Page 46 of Catch Me

I face forward in my seat again after locking eyes with Lex. I see the same worry I feel inside, swirling in the depths of his brown irises. We don’t think Sasha is done with us. Not by a long shot. The only reason she hasn’t done anything big yet is because things are going her way. Oscar’s on the team, making Reid look like shit. She’s shopped that picture around of me to anyone who will look. The comments I get in the hallway are proof enough of that.

But Lex’s right. As soon as Reid takes back his spot, she’s going to make another move.

21

The place Eli Richards hangs out after practice isn’t too far from the school and the neighboring football field where Reid took his hit. My stomach clenches when we see it in the distance. I never want to go back to that day. I never want to have to worry about someone I love again.

Yes, that sounds naïve. I’m well aware. I can dream, though, can’t I?

We walk inside, casually. At least, that’s what I’m trying to do. My eyes dart around the players. Sure enough, Oscar was right about one thing. The guys inside this small cafe are all football players along with a few people dressed in business slacks like they’re on their way home from work.

“Easy, Shortie,” Cade says. He puts his hands on my shoulders, and we head to a table in the corner. I hear words like yards, catch, and throw being tossed around, another reminder that we got the right place. “Be cool,” he reminds me.

Lex and Cade go to sit on one side of the table, but I move in front of them. My eyes catch on someone who looks like it could be Eli to me, but his hair is a little different, so I want to watch him some more to be sure. When I saw him at the hotel room, he was more put together. Right now, this guy—if it is Eli Richards—is wearing a t-shirt with his team’s mascot on it and a pair of sweatpants. When we saw him at the party, everything was so frenzied, but he looked like the guy from the hotel room right down to his designer jeans and nice shirt. I need to make sure we confront the right person because everything comes down to this.

“Okay…” Cade starts after I dart in front of him, his lips pulling apart like the next words out of his mouth are about to be something smartass.

“Leave her alone,” Reid snaps.

We sit, and Cade leans forward. “What exactly is our plan? Are we just going to head over there and ask him if he ever took money to tackle someone before?”

He’s got a point. For a hot second, I think we probably should’ve brought Oscar to help us figure this shit out. He knows how to be a sneaky bastard. This is his arena, not ours.

“I think that’s him,” I say, leaning back.

At the same time, Cade gets up. “I’ll go get us some drinks. I’ll take a look when I come back.” He seems iffy about this whole thing. The only one completely on my side about all of this is Lex.

Lex sneaks a glance over his shoulder. “It’s him.” He turns sad eyes on me, and I remember he was there at the hotel room. He got just as good of a look as I did. “We can’t discuss shit with him when he’s got all his football buddies around him. There are only three of us.”

“Four,” I correct.

“Four,” he says, giving me a small smile.

“Three,” Reid says with finality, turning hard eyes to Lex.

I want to tell him if they’re taking me out of commission, they may as well take him out of commission, too, but the last thing he needs is to be reminded that he has to take things easy.

A few minutes later, Cade comes back with four drinks. He drops them down in front of us like he’s the waiter and slides into his seat. He shrugs. “Probably him.”

“Well, I know it’s him.” I sneak my phone out, zoom in, and snap a picture. Once I have it blown up on my screen, I turn it toward them. They all nod, and we bide our time as we wait for an opportunity to get Eli alone. A half hour passes, and nothing changes. They’re all still sitting there until one guy gets up. Then, everyone in the room starts getting up. Before I can even move, Reid puts his hand on my leg. “Don’t move. We’ll walk out after them. Be cool.”

My fingers tense on the table. I swear if one of them tells me to be cool again… Were they cool when they went all caveman on me in the beginning of the year?

I take a deep breath, holding it inside until every last guy from the cafe has left. Gripping the seat beneath me, I wait until the others start moving. First, Cade casually gets up. Reid follows, so I stand, too, slipping my hand through his. He takes mine gently, like it’s any other day.

Lex pushes the door open, and we all follow him outside onto the cracked sidewalk littered with changing leaves. I follow Cade and Lex blindly. I’m too short to see over them, and they’re too wide for me to see between them. Up ahead, I hear voices, and suddenly, Lex and Cade move to the side. They lean casually against the building, and Reid pulls back on my hand, so we both come to a stop in front of them.

“What the fuck ishedoing here?” Lex asks, sliding a stormy glance in the direction we were headed.

“Fuck,” Reid spits. “Oscar?”

I don’t dare look over because I don’t want to be conspicuous and because I’m supposed to “be cool.”

Cade nods slightly. “He’s talking to our boy.”

“I swear to God I’m going to fuck him up,” Reid says. I can hear the growly nature in his voice and the tense lines of his hand that’s still in mine.

Lex shifts so he can get a full-on look at what’s happening. His lips move into a thin line as he watches beyond us with a level of concentration I recognize from the football field. I guess that’s kind of what we’re doing here. We’re running a play. Trying to score some points by sneaking past others… Or maybe I really do need to calm the fuck down. “Jesus,” Lex sighs. The lines at the corners of his eyes tighten. “They’re leaving. The team,” he says quickly. “Not Oscar and Eli.”

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