Page 33 of Sneaking Around with the Player
“Fight me, you piece of shit,” he yells.
“No!” My girl hurtles herself forward.
I let go of Garrison to shield her. What a clusterfuck. Felix finally joins the action. I think he’s going to take a shot at me too, but instead, he gets between me and Garrison and tells his teammate, “Take a walk before someone else gets hurt.”
Garrison’s voice is outraged. “He broke my fucking foot. My football career might be over because of this prick.”
“You almost hit Stella. Take a fucking walk,” Felix says again. “I need to talk to my sister.”
I’m shocked when he listens. Garrison mutters some choice words to Felix, but then stalks off.
I glance back at Stella. Tears track down her face. Her sister has moved to stand beside her.
“I don’t understand. What’s going on?” Holly asks. It hits me then. Stella hasn’t told her who I am. Confirmed by the look of hopelessness she sends me. My gut churns.
“We’re just trying to figure out the same thing. Stella, please help me understand. Did you invite him here? Are you dating this asshole? Beau fucking Ricci, really?” Felix cuts me a hard look.
“She didn’t invite me. I drove up to surprise her. She had nothing to do with this.”
“I was going to tell you,” Stella says to her brother. “This isn’t how I wanted you to find out, but yeah, we like each other.” She looks up at me, lips trembling. It does something to me to have her declare her feelings for me, a guy she barely knows, to her brother, who I know she cares about a great deal and also hates me.
That’s not true. Yes, Felix hates me, but it isn’t accurate to say that Stella barely knows me. In fact, I think she probably knows me better than anyone, but the reality is, this is only the second time we’ve met in person.
I wrap an arm around her and whisper, “I’m sorry.”
I’m so fucking sorry I showed up here. It was selfish and reckless.
“No. This isn’t happening. Stella, you can’t date this guy. You know what he did to Garrison. Beau’s dirty hit cost Garrison the season.” Felix’s words make me bristle.
“That was an accident.” Stella swipes at the tears on her cheeks. I wonder if she’s known all along. I wanted to tell her, but part of me does feel responsible. “He didn’t intentionally hurt him.”
“I’d never take a guy out on purpose,” I say, more to her than anyone else.
“Yeah-fucking-right.” Garrison stomps back toward us and gets in my face. “You expect me to believe that shit, Ricci? You fucking coward.”
“You don’t even know me.” We’ve attracted an audience. Two guys, wearing security guard polos, come out the door and survey the situation. My mouth stings and I bring two fingers up to my lip and come away with blood. “I don’t want to fight you, but I’m not walking away from Stella unless she tells me to.”
I look down at her. “Are you okay?”
“She’s not your concern.” Felix practically growls the words and takes a step toward me.
“Okay, that’s enough.” All eyes go to Theo when he speaks. “We need to take this somewhere else before they call the cops.”
Felix looks away from me and nods. “Agreed. We’re done here. It’s time for you to leave, Ricci. Keep your dirty games to the field and leave my sister out of it.”
The guys head for an orange Corvette at the front of the lot.
“Come on, Stell,” Felix calls.
She worries her lip as she looks from him to me.
He says her name again.
“No,” she says, finally. “This is dumb. You can’t tell me who to date. Beau is a great guy. If you’d just take a breath and get to know him, you—”
“It’s okay,” I tell her. A knot forms in my chest. I can see the desperation, hear it in her tone, and I love her for it, but it’s wasted tonight. “Go with your brother. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
“I’m sorry. This wasn’t supposed to go this way.”
