see her face hidden behind the open locker door and find it weird how hungry I am for a glimpse of it.

“Finn says you’re out for the week.”

“Yeah.” I shift to the side to let a gaggle of giggling freshmen past. “But I’ll still come watch all the practices. I’m only missing one game.”

“Good. I don’t want that scumbag Quaid thinking he won somehow.”

“I’d never let that asshole get the better of me. You know that.”

Tyler grins and holds up his fist. We pound it out and I look over his shoulder once more. What I see makes the smile slide right off my face.

I’ve known Tori for nearly a decade and it’s not often you see her frown, but she’s looking sad today and it’s doing something to my insides that I really don’t like.

“You okay, man?”

“Yeah.” I force a smile. “Hey, I gotta…” I point down the hallway, vaguely indicating class. Tyler nods and gives me an easy smile before heading away from me.

My lips flat-line as soon as he’s gone, and I hustle down the hall to Tori’s side. She’s scratching the side of her nose as she types a text to someone.

I stop a couple of feet away from her and speak quietly so as not to startle her. “Hey, Tori.”

She jumps anyway, and looks up with a gasp. Her cheeks flood with color and she dips her head with a soft laugh.

“Sorry,” I mumble.

“No, that’s okay. I was just…” She waves her phone in the air, then kind of frowns while pushing it back into her bag.

I want to say something that will make her smile, but the only words out of my mouth are a soft question. “Are you all right?”

Her nose twitches for a second and she blinks a couple of times, but then looks up with a forced smile. “I’m great. How’s the assignment going?”

I narrow my eyes at her and she lets out a sigh.

“Please don’t ask. I’m fine. Really.”

Leaning against her locker, I gaze down at her heart-shaped face and wonder how far I should push it. She’s not going to tell me the truth; I can see that. It kind of bugs me that I gave in to her charms on Saturday and spilled the beans about my trouble with reading. But then if I hadn’t, I wouldn’t be standing in the corridor on a Monday morning feeling confident that I can hand in a two-thousand-word essay on time.

Against my will, I let her have the privacy she obviously wants and go for something that will no doubt cheer her up instead.

“I’m free after practice today, if you want to…”

“Sure, I can help you with your assignment.” She nods, obviously relieved that I’ve dropped it.

“No, I mean…” I smile. “I was wondering if you wanted to watch Monday Night Football with me. The Broncos are playing. It’ll be a good chance for me to talk you through more of the game and give you some stuff you can say to…to Mack. You know, so you can impress him.”

Why does my throat suddenly feel swollen?

“Oh. Okay.” She nods. “Sure, yeah. Mack. Good idea.” Her large eyes look up at me. They’re sparkling, but can’t hide that small speck of uncertainty. She still doesn’t think she’s good enough for him. I really need to do something about that.

“So, your place or mine?”

She tips her head, her mouth forming a cute smile. “Mom’s been making fresh soap over the weekend and because I still want you to retain your sense of smell, I’m going to suggest your place.”

I chuckle, then wince as I relive my snarky comment about her mother. “Hey, I’m really sorry I said—”

“You’ve already apologized.” She cuts me off, saving my ass with a little flick of her hand. “Besides, I’m serious about the soap thing. You’ll be doing me a huge favor if I can hang out at your house tonight. Really.”

I grin at her playful expression. “Okay, then. I’ll see you tonight.”

“You most definitely will.” The smile that lights her face touches me right down to my toes.

I walk away from her, perplexed by the weird thrumming in my ribcage. I don’t know what the hell’s going on with me right now, but I can’t go falling for this girl. Not when I’m trying to set her up with one of my friends. I just need to teach Tori a couple more things about football, then back the hell off before I end up making a move I’ll regret.

#21:

Kiss Me

Tori

Colt’s morning visit to my locker took away the sting of Amy’s cold shoulder. She’s never done it to me before. Amy is not the type to hold a grudge, but I obviously hurt her worse than I thought. My ten apology texts have gone unanswered and, in an attempt to let my crappy day go, I leave my phone at home.

Thoughts of Colt are the only thing keeping me levelheaded as I walk up his front path.

And when I say levelheaded, I mean more that they’re stopping me from falling into a puddle of tears. The way he spoke to me this morning worked like an umbrella. All the rainy sadness with Amy didn’t soak in like it normally would. Usually when I’ve annoyed someone, it eats me alive until I can’t stand it. Conflict and I don’t work well together, and I can’t stand the idea of someone being upset because of me.

Well, I’ve tried to resolve the Amy thing and she’s not ready to bite. Having time with Colt as something to look forward to at the end of my day saw me through, and now I’m standing at his door with butterflies in my stomach and a racing heart.

I pull in a breath and press the doorbell.

“Don’t babble. Don’t babble. Don’t babble,” I whisper to myself while I wait.

The door swings open and I grin. Colt is standing there in jeans and a fitted tee that hugs his torso. He’s got one of those long, upside-down, triangle-shaped bodies. The way his jeans perch on the edge of his hips and the fact I can see the muscles move beneath his shirt when he steps back to let me in sends my stomach butterflies into a frenzy.

“Thanks.” I pull down my sweater sleeves to cover my hands and follow him through to the den. The house is kind of quiet and I glance into the living room as I walk past. The TV is on and I spot Colt’s parents on the couch, engrossed in some kind of crime show. I’m tempted to call out a hello, but decide against it. They probably wouldn’t hear me, anyway.

I step down into the den, remembering the times we used to crowd onto the couch together and watch movies while our parents chatted around the dinner table. I would always try to arrange it so that Colt and I were in the middle, but more often than not, I’d end up squished down the end or stuffed between Cameron and my sister.

But neither of them is here tonight.

A smile lights my face before I can stop it. Colt turns to me and I rub a hand over my mouth to hide my elation.

“Do you want a drink or some popcorn or something?”

“Sure.” I nod.

“Okay, cool. Uh, just have a seat and I’ll go make some.”

“Thanks.”

He brushes past me and I get a whiff of his yumminess. It curls up my nostrils and makes me float to the couch. I flop onto the cushions with a happy sigh and look around the room. Memories make me smile, enhanced by the knowledge that I’m once again on Colt’s couch, but this time under very different circumstances.

I don’t know what this evening holds, but a few hours of Colt’s undivided attention can only be a good thing.

Reaching for the remote, I flick on the TV, expecting to find ESPN reporters gearing up for the start of the game, but the television is set on a paused movie. I lean toward the screen, recognizing the image and trying to place the movie.

Not quite getting it, I press Play and quickly realize that it’s
Mean Girls.

It’s weird; I didn’t think his mom would be into this kind of movie, which means…I snort and slap a hand over my mouth.

Colt walks into the room with a bowl of popcorn and two bottles of water. He spots the screen and his expression immediately confirms my suspicions.

“You were watching
Mean Girls
on your own?” I tip my head back, laughter shooting out of my mouth as Colt lunges across the room toward me. Popcorn scatters across the carpet as he drops the bowl on the sideboard and reaches over the couch for the remote. I snatch it off the table and hold it away from him.

“Give me that remote.”

Giggles are hindering my speech, so I just shake my head instead.

“Tori, it’s not what you think.”

“It’s totally what I think.” I flop back into the soft cushions, holding my sides and laughing even harder.

“Okay. Just give me the remote.”

I curl onto my side, clutching it to my stomach. The expression on his face right now is too much fun. I’m not giving this remote up for anything.

“Tori.” He growls, bending down to try to wrestle it out of my hands.

He’s so strong he nearly lifts me off the couch. I squawk and tussle back, laughing as he tickles my belly.

“That won’t work,” I screech.

“You know it will.” He laughs at me. “You can’t outgrow being ticklish. Now give me that remote.”

“No way!” I kick out my legs, laughter and tickles making my body weak and incapable.

He grabs my leg to stop me from kicking him and ends up flopping over the couch. His momentum propels us both onto the floor. I land on top of him with an “oomph,” which he totally uses to his advantage. Grabbing my wrists, he pulls them over my head and rolls me onto my back. Pinning me down with his hips, he wrestles the remote from my fingers. I let it go easily, too distracted by the feel of his strong body pressed against mine.

He lets out a triumphant laugh, but the sound is cut short when he looks down at me. His eyes search my face. I don’t know what he’s looking for, but it pulls him toward me.

His face is so close now, I can feel his breath on my cheek. I don’t know what my expression is saying, but I can’t make it stop. I can barely breathe right now, and my mind is turning to this custard consistency that’s going to make me say something stupid.

We’re both panting like we’ve run a marathon. There’s an electricity in the air around us. It’s so thick and vibrant I can barely stand it. And, true to form, my mouth goes and screws everything up.

“Kiss me,” I whisper.

The words jerk Colt back to reality. His muscles go taut against me and he sits up with a nervous chuckle. The weight of his body shifting off me sends a cold chill down my spine. I squeeze my eyes shut with a grimace, truly loathing myself for a second. Sitting up, I scramble to fix my faux pas.

“I mean, not like romantically.” I run twitchy fingers through my curls and can’t bring myself to look him in the eye. I’m flat-out lying to him right now. “I just mean could you teach me, so that if, you know, I ever get the chance…to kiss…Mack.”

Oh, man, I can barely get the words out!

I’m an idiot. What the hell am I doing?

Colt’s blue eyes scan my face, his lips pursing before he asks, “You’ve never been kissed before?”

My cheeks catch fire. He’s probably kissed plenty of girls—all pretty cheerleaders with tasty tongues. What’s the bet his lips are perfection—refined and trained over the years. His kisses are probably magic and mine will just be… Ugh!

As much as I want to crawl out the back door, I have to admit the truth. “Yeah, I’ve been kissed, but does a spin the bottle dare with Charlie Judas really count?” I don’t want to mention the sloppy make-out sessions I had at the summer camp I attended two years ago. I can’t even remember the guy’s name…and I don’t really want to.

Colt winces with a hiss, then shakes his head and starts to laugh. I take my final chance at some form of redemption and really sell the lie I’ve been building.

“I’ve seen you making out with girls at your locker and you seem to know what you’re doing. I just thought you might have some tips.”

Okay, I’m dying right now.

I’ve never felt so humiliated in my life…and I’m the daughter of Natty Lomax, so that’s really saying a lot.