Page 32 of Game On

I peek at him, but he’s just standing there nonchalantly.

At least, he is until Shawn doesn’t leave right away. When they don’t make a move to leave, Alec’s hands turn to fists at his side. “I said I got her, Recruit. Do you understand?”

Shawn gives him a small salute and gets in the car, Matt trailing after him. I watch them back out, thinking I should have just gone with them now that Alec seems pissed off. Alec goes toward the driver’s side door, so I quickly scoot around the truck and hop in as he’s slamming his door shut. He rolls the windows all the way down as he takes a left out of his driveway. He grumbles to himself for the first few miles. His voice is so low, I can’t hear what he says. Eventually, his temper evens out.

It’s interesting seeing one of the Ballers like this. I feel like I know him better now that I’ve seen him with his sister and at home. I’ve seen his parents before at games and at camp when they pick him up, but this seems more intimate. The only ever Baller I’ve been alone with before is Ryan.

“Who was the guy at the football game?” Alec asks, interrupting my thoughts.

I look over at him, but he seems pretty neutral about the whole thing. “Chase,” I tell him. “Chase Fisher. I guess he’s Christie Fisher’s brother.” I stare out the windshield, watching the country landscape go by.

“Are you dating him?”

My stomach twists. “No,” I say right away. “I just met him. At the dance.”

Alec looks away out his side window as soon as I mention the dance. His jaw locks tight, but he swipes his hand over it to cover it up. “You did good at the practice after the dance.”

I can’t quite figure out the tone in his voice, but he seems almost surprised. Or like he has to tell me that for some reason. “Yeah? That’s what years of putting in hard work gets you, I guess. You should know since we’ve gone to basketball camp together for the last few years.”

“Yeah, well, I guess I wasn’t paying attention.”

I want to scream. It won’t do any good, so instead, I bury it down. It’s just like them to act like no one else at camp was any good, even though we all know my dad only brings the best of the best.

I’ve already looked away, intent on just keeping to myself until we get to my car, but Alec says, “For the record, I thought showing that picture of you at the dance was out of line.”

I feel like we just crashed his truck. We didn’t. It’s still rolling down the road, but my brain has crashed and keeps repeating what he just said. I dig my nails into the truck door. “If you thought that was out of line, you should’ve been there when he did it to me.”

The emotions from that night overwhelm me again. The fact that Lake and his brother held me down, taking away my safe space and my freewill.

“I don’t know what to say,” Alec says. His voice is hard, like he’s sorry he even brought it up.

Why did he even bring it up? Just because he thought it was out of line doesn’t mean anything. He still went along with it. “Just stop fucking talking about it,” I snap.

His fingers curl around the steering wheel. We’re back in town, and we’re almost to the school. Thank God. I want to get the hell out of this truck with Alec and his freaking Baller high horse attitude.

“I parked down the next street. Two blocks up.”

As soon as he pulls to a stop across the road from my car, I throw the door open and slam it behind me. I take a second to look both ways before I’m already running toward my car. A door slams behind me. “God damnit.” My fingers fumble for my keys in my pocket. By the time I get them out, it’s too late, Alec’s hand is on my shoulder. “Tessa, please.”

I whirl on him. “Why do you care?”

The look in his eyes almost makes me stop. Almost.

“This is what you guys wanted, right? Well, congratulations, but I’m still not giving up. You can tell your fucked-up friends that, too. If they expect me to go cowering back to Broadwell, they’re mistaken.”

I go to open the door, but Alec’s hand shoots out and stops it. “I don’t want that.” His voice is so low I barely make out what he says. “I’m trying to give you a…” He trails off. He doesn’t know what he’s doing. I look over my shoulder and see the indecision in his eyes.

“Don’t bother. I don’t want whatever it is, and I don’t need it.”

“Don’t pretend it doesn’t bother you,” he says, his voice hard.

“Why? So you can tell the rest of the Ballers that you broke me? No thanks.”

“I’m not telling them shit.”

I lean my head against the car. My body and my mind are warring with one another. My mind is telling me that Alec’s an asshole, and that he doesn’t mean a damn word he’s saying. On the other hand, I see the way he looked at his sister and how he tried to apologize to me even though he’s doing a piss poor job of it. I stand up straight, turn, and lean back against my car. “I don’t want to talk about what you guys did to me. Is that fair enough?” My voice is wavering, but I’m trying to keep it under control. “I’ll talk about trials stuff, I’ll talk about basketball, hell, I’ll even talk about personal stuff, but let’s not talk about the other.”

He nods slowly, his green eyes latched onto mine. I have no idea why I’m even giving into him this easily. Just call me a Baller chick, one of the girls who hangs off them all day like it’s their job. Their confidence is attractive. What’s even more attractive is when a guy like Alec Christopoulos is trying to apologize to me for something he didn’t do. Am I crazy?

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