Page 4 of 4th and Goal
“I’m well, thank you for your inquiry, Miss Geddes. And how are you this fine morning?” He crosses his legs, his large hands folded in his lap, a serene smile tipping his sumptuous lips.
I have to break up with Conner. Aside from his unsavory behavior Saturday night, I know this thing between us has run its course. On paper, he’s perfect. In person, he’s a dud. Or I’m a dud. I don’t know, but there’s dudness somewhere. Also, I feel icky lusting after a man while technically attached to another. I’m not a skank. I say NO to skankiness.
Shaking that ugliness off, I smile at Brody as I unpack my bags. “I’m excited! It’s the first day of school!”
“You’ve always been that girl, haven’t you?” he asks with a grin.
“What girl?”
“How many times have you sniffed a new notebook? Lined up all your sharpened pencils?” He leans forward, his brow furrowing, eyes alert. “Tell me you didn’t read over the syllabus and do the entire semester’s homework that first week?” I gasp in shock, and he starts laughing so hard, tears run down his cheeks. He’s so beautiful. Especially like this, even if he is making fun of me. His laugh is deep, hearty, and contagious.
“What are you, a wizard?” I set my laptop down and open it, my posture stiff. “I highly doubt I’m the only one who’s done that.”
“Nobody as cute as you.” We both sober immediately, the words like landmines between us. I stand, though I’m not sure why. He stands. We’re both standing. “I’ll be around if you need me.”
I wave robotically long after he’s left my office. I check the carpet for tire marks, but none appear. My legs give out and I fall back into my chair and almost to the floor before I catch myself.
Nobody as cute as you.
He thinks I’m cute. My nerdiness is cute to him. Is cute good? Am I cute like a little kid? Or am I cute like a woman he wants to sex up and spend the rest of his life giving orgasms to?
I need to break up with Conner. And I need to call Jenna because what the frick does “cute” mean?
Brody 4.
I’m ashamed to admit, I’ve been avoiding Lilly. It’s not that our paths cross often during the normal course of a day or week, but I usually try to stop by a few times a week to check in with her. And to satiate my obsession with the young woman. I’ve kept it under wraps for years…
And yet I let it slip the other day that I find her cute. She could take it as an innocuous, friendly endearment, or her eyes could grow so wide I could see her optic nerve and part of her brain, cheeks flushed, breathing choppy as time seemed to stretch between the two of us, until I felt it painfully snap, tagging me in the dick and sending me running like a prepubescent newb.
The silver lining is that Zoey laughed so hard when I told her, she fell off the couch, pissed her pants and had to clean up her own mess. I almost,almostrubbed her nose in it like a dog, but refrained if only for the love I bore my aunt. And my uncle would beat my ass into next week. It was close though.
I’m nearly 40 fucking years old. Why is this happening to me? I’ve had girlfriends. I’ve done the sex. This shouldn’t be so difficult. But the way she was looking at me, like a cold drink on a hot day, took me by surprise. Something shifted between us in those few seconds before my verbal diarrhea, I felt it slide down my spine and settle in my balls.
She has a boyfriend.Shehas a boyfriend. Shehas aboyfriend. She has aboyfriend.
But she should be mine. Ugh! Fuck! Zoey’s right, and doesn’t that taste unpleasant on my tongue, I need to man up. Lilly isn’t the type of woman where you wait and see what happens. You snatch her up, bind her to you by any means necessary, and hold on with everything you’ve got. Stupidity and misplaced noble intentions have wasted so many years, and I don’t want to wait anymore. There’s a chance this could blow up in my face. There’s a chance she won’t return my feelings.
But I know what I saw when I walked into her office on Monday.
“Brody!” I shake off my thoughts of long blonde hair and wide cushy hips, and spin around to find Elijah Addelsbach waving at me. I wave back with a smile, until I notice he has someone with him and neither look happy. She’s significantly shorter than Addy and obviously wearing his clothing as they hang off her much smaller frame. Tension rolls off Addy in waves and my spine straightens as I leave my post at the admin entrance to the athletic complex to meet them.
“Addy? What’s going on, man?”
His jaw is clenching so hard, I’m surprised he’s able to speak. “My girl here had her stuff stolen out of her locker in the women’s cheer locker room.” I nod once, then hold out my hand to the girl in question.
“Brody Zeigler. Head of security.” Her handshake is confident and firm. I like her already. I’ve known Addy since his freshman year and while we aren’t friends that braid each other’s hair and get coffee at the campus café, we are friendly and have gotten close over the years. If he’s this pissed and holding her this tight, she’s important to him.
“Daya Moul. Head of…missing clothes.”
“Daya. I’ve heard good things about you. I’m sorry to meet you under these circumstances.” I pull out my phone and open the app on my phone we use for campus security to fill out a statement. She walks me through what happened. I document everything, take their contact information, and submit a request for someone in surveillance. “My team and I will look into everything. The locker rooms do not have any cameras for privacy, but we should find something at the locker room entrance. I’m sorry this has happened to you, Miss Moul.”
“Thank you, Mr. Zeigler.”
“Brody.” I smile down at her, chuckling when she rolls her eyes.
“Daya.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
