Page 71 of Hard Hitter

“It’s hard to keep up with Quinn these days,” Jett said. “But I’ve seen them together a few times. Maybe there is something there.”

“Gross…” Raelyn muttered.

“He really didn’t tell you anything though?” Chris prompted again.

“Nothing useful,” she sighed. “Though I gather it had something to do with Liam.”

“Your boyfriend is an asshole, Rae. Sorry, Coach,” Jett held up a hand to an increasingly frustrated Coach Barlow before turning back to Raelyn. “He’s quite possibly the worst person I have ever met.”

“But he’s so pretty when he takes his shirt off,” Raelyn said dreamily, knowing the disgusted and animated reactions she would receive.

Chris and Jett both groaned. Chris’s head fell into his hands and Jett scrunched up his face before making a barfing gesture.

Laughing, Raelyn craned her neck to look around the office and the boys understood she was looking for him.

“His parents already came and got him,” Chris said. “His mom was furious and was throwing around words like ‘lawsuit’ and ‘press charges’.”

She groaned, resting her head back on the wall behind her. “What a mess...I’m sorry, I feel like this is my fault.”

“It’s not, Rae,” said Jett, putting an arm around her shoulders. “You should’ve heard the way he was talking about you. I’m pretty sure you would’ve smacked us around if wehadn’tdone something about it.”

“We were supposed to go on this date tonight…”

“We heard,” Chris droned. “Please tell me you’re not still considering it.”

“Of course not,” Raelyn assured them. “And I know he had it in his head that we were going to have sex-”

“Heard that, too,” Jett cut in.

“-but I wasn’t going to.”

“Thank God,” Jett sighed. “Although I doubt he’s feeling up for it after having his nose broken.”

“Quinn broke his nose?” Raelyn gasped. “Tell me everything.”

After school, and after hearing Chris and Jett’s version of events before both their parents came to pick them up, Raelyn drove straight to Liam’s house. She would like to be the kind of person who kept in mind that there were two sides to each story, but Chris and Jett wouldn’t lie to her. They had no reason to, and quite frankly, the story they told made a lot of sense.

Mrs. Hamilton opened the door for Raelyn when she knocked. Her face was still pinched and red, as though she’d been ranting non-stop since the meeting at the school.

“Can you believe this?” Mrs. Hamilton fumed as she closed the door behind Raelyn. “I’ve never even heard of this boy, thisQuinn Casey. He’s on the football team with Liam, did you know that?”

“Yeah,” Raelyn sighed. She thought it best to keep to herself that she was actually very well acquainted with the boy who’d broken her son’s nose.

“And they couldn’t even get his parents to meet with us,” Mrs. Hamilton continued. “Uninvolved parents. It’s no wonder the boy is so troubled. Liam says this isn’t the first fight he’s been in either! I can’t believe- they should expel him, I think.”

Before Raelyn bit an actual hole through her tongue from trying to keep her comments to herself, she asked, “Is Liam upstairs?”

“Yes, sweetie. He’s in his room resting.” Mrs. Hamilton finally waved Raelyn in the direction of the staircase. After muttering a quick thanks, she slipped off her boots and headed up the stairs.

She didn’t bother knocking on his bedroom door and entered the room to find Liam lying on his bed, staring up at his phone.

“Raelyn,” he sat up, appearing surprised to see her there.

“Eventful afternoon, huh?” Raelyn said, taking another step into the room.

Liam stood up and closed the distance between them. He was wearing dark blue athletic pants and no shirt.Lord, he did look good without a shirt.

No. I’m angry with him right now. Ignore the pecs. Ignore the abs. Ignore the sexy V-cut pointing into his pants.

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