Page 50 of The Fantasy League
“Hi, Abel. Great game!” the blonde exclaimed, batting her lashes too excitedly for my liking. She drilled her gaze on Scarlett—who was still underneath my arm—and gave her a long once-over before sending her a stink-eyed look.
“Hi, I’m Scarlett… Abel’s girlfriend,” Scarlett said with a lethal calmness, clutching my arm tighter to subtly claim me as hers. And fuck did it make my chest erupt with satisfaction.
My lips twitched, and the blonde scoffed, twisting around on the ball of her feet and stomping away.
“Who’s the jealous one now, huh?” I murmured teasingly in her ear.
“Only when it comes to people taking what’s mine,” she repeated my earlier words back to me, batting those midnight-black lashes up at me, mocking cheerleader girl.
“You’re cute when you’re jealous.” Without thought, I gave her a quick kiss on the side of her forehead as I tugged her closer to my side. “Did Mae drive you?”
I’d learned through our morning conversations that Scarlett hated driving. She got in a few accidents back to back in high school and then she and Mae went to school in New York where she didn’t drive for four years. Now, she avoided it at all costs unless she was going to our local grocery store down the road.
“Yeah.” She nodded, slipping out from underneath my arm. “I should probably call her and figure out where she wants me to meet her at. Pretty sure she and Lea were hiding under the bleachers taking edibles before I came to find you.”
I should’ve been more shocked at her admission than I actually was, but after the whole “Scarlett thinking she drugged me” incident, I wasn’t fazed.
“Ride back with me.” It was a statement, not a question.
“But—”
“But nothing,” I cut her off. “You’re coming with me. You can text her from the car.”
“You know I’m capable of taking care of myself, right?” She arched a brow. “I promise I won’t float away into the void like a balloon if you take your eyes off of me.”
“I know that you’re capable of taking care of yourself, Red. But I won’t apologize for wanting to do things for you or wanting to spend more time with you.” Scarlett bounced her gaze between my eyes. “You can fight me on it all you want, but in case you haven’t noticed, I’m not one to lose often.”
She stopped in her tracks and stared at me, shell-shocked. Like the words that left my mouth were the answers to getting into heaven and I gave them to her for free.
I meant what I said.
I wanted as much time as she was willing to give me. Especially since I was leaving her at the end of the weekend.
We spotted Coach Sterling from across the parking lot and both of us waved at him. When Scarlett pulled out her phone from her back pocket to assumingly text Mae, Coach shot me a sly wink that made me shake my head.
The guy was no better than his daughter.
* * *
It was halfwaythrough the drive back to the house when I realized that my hand had been on Scarlett’s thigh the entire ride, my hands raking leisurely across her smooth skin.
She hadn’t mentioned it or acted like I’d done something out of the ordinary. In fact, when I realized what I’d been doing, I found her trailing fingertips up and down the back of my forearm.
“You staying?” I turned the wheel to steer the car into my driveway and cut the engine once we came to a stop.
“If you want me to.”
“I wouldn’t ask if I didn’t want you to.”
“Then I’ll stay.” She gave me a small smile and unbuckled her seat belt.
Scarlett hopped out of the car just as my phone dinged and I fished it out from the cup holder.
Aera:Cute headline.
Attached was a link to the latest article from our interview with Jamison.Damn, he worked fast.I typed out a quick reply as I got out, walking a few steps behind Scarlett who was almost at the front door.
Abel:Thanks.
