“Hey, we’ll get cleaned up and then meet you at the truck.” Hayes pulled me off to the side and it was clear from how wide his smile was that he felt amazing after playing a good game without any issues.
I wanted to feel that happy, and I had for a while, but I was done for the day. “I can find my own way home. Don’t worry about it.”
He laughed and shook his head. “Nope. Sorry. You’re not going home yet, Strawberry. There’s always a huge field party after the first game of the season. It’s tradition. You’re going.”
I wanted to throw a fit but I managed to keep my composure while shaking my head back at him. “No, no. I’m tired, Hayes. You guys go and have a blast. You’re the stars tonight. You deserve the spotlight. Alone. Without me.”
“Am I going to have to hunt you down after I hit the locker room?” He walked forward while I backed up and only stopped when I hit the bottom wall of the stands. Bracing his hands on the wall behind me, he leaned down and brushed his nose over mine. “Cassidy? Say you’ll go.”
I didn’t have to work that hard to find a frown. Even when he was being cute. Maybe especially when he was being cute because I knew it was for the cameras. “I can’t. Also, you stink. I don’t want your funk all over me.”
His grin stretched wider. “Liar. I think you like it.”
Damn him. Maybe I did but he didn’t get to know that. And it wasn’t justhissweat that I wanted to get more of. All the Ford brothers emitted some serious pheromones. “I don’t think anyone’s watching, Hayes.”
He blinked a few times and frowned slightly before moving back. “Right.”
I wondered how horribly my stomach could hurt from all the stress before the acid ate through my body. “Go party, nerd. Have fun. You deserve it.”
With a hard shake of his head he grabbed me and pulled me close. “If you’re not by the truck when we get out there I’m coming to find you.”
“I’m not dressed for a party, Hayes.” At least I didn’t think I was.
“Not an issue.” He let me go and started backing away. “Be there,nerd.”
“Not going to happen.”
“It’s happening.”
I watched him back into someone and laughed as he apologized and helped them up. I watched until he disappeared into the tunnel and left me standing there staring after him just like so many other fans standing around. Blowing out a sharp exhale, I turned and left through the opposite tunnel.
30
***Cass***
Iwas waiting at the truck for them when they came out. It hurt my pride but everything kind of hurt so I figured it didn’t matter all that much. I didn’t want to make them chase me down when they should’ve been celebrating instead. So, I acted like everything was great and went over the game with them, hyping them up over how good they’d been. If any of them noticed that I was off they didn’t show it. I was thankful for it. I wasn’t sure I could try to explain what was wrong without making a fool of myself.
I wasn’t sure what to expect from a field party but when they parked in the middle of what looked like a grassy parking lot packed full of pickup trucks and led me towards the middle where some trucks had been backed up to create seating, I was oddly surprised. Someone had set up lights and music and there was even a table full of beer and other drinks. Smoke hung heavily in the air and there were what felt like hundredsof people there but it had a nice vibe. And for once I wasn’t painfully underdressed.
What happened next wasn’t a surprise. I’d been at enough parties with The Apex Three to know what to expect. As soon as people saw their football heroes walk up the party really started. Someone shouted their names and then people swarmed. I was used to getting bumped, or shoved, aside so people could fawn over the ones who truly mattered at schools like USC and Texas. It happened at USC and it happened that night with the Ford brothers. If anything, it felt like the crowd in the field was even hungrier than I’d seen at USC. Everyone wanted to worship at the football royalty altar and try to get close enough to catch some of their goldenness.
I let myself get pushed aside and made my way over to one of the trucks that was empty. I stopped at the drinks table on the way and grabbed a beer so I had something to do while I waited for someone to eventually remember me. It sounded so pathetic but it was just the reality of a tagalong. Maybe it would’ve upset me at another point in my life but years in Cole’s shadow had numbed the pain of looking like a loser in the background.
I was just trying to get comfortable leaning against the tailgate when Hayes appeared. He grinned as he picked me up and put me down on the tailgate.
“Hey! I don’t know whose truck this is. They may not want-”
“It’s a field party, sweetheart. If they park their truck here, they expect people to sit on them.” His eyes were bright with happiness and it was so evident how much he loved the game. “Honestly, they expect a lot crazier than that. I knew a guy freshman year who got in his truck and drove it home without realizing there was a threesome happening in the back. Rumor was, he hit ninety on the highway just as they hit the big O.”
I laughed and pushed his shoulder. “The big O? Really?”
Someone called his name and he glanced back at them before turning back to me. “If I don’t go-”
“Go. I’m fine. It’s your big day, princess. Go have fun.” I smiled and fanned him away. “I’m happy here.”
“I’ll be right back.”
I knew he wouldn’t be. Or maybe there was a part of me that was afraid he would be right back. What if three guys who pretty much hated me were more attentive and concerned about me at a party than my best friends ever were? Just how pathetic would it make me if I’d given my everything to those guys back at USC and they’d never even given me a reason to have hope? Was I that stupid?
