Page 35 of Scoring the Player
“It’s fine. Nothing I haven’t heard before.”
“Yeah, but I promised it wouldn’t happen when I was around.”
The tic of his jaw tells me he’s serious. He’s blaming himself for that asshole.
“You can’t control what other people say or do.”
“Like hell I can’t,” he mutters.
A real smile pulls at the corners of my mouth. He’s not used to people sucking. I bet everyone has treated him like a god from the time he could hold a football. “Did you hurt your hand?”
He looks down at it as if he just thought to check it out for himself. He opens and closes his fingers into a fist. “It’s fine.”
Without thinking, I reach for his hand and take it gently in mine to examine it. His knuckles are red and a little swollen. I run my thumb lightly over his injured knuckles. “Does that hurt?”
“No.” His voice is deeper than it was a minute ago. He curls his fingers around mine to stop me from dropping his hand.
“Liar.”
“It was worth it.” Blue eyes hold mine captive. All night we hung out, but with so many people around, it didn’t feel like this. Like I can’t breathe. Having all of Felix’s attention is a lot to handle.
Summoning all my courage, I whisper, “Do you want to come inside?”
He hesitates, and I panic.
“You should ice your hand. I have an emergency ice pack in the freezer for after those especially brutal practices and workouts.”
His lips part. He’s still holding my hand, and the reminder sends goosebumps racing up my arm.
He steps forward, gaze locked on my mouth. He leans in slowly, never taking his eyes off my lips.
“Dahlia! Oh my gosh. I just heard.” An out of breath Violet comes out of nowhere, jogging toward us.
Felix takes a step back and our hands fall apart.
“I was dancing, and Gavin waited until the song ended to tell me.” She takes a deep breath and looks between us, as if she’s just realized she might have been interrupting something.
“I should go.” Felix puts more distance between us. “Looks like the calvary has arrived.”
I start to ask what he’s talking about, but then I spot Daisy and Jane walking in our direction.
Violet opens the door and goes inside, calling over her shoulder. “I’ll dig out my emergency bottle of black cherry vodka.”
Felix shoves his hands in his pockets and disappears down the sidewalk before I can say goodbye.
Daisy glances between us as she gets to the door. “He looks pissed.”
“Did he really take on three guys?” Jane asks.
I follow them inside and shut the door. “No. It was just one really jerky guy.”
“I’m so sorry I lost you.” Jane kicks off her heels. “You and Felix were talking, so I didn’t want to keep being the annoying third wheel.”
Violet comes back into the living room and the four of us sit on the floor, abandoning the furniture so we can sit closer together. She unscrews the top of the liquor bottle and pours each of us some in small, plastic cups.
“You guys didn’t have to leave,” I say.
“Of course, we did.” Daisy nudges me with her knee. “We love you and we wanted to make sure you were okay.”
