Page 65 of Wild Card

“Oh yeah?” He tugged on the ends of my hair before shoving that hand in my back pocket.

“Um…yeah, so…” God, what if he ended things because I was still talking to Elias? No, I would not be in that sort of relationship. I’d never done anything romantic with Elias, and I could be friends with him if I wanted to, especially since Decker still had never explained their past to me.

“Here.” I handed him my phone with the text still on it.

He used his free hand to shove the bag of equipment higher on his shoulder before accepting my phone.

After a few seconds of him reading, he handed it back.

“So, you want to go to the game, to get notes for the story…that it?”

I looked up, feeling hopeful. “Yes, exactly.”

His gaze stayed fixed on the parking lot as we approached it. “Okay.”

“Okay?” Surely it wasn’t that easy for him to let me go with—

“I’ll take you.”

He smiled down at me with mischief stamped across his face. Those delicious lips slung to the side in a sexy smile, and all I could do was gape because he was handsome. Sometimes it hurt to look at him and believe he actually liked me, believe he was falling for me.

“You’ll take me?”

“Yeah…I mean, I can take you. No need to deal with Elias anymore. Actually…you know…” He cleared his throat, setting the equipment down. “At all.”

I slowed my walk, spinning to face him as he settled items in the back of his truck.

“So, I can’t be friends with Elias anymore?”

“I just don’t see why you need to be. I can answer your questions.” He shrugged again, walking toward his door. I walked to mine, opening it and climbing inside. Starting the engine, he began backing up while I waited for him to answer me. “I won’t tell you what to do.”

Okay…that was vague, but I supposed it was as good as I was going to get. I waited for him to take this opening and explain what had happened or tell me why he didn’t like Elias, but he didn’t. I tried not to care, but hurt leaked through my chest just the same.

* * *

“So, what’s after graduation?”he suddenly asked while sipping on his soda. We’d stopped at one of those make-your-own-pizza places. He’d taken me on several dates over the past two weeks, but I loved that he didn’t insist on paying for each one. I knew he didn’t have a lot of extra income from bits and pieces of conversations I had picked up on between Kyle and his mom. Being the daughter of a multi-millionaire, it was hard for me not to offer to cover everything. Still, I liked that he seemed okay with our balance.

I sipped my lemonade and began explaining about Kline Global.

“An internship? Gotta be honest, I didn’t see that coming.” He laughed, jumping up to grab our orders.

Once he returned and we started on our pizzas, I eyed him suspiciously. “Did you assume I’d work for my dad?”

He shrugged. “Yeah. Isn’t Taylor getting a New York spot or something?”

I continued to chew, trying to tamp down the confusion swirling in my mind. How did he know that…and how did I not know that? Was Taylor considering a spot in New York? What about… Now that I took a second to think about it, she hadn’t shared a desire to pursue anything after graduation except a trip around the Caribbean.

“I don’t know,” I finally replied, trying to keep the mood light, but it was obvious that I needed to talk to my stepsister. We’d been out of sync since I started dating Decker. I’d barely been home, or I was tucked away in my room working on finals and my article. Some nights I spent over at his apartment, and other nights he’d be in my bed by the time I got home from the library.

“What about you?” I returned the question.

“Me?” He stalled, sipping his drink again. “I don’t know…I think I might take over my dad’s company. It’s been dormant for over a year, but nothing some good marketing can’t help.”

“What about baseball? Not only going after it…I guess, professionally, but even if that doesn’t happen, isn’t that the entire point of being a Devil? Playing, having a good word put in for you, etc.?”

I had gathered enough intel about the Devils that I now understood the draw of being part of an organization of its caliber. Their pockets had pockets, and their references were pure gold. Playing for them was literally like having a winning lottery ticket.

Decker chewed, sipped his drink, and wiped his hands before he bracketed his plate with his arms.

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