For the Rush(40)

“Not even Bethany?” The words burst from my mouth, my conversation with her fresh in my mind.

He recoiled like he’d been slapped. “So she did say something to you. Let me guess, she told you how she cheated on me.”

“I’m so sorry,” I spoke gently, wishing I’d never brought her up at all. “I know it must have been hard on you.”

“Not in the way that you’re thinking.” Holden shook his head. “I mean, yeah, I was mad that she cheated on me. Of course. But it was more because my pride was injured. Not because I didn’t want to lose Beth.”

My stomach knotted at the use of her nickname. It showed familiarity, and for some reason that bothered me.

Holden continued, “The truth is that I was relieved when Beth and I broke up. I know that sounds awful, but we weren’t good for each other. She may have been the one to cheat on me, but I gave her plenty of reasons to. We both screwed up our relationship.” He stepped closer to me. “I wasn’t into her. Not the way I’m into you.”

I wanted to melt into him, but I needed to be sure. “But she said that you were trying to get her back last week.”

His face hardened. “She said that?”

Biting my lip, I nodded.

“She’s lying. She approached me last week. Not the other way around.” His hand reached out and touched my face. “Who are you gonna believe? Me or her?”

I didn’t even have to think about it. “You.”

He pressed his lips to my forehead, and I sighed deeply.

“Hey, wanna go sit with your friends?” He asked.

I drew back and stared up at him, confused. His arms fell away from my body.

“I’ll come with you.” He smiled, snatching up my hand.

“You don’t have to. You can go back and be with your friends.” I hated making him choose between us. That wasn’t the kind of person I was.

“I want to be with you. It doesn’t matter to me where that is.”





CHAPTER 19


Holden





The energy radiating through the stadium was contagious. It was so thick you could feel it like a tangible thing. As our team took to the field, my heart raced. We were playing our rival team tonight, and I wanted to win so bad I could hardly stand it. Victory was just within my reach, and it would be so sweet.

Ryan jogged beside me in his football gear, his expression unreadable. I expected him to be cocky tonight, but ever since he’d stepped into the locker room his demeanor had been off. Something had happened, and if I had to take a guess I would say he had a run-in with his dad before coming here. I knew better than to press him about it though, so I’d help him the only way I could.

“Ready to kick some ass?” I shouted through my helmet.

“Hell yeah.” Turning to me, he flashed a confident smile. “I’m gonna wipe the floor with Kade and his drones.”

I chuckled, slapping him on the back. Sawyer jogged up beside us.

“Hey, Riddles,” Ryan greeted him.

“Did you see the new guy?” Sawyer asked. “He’s huge.”

My chest tightened. The secret weapon Kade bragged about? I raised an eyebrow toward Ryan.

Ryan turned around, scouring the field. “Doesn’t matter. We can take all of those losers.”

I nodded, his confidence buoying me. No matter what happened, Ryan always had my back. There was nothing to worry about. My cleats crunched on the turf as I got in position. When my gaze lifted to the stands, I caught sight of Chloe standing near the fence wearing her marching band uniform. I threw her a smile and a wave, and was satisfied when she returned it. We’d been inseparable all week, but I felt like I could never get enough of her. Ryan had given me shit about it until I warned him to back off. Since then he’d avoided the subject. I knew we’d have to discuss it at some point, but I was in no hurry. Chloe and Ryan were like oil and water. They did not mix. I wasn’t sure they ever would. I wanted them to, but they were both so damned stubborn. But I figured once Ryan realized how serious I was about Chloe he’d come around. It’s like I said, he always had my back – on and off the field.

The game got off to a great start, and we picked up an early lead. I was feeling pretty good about it until Kade caught up to me.

“Don’t get too cocky, Drop ‘em.” He nudged me.

I moved away from him. “Want me to get you a pair of glasses so you can see the scoreboard?”

“Oh, I can read just fine, thanks.” Kade wore a smug smile. It was like he knew something I didn’t, and it made my stomach sour. I watched him as he jogged toward his teammates. When he reached them he said something, and a few of them glanced over at me. The sick grins on their faces confirmed my fears. Something was going down, and it wasn’t going to be good. A stone descended in my gut as I palmed the ball. The large guy that Sawyer had mentioned honed in on me, narrowing his eyes. Finding Ryan, I nodded my head toward the new guy, hoping he’d read my expression. He bobbed his head back as if he caught my meaning, and I prayed he had.