Page 51 of Wild Card

“Stay the fuck away from her, E,” I warned one last time before they’d effectively removed me from the property.

Chapter Nineteen

“Hey, it’s party girl.”

I turned to inspect the face of the guy from the night prior, standing with his back straight and a broad smile on his face. It was Elias Matthews—the real one. He’d cornered me at a random party I’d decided to attend with Hillary and Juan. They could tell I needed some cheering up. I guess I wasn’t great at pretending being ghosted didn’t bother me, but whatever. Elias brought his A game with the smiling, flirting, and trying to get me to go out with him. I was trying to keep a low profile, just wanted to get out of the house so Taylor didn’t pick up on my mood. I wasn’t expecting to catch the attention of the captain of the Devils, but here I had it, two days in a row.

“It’s you again.” I held the loaf of bread between us, hugging it to my chest like it was a life preserver. The aisle was narrow, and people kept trying to cut between us, making my anxiety spike as a few people drew too close.

He must have picked up on my issue. His body twisted to block the entrance entirely.

Elias was tall and thick. He looked like a typical bodybuilder or steroid abuser with veins in places I didn’t even know veins could be. Today he wore a black tee, a Devils baseball hat covering his blond hair, and the insignia for the Devils tattooed onto the side of his shaved head.

“You were playing hard to get last night.” His shoe touched the tip of mine in a flirtatious way. The lights overhead were obnoxiously bright, and I itched to grab my sunglasses out of my bag to help ward off the impending headache I knew was coming. I’d drunk more than I usually did at the party, and I wanted to punch something when I considered how I was reacting to this entire Decker situation. I wasn’t a big drinker, especially when I was up against a deadline. The hangover was punishment enough, but I still felt a little foolish.

I shrugged. “Wasn’t playing at all, just not interested.”

“Why?” His blue eyes narrowed on me. He probably wasn’t used to being told women weren’t interested in him.

“I don’t know.” What was I supposed to say? That Decker didn’t like him and obviously wanted to hurt him in some way, which seemed like a good enough reason to avoid him?

“Give me a shot.”

The words stung. I didn’t even know why they did, but I’d imagined what had happened that night between Decker and Taylor so many times I now had actual words in my head for what he had probably said to her. Who knew, maybe they’d exchanged numbers and had been texting this entire week, and that was why Decker had decided to drop me out of nowhere.

“Why?” I asked.

Another patron wanted the discounted loaves of bread at my back, but one glimpse at the giant next to me had them pushing their cart down the opposite aisle.

“Do I need a reason?” He shrugged.

He did, yes—although, again, it wasn’t like I actually trusted this guy. Then again…if Decker was done talking to me about the games and the story, maybe this was my chance to get a different view, a different side of things. Besides, I couldn’t go back to watching my cell phone for any sign of life from Decker. I’d seen him around school a few times, but I was way too ashamed to approach him. I had literally come off as the world’s most pathetic cling-on. I couldn’t believe how many times I had texted to see if he wanted to hang out. My face burned at the mere memory of my attempts to see him after the trip to his mom’s. I’d thought we had a moment or something. It had felt real, but the way he’d woken up, turning away from me and quickly snatching up his shoes…I guess I realized it then.

Still, on the way home, he’d been quiet but not silent. I had figured he was just emotional after sleeping in his childhood bedroom after not being able to for so long. I was wrong. He’d dropped me like a bad, annoyingly clingy habit.

With that fresh feeling of embarrassment burning in my chest and a deep desire not to deal with Decker James any longer, I smiled at the man in front of me.

“You want a shot? You have it. What exactly did you have in mind?”

* * *

“It’s crispy out here.”Hillary rubbed her arms through her jacket. She had on two massive sweaters underneath it, a pair of gloves, and a hat. It was North Carolina in early March—not exactly cold, yet my best friend was layered like she was about to be abducted and taken into the Alaskan wilderness.

“Feels good.” I settled into the cold bleacher seat.Never mind—holy shit that is cold.

“Told ya.” Hillary smirked, laying down a blanket for us to sit on.

So much better.

“So, why are we out here on a random Wednesday, watching the Devils practice?”

I narrowed my gaze, trying to sort out who exactly was on the field. They seemed to be in practice jerseys, so I didn’t know who was who. It was just a sea of white with that red D on the front left side of their shirts. Some of the players had hats twisted around, others had padding and face masks, and there were gloves and balls being thrown faster than I could blink.

“Uh…we’re researching.”

“Researching what?” I didn’t have to see Hillary’s face to know her nose was scrunched and her chin was dipped into the collar of her coat.

Question of the year.

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