Agh, he really
didn’t understand my dilemma. I gritted my teeth. “I’m not coming tomorrow.
There’s training anyway. I won’t survive two rounds of torture on the same day.”
“Yeah. Right.”
He laughed. “Wednesday. Five o’. Be dressed this time. And, Matthews—don’t make
me climb up there and fetch you.”
Though my body
screamed at the torture Ryan had put me through this morning, my mind spun with
a strange anticipation. He was going to train with me again. I smiled to myself
as I headed for the shower. Damn, I never knew I was that much of a masochist.
The hot spray of
water loosened my burning muscles. I could have spent the whole day in there.
Ah heck, being grounded, I didn’t have much else to do anyway, so I enjoyed an
extended treat in the shower. When the water finally turned cold on me, I
slipped out, wrapped my body into a soft, white towel, and walked back to my
room.
As I opened the
door, a shriek escaped me.
“What the hell
are you doing here?”
“Waiting on your
merciful return from the bathroom.” Tony grinned from where he lay on my bed.
I shot a glance
over my shoulder, hoping my mom hadn’t heard my scream.
“Don’t panic,
Beth already knows I’m here.”
“What? Why?” I
closed the door and clutched the towel tighter to my chest.
“I went
downstairs to look for you when you weren’t in your room. She actually made me
eat breakfast with her.”
Yeah, I stood
quite a while under that shower. Since my mom seemed fine with him being in my
room in spite of me being grounded, I relaxed. And soaked in the joy of seeing
Tony this morning. He wore my favorite—dark blue jeans, a cobalt blue tee, and
an unbuttoned shirt over it. His feet dangled off my bed, bobbing up and down.
“Did Hunter come
to apologize?”
My brows quirked
as his casual tone dragged me out of my staring. “Sorry?”
“I saw him walk
away from your house today. Bit early to come pay you a visit. So did he
apologize for crawling into the same bed with you?”
Only then did I
remember that I was in fact royally pissed at Tony. “I don’t see how this is
any of your concern. Anyway, it’s early for you to be here, too.” I folded my
arms over my chest, but then the towel threatened to slide down with that move.
I returned to clutching it.
“Oh, come on...”
He rose from the mattress and came toward me.
I backed off until
the door behind me stopped me dead.
“I don’t like it
when you’re mad at me.” He gave that sweet, teasing pout he always did when he
tried to make me forgive him whatever he screwed up. His playing with my wet
strands of hair worked on my defenses. “To make it up to you I’ll stay with you
inside all day, and we can watch some movies.”
Solitary, just
the both of us, like in the past. He almost had me with it. But I decided to
stay strong. With a snort, I slipped past him and strode to the closet, fetching
a green t-shirt and jeans. Staring at the top for a couple seconds, I put it
back. I wouldn’t wear his favorite color today.
“I brought
Indiana
Jones
,” he cooed and held the DVD collection in front of my face.
Oh, the bastard.
He knew this was my all time favorite. I owned the DVDs too, but he had the
director’s cut. I pressed my lips together. A grin still escaped.
Victory lit up
his face. “You go dress, and I’ll set the DVD-player.”
Faithful to his
promise, Tony stayed the entire day. By the time we started on the second
movie, I had forgiven him so far that I overcame the foot of distance between
us on my bed and snuggled up to him. His arm wrapped around my shoulders
brought back the familiar comfort. I wasn’t sure if he noticed when he started
winding a wisp of my hair around his finger, but I gloried in it.
There was just
one thing bothering me all this time. I couldn’t stop comparing the feeling
with him to the sensation that rode me when Ryan Hunter had rolled with me off
the couch and I landed on top of him.
While now I was
completely at ease, I had barely been able to reign in my fluttering heart in
Ryan’s tight embrace. How could this happen when I loved only Tony? Since I
missed two thirds of part III of
Indiana Jones
thinking on that
question, I decided to drop the thought altogether. After all, Hunter wasn’t a
guy worth daydreaming about.
Right?
The teasing
smile he wore so well captured my mind once more.
Tony ruffled my
bangs. “What? You still in love with the dude?”
“Bullshit! I’m
not! It’s just training!” The words were out before I could think again as I
jerked out of his arm and glared at him.
He gave me a
very uncomfortable stare. “What?”
“What—what?”
Shit. Something had gone wrong. I sat back on my heels and chewed the inside of
my cheek. “Sorry, what did you say?”
His eyes
narrowed a little more. “You sighed. Like you were drooling over Harrison
again.”
Harrison…
Ford
.
Right. Not Hunter. A little late, but my cheeks started to burn with shame.
“Liz, is
everything all right?”
“Sure.” And in
my most innocent
I-don’t-know-what-you-mean
voice I added, “Why?”
“Ever since I
came back from camp you’ve been acting a little crazy.”
“Bullcrap. I’m
fine.” The way he lounged on my bed, arms folded over his chest, brow creasing,
it gave me the creeps. I slid off the bed and stopped the DVD. “Let’s call it a
day here, shall we?”
I held the case out
to him, but Tony didn’t take it. Instead, he sat up, Indian style, and angled
his head. “Are you throwing me out?” He said it so slowly, disbelief flaring
into his eyes.
Did I? In over
thirteen years of friendship, I’d never asked him to go. Jeez, he was right—I
was crazy.
“Look, I’m just
tired from this Indiana Jones marathon. And then I promised my mom to clean up
my room today.” I dropped the DVD case on the bed in front of him. “It’s almost
four. I should get started.”
“I’d offer to
help you, but I’ve got this feeling you’ll just say no.” He stood, looking at
me as if he waited for my contradiction.
What in the hell
rode me to disregard his offer? I avoided his gaze, finding his hoodie, and
handed it over to him. “See you tomorrow?” A hopeful edge to my voice made me
wonder if I expected him to be mad because I didn’t let him help me clean.
“Yeah. Meet you
at training. I can’t pick you up, though.” He grimaced, and I wondered why. “But
hey, tomorrow we’ll play the first real match with the newbies. Make sure you
play in my team.” There it was again. The typical sly Tony-grin that caused my heart
to melt every time.
Just that it
wasn’t lopsided…like Hunter’s.
I grunted, aware
of my lack of focus, as I ushered Tony out of my room. As he climbed down the
shed and I closed the window, I wondered where Mom kept the clinical
thermometer. I sure must be suffering from a high fever.
CHAPTER
9
TUESDAY, TWO
THIRTY P.M., I pedaled my mountain-bike to the soccer training field. Susan
rode along with me, and we were the last to arrive. After securing my bike, my
gaze swept over the trimmed lawn in search of Tony. He stood on the far end
with a small group of girls and boys. I started toward him, but when one of his
friends headed away, I glimpsed Cloey there and decided to miss out on their
doubtlessly
entertaining
conversation.
It didn’t take long
until Tony spotted me and excused himself from the group. Barbie grabbed his
biceps, saying something to him, pointing an eerie scowl in my direction. I
glared back, feeling an overwhelming need to flip her off. But I was grown-up
enough to resist.
Thankfully, I
couldn’t hear what she said to Tony; I was so not interested. But that he
rolled his eyes at her and pried her hand from his arm was highly satisfying.
He jogged over.
“Hi, Liz. Are those shades new?”
Yeah, good
feeling that the guy knew my entire collection of clothes and accessories.
Meant he paid attention. I grinned.
“Nope, they’re
mine,” Hunter said behind me. When he came around to face me and carefully slid
the sunglasses off my nose, I couldn’t stop my smirk from spreading into a real
smile.
“He gave me them
after the party,” I told Tony, who suddenly looked a bit puzzled. “Hangover and
sunlight—not a good combination.”
Both boys
laughed at that, and I had a hard time deciding which sound pleased me more.
As we headed
toward the gathering group of kids, Ryan asked Tony if he wanted to be captain
of the other team.
“Sure. Want to
vote players?” Tony’s eyes skated over to me. A wink said I was one of his
first choices.
“Yep, you can
pick first,” Ryan said to him then laid his arm over my shoulders. “But not
her.”
Stunned, I
stopped, and I swore Tony stared at Hunter with the same look of amazement as I
did.
Ryan ignored
him. His arm slipped away from me, and the left side of his lips tilted up.
“Play with me?”
Man, I lost my
voice. Hunter knew how miserably I handled the ball. Still, he wanted me on his
team.
Tony awaited my
answer with a comical grin. Since he didn’t seem annoyed at all, I thought I
could as well accept. “O-
kay
.” And yeah, if that hadn’t come out so much
like a question, I wouldn’t have sounded like a total idiot, too.
“Cool. Let’s
play some ball, guys.” Tony jogged ahead and had his first pick of players.
I didn’t pay
attention to who he called on his team, because Hunter asked me one basic
question then. “Do you know how to play soccer, Matthews?”
“Kick the ball
into the goal?”
He chuckled,
rubbing his neck. “Yeah, that and a little more. For now, just don’t touch the
ball with your hands and try not to kick it past those white lines.” He pointed
at the rectangle marking the playing field.
“You know, I’m not
a complete imbecile.”
Or maybe I was.
Before the first ten minutes were over, I hurt my wrist on the ball zooming
toward me, and twice it went sailing far behind the opposite goal, due to a
kick of mine. Great. But on the plus side, no one snubbed at me like Ryan did
yesterday on the beach.
At least no one
did until I apparently made the most fatal error of all when I aimed for a goal
again.
“Offside,”
several guys shouted at once, some of them rolling their eyes.
I stood totally
at a loss.
“Never mind.
I’ll explain this tomorrow,” Ryan said as he came running toward me and kicked
the ball to someone from Tony’s team. He took position on the field again, but not
before he offered me a grin. “Nice shot.”
He could try,
but it didn’t lift my spirits. Discouraged from the failures, I went to the far
back, close to our own goal, deciding to be the passive player for the rest of
the game. Only that Hunter had different ideas. For some reason he kept me in
the game, sending killer-shots to me, spurring me on to give my best.
And I did. For
three and a half minutes. Then I felt for the first time how a kick against the
shin felt. The pain, when Cloey’s shoe collided with my leg, brought me to the
ground. I bit my lip to stop my eyes from watering.
“Come on, guys!
Fair play!” Ryan shouted. He stood over me and offered me his hand to pull me
up. “You okay?”
I said nothing
but nodded. My voice would have betrayed me otherwise. He sent me back into the
game.
The pain from
that little escapade wasn’t completely gone, when Cloey got me again. I cursed
her in a volume loud enough to compete with a police siren, but it ricocheted
off her thick head. As it happened a third time, I knew she was doing this on
purpose. And from then on I didn’t touch the ball anymore, not to give her a
reason to kill me out on the field.
After the game, Tony
worked his fingers into the muscles at my neck as I hunched on the bench. “If I
had known you’re actually such a good player, I would have made you play with
me every day after school.”
I gave an
irritated snort. His being nice did little to mend my broken pride—or bones.
“That girl chose the wrong sports. She’d be a pro at kick-boxing.”
“Who? Cloey?” At
least this time, he didn’t deny that she was after my life. “Did she get you bad?”
I scowled at him
over my shoulder. “She was like an eighteen-wheeler. Unstopped.”
He bit his lip. “She
can be an aggressive player.”
Which put it
mildly. I sighed. “Are you going to hang here much longer? Because I really
need to go home and tend my bruised shin.” And then I was still grounded, of
course.
The pause he
took to scan the playing field made me wonder if he was looking out for the
troll with the bad temper. The flames of anger and jealousy licked up my spine.
But she seemed to have gone already.