From Max’s passenger seat, Daphne waves at me as I exit the house. I grin back at her, jogging across the yard. I pull the rear door open and slide onto the backseat. “Ready for this, Daph? Your first game of the year.”
She snorts a little. “I’m coming becauseyouspecifically asked me to, girlfriend.”
“Can you blame her, though? Aria’s been way too quiet lately. Not to mention, Justin’s been sniffing around again, too.”
My mouth drops open. “I didn’t realize you’d noticed.”
Max glances at me in the rearview. “Well, I did. That fucking creeper is everywhere lately.” He taps his fingers on the wheel. I’ve come to notice he does that when he’s uneasy about something. “Xander may have mentioned it, too.”
My eyebrows shoot up. “Did he really?”
Max nods. “I’d say that it was weird for him to approach me, but we’ve talked several times since the incident at Beau’s. He’s genuinely nervous about the way Justin is acting.” He grimaces. “I wonder if Justin isn’t the sort to want revenge.”
Daphne snorts. “I might, too, if I had my nose broken twice.”
Revenge. Really? “Do you think he’d take that out on me instead of Xander?” I frown. It’d be totally awesome if people would just leave me alone.
“Well, he’s fucking psycho, so who knows. But—I truly believe that taking it out on you would make Xander angrier than anything else.”
* * *
The football stadium parking lot is absolutely full when we get there, and Max has to park in one of the last rows. Knowing I’ll be leaving with Xander later means I don’t particularly care where we park.
We scramble from the SUV and pay for our tickets, only to realize once we do that there is zero room in the stands. We’ll have to join the crowd forming at the fence. I hadn’t realized until Xander said something earlier, but tonight’s game against Silver Heights Prep is always the biggest of the year. I had no idea Rosehaven Academy even had a rival, but the Kings are in the house and the crowd is livelier than I’ve ever seen.
My gaze shifts to the field where they are preparing for kickoff. Silver Heights wins the coin toss and chooses to receive, leaving Xander on the bench for the moment. Helmet off, he swivels around, scanning the crowd, but then his gaze quickly shifts to where Max, Daphne, and I are standing at the fence close to our end zone. I hold my hand up, smiling as he spots us and shoots me his signature megawatt grin.
Max chuckles. “Damn, baby girl. It’s not funny how into you that boy is.”
“Hush.” A faint blush tints my cheeks. And then because I can’t resist, I follow up with, “I might be pretty into him, too.”
Micah and Beau turn to see what Xander is looking at and both lift their arms in greeting.
“They’re something, too, huh?”
“I have to say, I don’t actually mind his friends. They’re a little man-whorish, but since I don’t really care what—or who—they do, I can just focus on how tight their friendship is and the fact that they are fun. They’re pretty nice to me, too. From the minute I first showed up at Beau’s party, they’ve just kind of accepted the idea of me with Xander.”
I side-eye Daphne, whose face has dropped a bit. “They’re just guys having fun, Daphne.” I turn more fully toward her. “What’s wrong?”
She wrinkles her nose. “Nothing, I guess.”
Max seems to be thinking through what I’d said and finally laughs. “The funny thing is you weren’t even technically with him yet at that point—at the party, I mean. Though, I’d say by the end of the night it was obvious he was staking his claim.”
I tilt my head to the side. “You might be right about that.” We watch the game in silence for a few minutes.
Max startles, peeks behind me, then gestures to my rear end. “I think your butt just vibrated.”
I slap at him and laugh as I pull my phone from my back pocket. One glance at the screen has me stiffening, then catching the corner of my lip between my teeth. “Shit. Hey, what are you guys doing tomorrow?”
Daphne shrugs. “I’m free all weekend, if you can get me out from under my mountain of homework. I could be tempted by free food.”
“Sorry. Family obligations tomorrow. Why?” Max watches the movement of the players on the field.
My brows draw together at the tone of his voice and the distinct lack of eye contact.
He waves off my concern before I’ve even said anything aloud. “It’s nothing. I’m free Sunday, if that works. What do you need?”
I press my lips together.Time to spill.“I keep getting these weird texts.”