“Which means you’re ready to kill it on that field.”
A chuckle rolled out of him, that pride rising high. “I’ll do my best.”
“You always do.”
Cash kept moving, angling down the aisle to where Brandy would surely be waiting at his locker.
She was.
All long blond hair and long legs, wearing her cheerleading uniform, the same way the rest of the squad did during every home game.
She bit down on her bottom lip and went coy when she saw him coming.
At the sight of her, guilt nipped at his conscience. A tiny prodding that he was with her for all the wrong reasons. The sex was great—but he didn’t have that burn he knew he was supposed to.
They’d been together for almost two months. The two of them shoo-ins for homecoming queen and king. They should be perfect together.
But something always felt off.
Still, he strolled up casually. “Hey, baby. You ready for lunch?”
He was sure his stomach started to actually feed on itself if he didn’t eat a full meal every two hours.
Brandy brushed the tips of her pink fingernails down the front of his shirt, and she peeked up at him with a glint in her eyes. “I was thinking maybe we’d skip lunch and go do a little early celebrating by ourselves?”
Cash slipped an arm around her waist and pulled her close. “Hmm. While that offer is tempting, I need to stick to schoolgrounds. Can’t risk getting caught and benched tonight. Besides, Daisy is going to be waiting at our table for us.”
Air huffed from her mouth. “Are you serious right now?”
Most of the time Brandy was pretty chill. But when it came to Daisy, she was getting weird. Territorial, he guessed. But he’d laid it straight to her from the beginning.
Daisy was his best friend, and that wasn’t going to change.
Mostly it’d been a sour face when Daisy would come around, but last week when she found out Daisy sometimes climbed the tree to get to his room at night, Brandy had freaked the fuck out.
She didn’t get it, though, what that girl meant.
And maybe that was the whole problem. Cash wasn’t allowing himself to recognize it, either.
Uneasily, Cash raked a hand through his hair. “Uh, yeah, I’m serious. You want me to get suspended and benched from the game?”
Brandy rolled her eyes. “Like they’re going to bench their star player? You could commit murder right now, and they’d act like it didn’t happen. This is about Daisy.”
He hiked a shoulder. “So?”
Did she really think he was going to ditch Daisy for lunch? After he’d pretty much fucking had to beg her to keep sitting with him since she always thought she was in the way?
Like she was some kind of burden?
Like she didn’t make everything a little bit better every time she came into his space?
Incredulity dropped Brandy’s jaw. “So? You’re so clueless, Cash. The only thing you really care about is her.”
“That’s not true.” The words were coarse splinters.
“It isn’t?”
“No.”
