Cash pointed, and sure enough, Number Twenty-Two jogged to the opposing team’s forty.
“About time,” Griffin muttered. “Now that there’s less than a minute left.”
“At least he’s playing,” Theo said.
Charlie patted her pockets. “Where’s my phone?”
“We all agreed to leave them in the car, remember?” Theo said. “So we wouldn’t be distracted.”
“Why’d you make me agree to that?” Charlie smacked Theo on the arm. “Now I can’t film Liam.”
“Babe.” Cash pointed to the TV cameras. “We don’t need to film Liam.”
She blushed. “Oh, yeah.”
“Why does he keep looking at you like that?” Sophie asked. “Didn’t your momma teach you any manners?” she hollered.
“Soph,” Bowen power-whispered.
“I said what I said, and I’ll say it again.” She cupped her hands around her mouth. “Didn’t your momma teach you any manners?”
Pike tossed his chin up at Sophie. “Trust me, my momma did her job just fine. If I want something, I make sure it ends up mine.” Then he sucked his teeth, smile fixed on me. “And I already gotthat.”
I gripped the armrests, ready to bolt.
“Already got that?” Griffin said sharply. “What does that mean?”
“Settle,” Bowen said. “He wants a reaction. Don’t give him one.”
“He’s just manifesting,” Theo said, like he was talking Griff through a calculus equation. “You say what you want like it’s already yours—present tense, no hesitation. The idea is that it trains your brain to treat it like a done deal. So you act accordingly.”
“Yeah. Well. He can manifest all he wants, but he’d betterdo it elsewhere!” Griffin said, loud enough that heads on the sideline turned. “She’s already taken!”
Quentin simply winked and blew me a kiss.
I froze, the floor dropping out from under me.
Griffinshot out of his seat, and if Cash and Bowen hadn’t held him back, he would’ve vaulted the waist-high divider.
I slid off my chair and drifted to the back of the room, which seemed to have shrunk since we walked in. Why was it shaped like a square? And why wasn’t there a corner to disappear to?
The bathroom! I made for the door…
Locked.
“Sorry!” Maggie called. “Be out in a minute.” She groaned. “I hope.” Her cramps had been brutal all day.
Unless I left entirely, I had nowhere to hide. I turned my back to the field and hugged myself, eyes closed.
A hand curved around my waist. “Hey, I’m sorry I embarrassed you,” Griffin said, my favorite voice in the world warming my insides.
But safety was an illusion right now. I wasn’t safe here, even with Griffin beside me.Especiallywith Griffin beside me. Not as long as Quentin Pike kept watching me like that.
I turned to Griff. “You didn’t embarrass me. He did.”
He pulled me against his chest, arms around me, one hand threading through my hair. With a wall of shoulders between Pike and me, I laid my cheek on Griff’s shoulder, trying to convince myself I was fine.
But then our group erupted in cheers, along with the rest of the stadium. And that fast, Griffin was gone. I stayed in my spot, trying to quiet the warning bells going off in my head, before we rushed the field at the end of the game.
