“Good boy. I’ll come with you and hold your hand while you get stitched up.”
I can’t help the smile I feel coming onto my face.
Maybe I can use this situation to my advantage, to get close to Taryn. As long as I can keep from passing out when I see the needle and the blood.
“Ok,” I agree, pulling her closer to my side.
“Colsen, did you drive here? I have no idea where the nearest emergency room is, but it would be good if Tucker didn’t put too much strain on that knee until we get it taken care of.”
Colsen’s eyes are fixed on my arm wrapped around Taryn’s waist when he answers. “Actually, there’s an urgent care room just at the beginning of the pier. They only take care of minor injuries, so I guess stitches qualify? And since it isn’t far, I’m sure Tuck can walk there. I’ve got him, you can follow us while I help him. He’s too heavy for you.”
“Thanks,” I say to my best bud through gritted teeth.
He’s trying to look innocent, but I know why he offered to help me walk to the opposite end of the pier.
Colsen is jealous that I have my arm around Taryn and he’s trying to cockblock me by inserting himself between me and my girl.
My girl.
I know I’ve just met Taryn, but the words feel right in my head. I need to make sure that I turn those words into reality. When Bex friend-zoned me last year, it hurt so much that I never want to feel like that again.
I’m about to say that I think I can walk and that Colsen can go home, but my problem is solved when a golf cart with the Star Cove lifeguard logo comes to pick me up.
“I hope you don’t mind me calling the lifeguards,” the booth attendant says. “I heard your girlfriend say that it’s better not to strain it until you get stitched up and since she’s a nurse…”
I thank the guy. He looks familiar; I think he might have gone to high school with Talia.
But the identity of the guy doesn’t really matter. He called Taryn my girlfriend, and that sounds fucking fantastic. I hope the universe is trying to tell me something, because I’m all in with the idea of making Taryn mine.
Even though there’s no need, I wrap my arm around her when she climbs next to me on the backseat of the golf cart.
“Ready?” the driver asks, and I’m about to say yes when my eyes land on Colsen.
This is my chance to cut him loose, and I should tell him to go back to camp.
“Almost,” are the words that tumble out of my mouth instead. “Can my friend come too?”
The driver shrugs. “If he doesn’t mind riding next to me, sure.”
Colsen’s gaze meets mine, and he doesn’t need to thank me. For some fucking reason, the disappointment I saw on his face reminded me of my own when I got shot down by Bex.
Besides, Taryn wanted to go home with both of us. And like I said to her before when my own wager with her ended in a tie, I want to win fair and square.
TARYN
I feel terrible.
I can’t believe I shot Tucker in the leg. It wasn’t on purpose, of course, but still. If Tucker ran the other way and never wanted to speak to me again after tonight, I wouldn’t blame him.
Just the thought of never speaking to him again makes me more sad than I could ever have imagined.
It’s a surprising feeling, since I just met the hot goalie. The physical attraction between us is something powerful; it causes my body to come alive with the smallest touch. My knees have been feeling weak all night. Every time Tucker sets those sapphire-blue eyes on me, my brain short circuits.
I also like the goofy side to his personality.
Most of the star athletes I met at my college acted like celebrities; self-centered and unreachable, they acted like they were God’s gift to women.
That included Tim. I was surprised when he showed an interest in me on my last night on campus.
