Blue eyes settle on mine. “It’s okay… But God, you really should start watching where you’re going.”
This time it’s far more playful and less angry, which makes me smile. “I’ll do my best.”
I hold a hand out. “I’m Landon.”
“I’m Parker.” He shakes my hand, then takes a step back. “I’m gonna be late for class. Fuck.”
“Me too,” I say for some stupid-ass reason.
He chuckles. “Can I get your number? I’ll wash this and get it back to you.”
My stomach does a little flip.It doesn’t mean anything. He’s just wanting to get your hoodie back to you. Calm down.
“Okay, sure.”
I rattle off my number, and a few seconds later, my pocket buzzes. “That’s mine,” he says, nodding toward my pocket. “I’ll shoot you a text when it’s clean. I have late classes tonight, but I should be able to get it cleaned soon.”
“Hey, no worries, man. No rush.”
His face scrunches up for a second, but then he smooths his features out. “Yeah, no worries,man.See ya around.”
It’s not until he’s halfway down the sidewalk that I realize I’m incredibly late to classandI didn’t get a damn coffee.
Chapter 7
Benson
It’s too damn late in the year for it to be this hot. And it’s especially too damn late in the year for it to be this hot while at football practice.
I’m sweating my ass off. West, as always, is acting like some kind of superhuman, and even though he’s got sweat dripping from the strands of his hair, he’s not giving up.
My feet pound on the turf as I run down the field, my heart thundering just as hard. I hold my hands out in front of me, catching the football and cradling it into my chest. I break a tackle, then sprint ahead before I’m brought down hard near the end zone.
Jesus. West’s accuracy is always damn near perfect, and it’s a real shame that he doesn’t have bigger aspirations for football than just playing in college. It seems like no matter what route I run, he drops the ball directly in my hands. It’s uncanny and wildly impressive.
We set up again, and I’m thankful when, instead of throwing the ball to me, West hands it off to our running back, Devon.
Devon gets brought down after only picking up a few yards, and I’m about to grumble over it when Coach yells for us to bring it in. Thank God. I jog to the sidelines, taking a bottle of water from someone before spraying it in my hair and down my face, and then I take a big drink.
My chest feels like it’s on fire. Ihaterunning in the heat. Yeah, I’m kind of a big baby about it actually, but oh well.
I catch sight of Landon on the sideline and shoot him a wink, pleased when his cheeks flush bright red. He’s so damn cute. He recovers quickly, then surprises the hell out of me by winking back.
He must see the shock on my face because his eyes light up, and he laughs. I’m not close enough to hear it, but I damn near have it memorized anyway.
I’m not even listening to the coach. I’m far too intrigued by Landon, so when everyone starts to disperse and head into the locker rooms, I’m a little surprised. Damn. Hope I didn’t miss anything important.
Landon starts walking in my direction, so instead of heading toward the locker rooms, I make my way to him. It looks like his breath catches a little when I get close, but it’s probably nothing more than the heat and how hard he just played.
Marcus missed practice today for God knows what reason. I swear that dude is so unreliable, but as his backup, Landon stepped right in. He offers better protection for West than Marcus anyway.
“Hey,” I say when I get close enough for Landon to hear me.
He waves a little. “Hi.”
Normally, he’s all about intense eye contact, but right now he can barely even look at me. I frown. “Everything okay?”
“What?” He nods but still doesn’t look at me. “Yeah, everything’s fine.”
