Page 123 of Never Will I Ever

“Well, I’ve been making my rounds on this apology tour to…” He blows out a breath and laughs. “Well, pretty much everyone? Coach was the stop before yours, and it just kinda came out.”

“No pun intended, I’m assuming.”

“I had to give him a reason to help me talk to you.” The hairon my neck prickles as suspicion creeps in, and my eyes narrow, which only pulls another carefree laugh from him. “What? Did you think I just snuck in there of my own volition?”

Uh, yes?

“Don’t act like you don’t have a habit of breaking into places you shouldn’t,” I reason. “We both know better than that.”

“For once, I went by the rule book, Mr. Goody Two-Shoes. Coach gave me the go-ahead and let me in. And more importantly, gaveyoua reason to come back to the field after everyone else was gone.”

I’ll be fucking damned.

“This whole thing was a setup.”

He nods. “One Coach was all too happy to assist in if it meant you got your head outta your ass and started playing ball the way he knows you can.”

“They were scrims,” I protest.

“Yeah, well, you take it up with him.”

I’m in the middle of rolling my eyes when Avery’s hand snakes out, snatching the front of my shirt before pulling me toward him. His lips are on mine again, this kiss more consuming than the last as the entire world blurs into the background.

All that’s left is the two of us at the center of it.

“You wanna come back to my apartment with me?” I whisper, tugging at his hoodie. “There’s a bit of lost time we have to make up for.”

He hums, a slow grin spreading over his face. “I love the sound of that. Trust me. But there’s actually one more thing I need to take care of first.”

His attention flicks over my shoulder then, and I frown in confusion before turning to follow his gaze, only for it to land on Keene heading toward Aspen’s Impala.

A sense of pride has my chest swelling with emotion when I turn back to him.

“Do you want me to go with you?”

“Nah. This is something I’ve gotta do on my own.” He grins before stealing another quick kiss. “Text me your address. I’ll be over right after I’m done.”

Thirty-Two

Avery

Running out in front of a moving car is far from the dumbest thing I’ve ever done, and considering the person behind the wheel hates me with the burning passion of a thousand suns, it’s definitely not the brightest move either. Yet, here I am, jumping in front of Aspen’s ’67 Impala like I’m a cat with eight lives to spare.

“Wait, wait, wait!” I shout before the car can leave the parking lot.

Aspen slams on the brakes before the front bumper takes me out at the knees, and my hands collide with the hood to steady myself. His shock quickly turns to fury when he registerswhohe almost turned into road-kill, and his palm lands on the horn.

I wince, but when I don’t back down, he rolls down the window to shout at me over the noise.

“Move!”

I still don’t move.

Instead, I stare at them through the windshield until he finally lays off the horn. It’s only then, despite his clear frustration and the ringing in my ears, that I manage to calmly state my intention.

“I need to talk to you.”

“You—” Aspen cuts himself off, a scoff leaving him before he tosses his hand out. “The only thing you need to do is get the fuck out of my way before I hit you.”

---