Page 48 of Catch Me

We press in tighter as Reid turns to read what it says. He takes his phone out and takes a picture of Eli’s screen. “More.”

Eli bites his lips, scrolling furiously through what must be hundreds of texts from Sasha. It’s probably full of fake drivel, but if they were stupid enough to talk about it, all the better. “Here,” Eli says again, showing him something else.

Reid takes another picture with his phone, then instructs Eli to hold it next to his face, so he can take a picture of Eli and the screen at the same time. The dude’s positively white and shaking. He should be.

“Perfect,” Cade says, smiling. “That and the audio I took of all this should be enough.”

Eli sighs, but I glance over at Cade appreciatively. These guys are way better at this than me. He probably recorded the whole damn conversation.

We start to move away, but Reid stays. “A word of advice? Doing things like that for someone like her just makes you her bitch, not her hero.” He gives him one good shove against the brick building, and we all move away.

The four of us turn toward Reid’s vehicle. I don’t even think twice about Oscar until I hear him say, “Uh, you’re welcome!”

Reid and Cade both lift their middle fingers without glancing back. I turn my head quickly to find Oscar staring me down. I don’t give him anything though. I just turn right back and hop in Reid’s car, grateful I’ve got friends like these.

I hold my hand out, demanding Reid’s phone from him. After he presses it into my palm, I lean between the seats and Cade and Lex lean forward to get a view. There it is. Somewhat what we wanted. In one message, it’s Sasha asking Eli if he can do her a favor involving “that egotistical dick who went slumming”. I shake that off. It’s the next one that matters most, anyway. Sasha asks Eli if he’s ready for tonight. The date clearly reads the day Reid got hit. Eli replies, GOT MY VEST AND WEIGHT PLATES TO GO UNDER MY ARM GUARDS. BOUT TO PUT THE HURT ON.

Yeah, he’s not very smart. In a way, I feel bad for him. He’s just dumb and easily manipulated. But then I remember he gave the guy I love a fucking concussion and was down to take dirty pictures of me, so that’s about as far as that goes.

In the last text box on the phone is Sasha’s response: YOUR REWARD along with a tongue emoji and a plethora of eggplant emojis.

And so, now we know Eli did all this for some head.

22

The next day at school, Oscar avoids me. Not that I was looking for deep, meaningful conversation with him, but he went out of his way to not even look at me. A sense of relief filters through my whole body with a strange hint of fear. I didn’t want to be on Oscar’s radar, but at the same time, I don’t want to be his enemy either. I saw the look in his eyes when he had the baseball bat in his hands and stalked toward Eli. I don’t ever want to be on the receiving end of that.

Reid isn’t at school all morning. The texts I send him go unanswered until he waltzes into the cafeteria during lunch only five minutes after the bell has rung. I can’t tell from his face if he got good news or bad news. He has that passive indifferent look. The one that makes him look aloof to all his surroundings. It helps him out on the field, but personally, I prefer the way he smiles at me.

“So?” Cade asks when Reid sits next to me.

Reid bumps my shoulder. My heart’s in my throat. There’s this weird pent up vibration coming off him that I can’t quite place. He slowly turns toward me. I swear it takes several long seconds, his green eyes swirling, but eventually, the corners of his mouth lifts. “He signed off.”

I gasp. “Seriously?”

I hear Cade and Lex congratulate him in the background, but Reid’s only looking at me, and I’m only looking at him. I lean forward, pressing my lips to his. He takes the kiss deeper, and it might just all be in my imagination, but this kiss, it’s more confident. It’s not as needy or as wild as it has been. It’s skilled and articulate until I have to pull away because it’s just way too much for the lunch room.

Cade nods knowingly when my gaze drifts to him, and I feel my face heat like a furnace.

Lex turns back toward us, his shoulders stiff. He relaxes some when he realizes we’re not kissing anymore. “Well?”

“Just got back from seeing Coach,” Reid says. “I’m starting next game.”

Lex and Cade move in. All the other players sitting at the opposite end of the table from us aren’t paying attention. “Fuck yes,” Cade whispers. “I knew he’d put you back in.”

Reid shifts. I can tell he was unsure what Coach would do. Oscar has been doing a really good job. “He told me I’ve been his QB since I was a sophomore, and he’s not going to turn his back on me now.”

“Coach must’ve been happy,” Lex says.

Reid leans back and puts his arm around my shoulders. “Not as happy as me.”

It feels good to have Reid be this positive again. I left him at his worst. When I came back, he was a little better, but not the Reid I grew up with. Not the one I was with when we first got together. Football was missing for him, and if I didn’t already know what a big piece of his life football was, I’d know it now. Tension starts to ease in my stomach, but it doesn’t last.

Lex leans forward even further, signaling the rest of us to get in close, too. “This means Sasha’s going to be out for you again, man,” Lex tells Reid, holding his gaze. “She’s not going to let it drop. Her guy won’t be quarterback anymore, which is going to piss her off. We need to figure out what the fuck we’re going to do with the information we got yesterday. Fast.”

“Is Coach announcing it during tonight’s practice?” Cade asks.

Reid nods. “He’s going to pull Oscar aside first, then he’s telling the whole team.”

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