Page 47 of Scoring the Player
“I can handle it.” He turns his head and winks. “What else was on your list? I could talk about me all night.”
“I’m having a hard time remembering,” I say, which is true. My skin buzzes with electricity. He’s here in my room, lying on the floor, so casually and comfortably, and flirting with me. At least I think that’s what’s happening. It’s a little hard to tell with Felix because he’s so charming. I’m not even sure he knows he’s doing it.
We fall silent. My hands work and I feel his back loosening up, but my emotions are getting more jumbled. Anxiousness mixed with confusion, a heavy dose of lust and angst. I do what I always do when it all becomes too much to keep in. I blurt out the thing I shouldn’t say. “Jane thinks you like me.”
My hands still, and he rolls over onto his side again. He stretches and says, “Thanks. That feels better. Great, actually.”
“You’re welcome.”
An uncomfortable beat passes between us. But before I can blurt out anything else, he lifts a hand and lets his fingers tangle in my hair. “I do like you.”
“You know what I mean.Likeme.”
“I do.” He fingers a strand of my hair by my ear and his knuckles graze my neck.
“But…”
“I’m not the guy for you, but that doesn’t mean I don’t wish that I were.”
That fuels a thousand more questions. Ones I’m not sure I’m brave enough to ask, but if I don’t, I might hate myself later.
“If you like me, then why aren’t you the guy for me?”
“You need someone to give you all the experiences and fun you’ve been waiting for. Someone that will make you feel special and treat you like the absolute baller chick that you are.” The way his blue eyes focus on nothing but me turns my insides to liquid. “That’s not something I have time for or would even be any good at.”
I think he’s wrong. He already makes me feel that way. Just being with him is the most exciting thing that’s ever happened to me.
Felix sits up so his face is inches from mine. My heart stops and I hold my breath. Is he going to kiss me? Finally? I move just a fraction closer. Gently, he brushes the pad of his thumb over my lower lip, but he doesn’t bring his mouth to mine. Instead, he says, “Don’t settle for less, okay? You deserve that.”
17
FELIX
I wakeup lying flat on my back with my phone vibrating in my jeans pocket. Dahlia is curled up beside me. We must have fallen asleep talking. The last thing I remember is her going downstairs to get her phone and then proceeding to ask me the twenty or so questions she’d compiled. Things like what I did for fun on nights I didn’t party (PlayStation or hang with the guys) and why Bethany and I had broken up (she wanted more than I could give with football and school).
I felt bad not being completely honest on the last one, but it’s the root of it anyway. She wanted the face of the football team, the guy heading to the NFL, but not the guy busting his ass to make it happen or the guy underneath all that. She never made a list of questions to ask me about myself. She hardly asked me anything, at all. Ever. Nah, Bethany never tried to get to know me. That should have been my first red flag, but honestly, I’m so used to people only caring about football that I didn’t see it right away.
Carefully, trying not to jostle her awake, I slide my hand into my pocket to get my phone and then silence it. Dahlia’s eyes are still closed, dark lashes fan out over her fair skin. Her perfect pink lips are parted slightly. My already hard dick twitches at the sight of her, all gorgeous and sweet.
She never did change last night, and the black dress is bunched up higher on her hips, giving me an eyeful of upper thigh. I have the same overwhelming desire to kiss her as I did the other night. It’s a problem of my own making, I realize. I asked her to be my fake girlfriend, even though I really want her. But I’m not gonna lead her on. She’s not just some girl I can hook up with and walk away. Dahlia could never be that girl. Even so, last night was…nice. Just hanging with her, talking and laughing.
I roll away from her slowly and get to my feet, then pull on my shoes and send a quick text to Teddy to ask him to bring my bag to the gym for weight training this morning. She still isn’t awake, and I feel bad about leaving without saying something, but I know she doesn’t have to be up for a couple hours still, so I give her one last look and then slip out of her room.
* * *
“You missed a hell of a party last night,” Lucas says. “I’ve never seen so many people at an after hours party.”
“What’d you do last night and where’d you end up crashing?” Teddy is full of questions this morning. He’s like this now that he’s dating my sister. She asks him, he asks me, and I am too tired to dodge.
“I hung out with Dahlia last night and I stayed at her place.”
Teddy and Lucas stare at me, matching curious expressions on their faces.
“What?” I close my locker and push past them for the weight room. It’s just down the hall from the locker room. The beat of the music is louder with every step.
“Wait, wait, wait.” Lucas jogs to keep up with me. “I need way, way more information.”
“That’s all you’re getting.”
