Page 11 of Foul Line

I laugh at that. “That’s not a problem anymore, if it ever was. You can trustmeon that.”

Chase places his forearms on his thighs and looks straight ahead at the fire. “You say you want a friend? Someone who will tell you the truth?” He bounces his knee off of mine in a playful gesture. “Trust me on this. I saw right through them today. The two who came to the table when you sat with us? It wasn’t actually to invite you to play ball with them. It was a show for me, except you didn’t let it play out the way they wanted. They expected you to follow them instead of staying with me. I mean, I thoroughly enjoyed their faces when you dismissed them. I loved seeing those assholes get put in their place. I’ll gladly help you do it again.” He leans over, his mouth close to my ear. “Even more so if it’ll help you change your mind about just wanting to be friends.”

Chase pulls away, the fire reflecting in his eyes. When he notices goosebumps on my shoulders, he shrugs out of his hoodie and places it around me. I pull it tight around my arms. “Thank you.” I knock my knee off of his now. “I’m going to disagree with you on what those guys want though. Trust me, they don’t want me. They’ve made that much clear.”

Chase smirks and looks away, shaking his head the whole time. His hand comes up to rest on my thigh. “You’re just blind to it. It’s cute, actually.”

I go to disagree with him again, but a shadowy figure emerges from beyond the reach of the bonfire and moves within the furthest flickers of light. I squint, but I can’t tell who it is yet. Just one word drops from the tall shadow before moving in closer, the firelight lighting up his deep blue eyes. “Tessa,” Hayes says. His voice is part strain, part laced in thinly cloaked restraint.

Chase squeezes my thigh, then reaches down for my hand, interlacing our fingers. I look over at him, asking him with my eyes what he’s doing, but he just winks at me, then looks back over at Hayes. “Hey, man. What’s up?”

Hayes doesn’t say a word. His gaze zeroes in on where my hand is intertwined with Chase’s, and I’m sure he doesn’t miss the fact that Chase’s large hoodie is draped over me, too, almost swallowing me up in it.

I know what this looks like.

“You’re Hayes, right?” Chase asks.

Still, Hayes doesn’t speak. His lips are thin, and the flames from the bonfire make his skin even paler than normal. My stomach clenches at the sight of him like that. I don’t know why Chase is testing him like this. He knows what happened before, but I also know there are six or seven lacrosse players around us that aren’t going to let shit happen to their teammate. It’s the perfect opportunity to, as Chase said, ‘put the assholes in their place.’

“Aww, shit,” one guy says, since we’re suddenly the center of attention. “Fisher got the only girl in a five-mile radius.”

Chase looks over at me. His eyes are gleaming. I can tell he likes this. He’s trying to help me, but there’s more there, too. He wants me to change my mind. He leans in closer, his lips near my ear again. “Just go with it. You want to get back at them, this is the way.”

My eyes flutter closed. Dawn said something similar, but I’m still not sure this is the best course of action.

“Get the fuck away from her,” Hayes finally says.

He moves forward, and I immediately stand, Chase’s hoodie falling to the sand behind me. Chase is right next to me now, too, his arm possessively around my back and pulling me close to him. “Not happening.”

The lacrosse guys move around us, their gazes narrowed right at Hayes, their chests inflating like there’s about to be a throwdown right here. That wouldn’t be good for anybody.

Hayes looks at me. His jaw ticks. He’s holding it so tightly closed I wonder if he might crack a tooth.

One of the guys on Chase’s team says, “It’s cool, bro. Chase got her. No big deal. After camp, it’s a whole other story. More girls for all of us.”

The guy is just trying to diffuse the situation, but Hayes’s eyes are still flaring from when he said, ‘Chase got her.’ There’s something in “Ice Man’s” look that says there is no other girl. It’s just me.

Hayes doesn’t look like he’s going to leave. Not without me. Chase certainly isn’t going to back down either. He has to love this. The Ballers aren’t going to do shit to him with all these lacrosse players here. I squeeze Chase’s hand, which doesn’t go unnoticed to Hayes, and then move forward. “It’s okay, Hayes,” I tell him, ignoring the fact that everyone, including me, knows now that Hayes is jealous as fuck. I act like he’s only worried about me because we’re teammates. “I’ll be heading back to my cabin soon. I know we have an early day tomorrow.”

Hayes’s eyes lock onto mine. There’s an incredulous look there…and fury.

“Really,” I tell him again. “I’m fine.”

The lacrosse players all shift on their feet. They’re noticing now, too, that this might become something more. At this point, I’m worried for Hayes.

“It’s okay,” I whisper again, trying to tell him just to go before this escalates.

His deep blue eyes look almost menacing with the flecks of fire reflected there. “It’s not,” he forces out.

I look back at Chase. He has his arms crossed over his chest. He looks so pleased. I would be too if it wasn’t Hayes this was happening to. If it were Sloan, Alec, or Ryan, I’d let them wallow in it, but Hayes has tried to make amends. He apologized. He’s stood guard outside my house like…like I don’t know what. I still don’t understand it.

I think Chase can feel my indecision. His jaw hardens, and then he moves forward, his hand coming to rest on the small of my back. “Why don’t I walk you back to your cabin?”

“I can make it,” I tell him, then look at Hayes, too. Neither one of them needs to follow me or escort me.

Chase lifts his fingers to run them through the hair around my ears. “I know you can, babe. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to make sure you’re safe.” He looks at Hayes pointedly, who’s about to lose his shit.

My heart takes off in my chest, pumping painfully. Slyly, without making Chase look like a fool in front of his friends and teammates, I maneuver out of his grasp. “Okay. Hayes, I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” I plead with him with my eyes to not do anything brash or stupid. He has to see right through Chase, right? He knows he’s just trying to get to him.

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