They were black unicorns with fiery horns, but that was Seager.Rottweiler, definitely.
The guy jabbed two fingers into Maddox's chest, steam puffing in the air between them. Cold turned Seager's cheeks a bright red, as if he'd hit maximum anger capacity and was about to boil over.
I winced as Maddox squared his shoulders. But, cold as ice, he just turned away.
Seager snarled and spit as his lineman pulled him back.
Geez. Maybe a pitbull.
Kanami arranged us into a huddle on our side of the field. It felt strange, looking at faces from other Strikers teams I didn't recognize.
"Red, need you to play wide receiver. Remember, our team can't score unless we're the ones in the endzone. So, basically, we're the offense."
"Got it."
"Um, I have a date tonight." A dark-haired girl in a basketball jersey made a face. "I'm really not digging the idea of being tackled into this mud. On Valentine's Day."
I tried not to roll my eyes.
"Whose idea was this nonsense?" Another voice chimed in.
"No tackling," Kanami said. "It'sflagfootball. We just pull flags?—"
"Tell that to the anger-gremlin screeching over there." Liesl scowled and pointed at the freshmen. "We're all gonna end up drenched and dirty."
A chorus of groans erupted from our group.
"It's just mud." Kanami rolled her eyes. "Anyway, I've got the key to the women's locker room. In case anyone needs the restroom or to change after the game."
I shook my head. But before we could break, our male teammates joined the group. Danny, the running back, grinned and winked at me. He looked "miniature" compared to Sato—who was well over six feet, to be fair. They handed out black belts with dangling neon orange flags attached.
Maddox pulled his on, twisting one way then the other. He glanced up and his eyes locked with mine.
I caught my breath as a rush of heat bathed my skin, warming every last nerve ending in my body. I couldn’t read the look on his face. Furrowed brow, stormy eyes. I couldn’t breathe and I couldn't look away.
Was he remembering…that night?
Eight Months Ago
Brackenridge Off-campus Apartments
"How was practice?" I pulled him inside my apartment. He turned his heavy-lidded gaze toward me in a way that made my stomach flip, flutter and bottom out. God, his eyes were such an amazing shade of blue…
"A beating."
"Yeah, seems like you’re a little worn out." I gave him a smile as I folded and refolded my hands together. My heart skipped. I took in a deep, calming breath.
He shrugged. "I promised to stop by."
"You didn't have to."I was hoping you wanted to.
His mouth pulled down on one side as a strange expression flickered across his features.
I swallowed the urge to ask him what was wrong. Like Kanami said, a guy who finds reasons to stop by, text, call. I couldn’t be reading his signals wrong…right?
"It’s become something of a habit."
I frowned as my heart tripped. A heavier beat sent a pang through my system. I pushed it aside. "I found Thai food."
