“Prove it,” he dared. “Kiss me so we can go back to simply hating each other. Kiss me, so I can stop feeling this way whenever you walk into a room.”
One kiss.
It sounded so simple. So tempting. But what if that one kiss only proved therewassomething between us?
“You can’t deny this tension,” he continued. “And I don’t like it any more than you do. Don’t you want to get rid of it?”
I did.More than anything.But I held firm.
“You can’t get rid of something that’s not there.”
Finally, my body listened to me; I ducked past him and made for the door.
“I guess that means you’ll think about it,” he called after me.
Except as far as I was concerned, there was nothing to think about. Tension or not, kissing Parker Darling again was definitely not an option.
Chapter 20Parker
I was beginning to think I’d lost my touch. Mackenzie had turned me down. Although, I suppose it wasn’t all that surprising. One moment she’d been telling me about her mom, the next she was struck by a painful cramp, and then I’d started begging her to kiss me. Not exactly my smoothest move. But the sparks that had been flying between us were undeniable, so it had seemed like a solid strategy at the time.
That was half the problem though. When I was around Mackenzie, any ounce of rational thought seemed to escape me—and I didn’t have much rational thought to begin with.
Maybe Cammie was right about me. Mackenzie was forbidden, and I’d always liked a challenge. She was an itch that couldn’t be scratched. It had started as a slight inconvenience, but the longer I resisted it, the more it was slowly driving me insane. I’d been joking when I suggested we kiss in her bedroom, but I wasn’t laughing when she turned me down today.
Despite this latest rejection, I was certain it wasn’t all one-sided. Fireworks didn’t just appear in the sky for no reason. There was a rocket and a flame, so an explosion was inevitable. The fuse just needed lighting.
Unfortunately, for now, the itch remained. All day, I’d struggled to get Mackenzie off my mind. Even in art class, while working on my comic strip, my head wasn’t clear. I’deven started sketching characters that looked a little too much like her.
As I got ready for practice that night with the rest of the team, Elliot hobbled into the locker room. A few guys bumped fists with him as he slowly ambled past. My greeting wasn’t quite so friendly.
“What are you doing here, Ford?”
“Just caught up with the athletic trainer,” he replied.
“And?”
Elliot grinned. “Want to know when I’ll be back playing again, huh? Makes sense. I’d be missing me too after the last two games.”
I got the feeling he was about to give me his thoughts on Mackenzie’s performance, so I raised an eyebrow, daring him to continue. I didn’t want to have to give him another injury.
“Don’t worry,” he said as he carried on past me, giving me a firm pat on the shoulder. “Trainer says the boot might be off sooner than he first thought, and I can rescue this season from disaster.”
I struggled to hide my disappointment. I knew if Mackenzie had enough time to show everyone what she could do, Elliot would never get the starting goaltender spot back.
“Oh,” he continued. “The Raiders game last night was crazy. Your brothers are on fire.” It was probably the hundredth time I’d heard someone praise Reed and Grayson today. I was happy for them, but I was a little over talking about it now.
“That goal Reed scored…” Elliot let out a low whistle. “You’ve got some big shoes to fill. Though Coach hasn’t evenmade you captain, has he? Maybe your feet just aren’t big enough.”
His words were flippant, but the way his eyes lit with silent victory showed he knew exactly how hard that blow had landed. My hands tensed to fists, and I had to remind myself I was supposed to be staying out of trouble.
I leaned forward in my seat and nodded at his boot. “Just worry about your own foot, Elliot. And maybe give the shower stretching a rest, yeah?”
The guys around me sniggered as Elliot’s cheeks grew hot, but I stood and left the room before he could say anything else.
I hated the fact there was even a possibility he might say something in response. Ford never would have taken a swipe at me if my brothers were still on the team. No one dared mess with any of us when we were together. When we were the infamous Darling Devils. But everything was different now.
I didn’twantto need my brothers’ support. I wanted my team to follow me because I was a great leader. I wanted idiots like Ford to keep their thoughts to themselves—or never have them in the first place—because they respected me. But that wasn’t going to happen until I figured out how to become a captain like my brother.
