Fucker!
“Where are you going?” Sunny asked as I gathered up my things. “Max?”
My chest rose as I shoved my laptop inside my bag. “I’m going to find Felix. He messed with my car this morning.”
“Don’t,” she said softly, careful to keep her voice low so Whitt wouldn’t hear us.
I slipped out of class, ignoring the look Whitt sent me.
“Max, wait!”
I flipped around to see Sunny had followed me. I bounded down the steps of the stairwell, stopping at the third floor landing and spinning in a circle. He was gone. I raked my hands through my hair. “He was in the stairwell five minutes ago—with Cyndi,” I said once she came to stand next to me.
“He wants you to lose your cool, Max. Don’t let him win.”
She was right, but what else was he capable of?
I waited outside the Clark building for an hour, but I didn’t see Felix leave when classes got out. I did see Sunny head out for her next class, and I waved at her as she made her way in the opposite direction. As for Felix, I figured he either left through another exit or was in another science class.
I drove to where he lived with a couple of other football players. His Tahoe wasn’t there, but I parked and waited.
Tate called.
“What?” I said, answering the phone after taking off my helmet.
“I know you’re pissed, but you need to chill,” were the first words out of his mouth.
“Why?”
“Because if you go off half-cocked, you’re going to hurt yourself, him, and the entire team. Plus, what if it wasn’t Felix? Maybe someone is setting him up. Just because it’s his knife, doesn’t mean it was him.”
That sounded farfetched.
“You have to think long and hard about what you do next.”
Oh, I was. It was all I could think about. My fists itched to pound him into the ground.
“Think of everything you’ve done this year for the team—and the whole fake thing with Sunny—are you just going to throw all that away?”
“I don’t think I can be around him and not punch him,” I bit out.
“I know. Just get through the game. We’re so close. Just think about your shiny little trophy. Felix would laugh his ass off if you threw it away on a fight with him. He’d love it if you broke your hand on his face.”
I exhaled a deep breath and clenched my hands.
Maybe Tate was right.
Just get through the game.
I blew out a breath, pushing my rage down. “Then, I’ll need a work out at the gym.”
“Good call.”
I clicked the phone off, cracked my neck, and cranked my bike.
Max
TUESDAY DAWNED, AND I WOKE up as soon as the sun peeked in through Sunny’s blinds. Only a few words had passed between us last night when I’d shown up at her door, just a silent communication that I needed her.
After my workout at the gym the day before, I’d decided to go see Coach. I’d laid everything out on the line for him, from the daisy to the basement to the knife in my tire. He called Felix into his office and confronted him with my accusations. Felix pushed it off with a nonchalant shrug, convincingly denying any involvement in anything. He said he’d lost his knife over a year ago. He also brought another guy on the team whose name began with an F.
Frank.
Frank was a good defensive player and had no beef with me.
Whatever. It was all bullshit.
In the end, Coach only scolded Felix for perpetuating the tension between us and told him he was watching him. Watching him?
Angry and frustrated, I left the office and went straight to Sunny’s where I crawled in her warm bed, burying my face in the scent of her in the sheets. She put on a soft gray tank and curled up next to me. We fell asleep holding each other.
Now it was morning, and I was damn grateful to wake up next to her. My hand touched the curve of her cheek, trailing down to the delicate lines of her throat. My thumb hovered over her pulse, seeing the increase of its rhythm. She shifted and moaned, her body arching into me.
I went further, my hand slipping under her tank and splaying across her breasts. My fingers toyed with the jewelry on her nipple, tweaking it until her eyes opened, a heaviness there that I knew was desire.
My hand kept going—painfully slow. It splayed across her ribs, counting them, thanking the heavens she was whole and complete and alive and with me. My fingers drifted over her lace panties, then I changed my mind and went to her nipple and drew little circles around it with my fingers. Her bottom teeth tugged on her lip, a little gasp coming from her parted mouth as she wiggled closer to my hand.
“Do you want me to touch you?” I whispered, leaning down to lightly kiss her on the lips.
Her eyes flared. “Yes. Please.”