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I can’t tell from his expression if he’s truly mad. But it does seem like it.
“Are you out of your mind?” I try to whisper to him, but I’m not sure the words carry. Every eye in the area is stabbing me in the face. I can feel my blood rushing to it. “We can’t be seen together?—”
“About what happened at that party last night,” Max says, enunciating every word with all his lungs. “And how it affected my team’s play tonight. Let’s go.”
“What?” I glance back just as the bartender places my expensive Coke on the counter. But Max has my arm in his grip, and he’s pulling me away. “Cassiano, would you stop?”
“No” is all I hear.
“Luz, you need help?” JT glares at the back of Max’s hair.
“I’m okay. I’ll just hear him out. See you in a bit!”
The last glimpse I get of the Strikes is Chelsea’s face. She’s wearing a frown, like she can’t quite finish a puzzle that lives in her head rent free.
I think I know exactly what it is. She’s been suspicious of Max and me since my drunken incident. A few sly comments after I walked out of Romano’s behind Max also make me think she’s right on the money. But Max is giving such a weird vibe right now. Maybe her theory’s crumbling.
Frankly, I’m confused too.
An eternity later, we’re out in the chilly November night. Our shoes click on the sidewalk as Max pulls me away from the bar. He still hasn’t glanced back at me once, even though we’ve been alone for a whole block.
“Max?”
My voice finally snaps him back to reality. I almost crash into his back when he brakes abruptly. He releases his hold on me as if I’m scalding, and I hear him inhale a shaky breath before he turns.
“I’m sorry.” He rubs his nape. His cheeks and nose are red, but I don’t know whether it’s from embarrassment or from the chill that makes his breath come out in white puffs.
I shake my head. “Yeah, you should be. What if they start connecting the dots?”
“Do we really have to do this? Sneak around as if we’re criminals?”
“Well, you saw what happened yesterday.” We timed it so we’d arrive at the party at different times, but the scene remained unchanged during that span. Strikes versus Bolts once more. A beer pong game gone wrong. Boucher spewing out insults that will never get him laid in this town. “They’re so entrenched in this ridiculous feud that they’ll never understand how we can possibly date.”
“So, we have to hide forever?” Max’s blue eyes are almost black in the night. I finally realize he’s mad. For real. “I have to stay a million miles away watching other guys try to pick you up at a bar without being able to do anything?”
“Excuse me? That’s rich.” I throw my head back and laugh. “Says the one who had a puck bunny stuck to him like Velcro.”
“And you were jealous.”
I huddle into my coat, glaring up at him from over the thick collar. “So were you, in case you forgot. And oh, by the way, you had no reason to be. Your roommate was just apologizing for being a jerk, which you’re acting like right now.”
“Yeah, I’m jealous.” His voice isn’t loud, but it still hits like the crack of a whip. “And I don’t want anyone beside me but you. Except that can’t happen, huh? The teams are more important.”
Understanding zaps through me like thunder striking me down.
Max is not jealous that his roommate was having a little chat with me. He obviously doesn’t care about the puck bunny either. What he’s jealous of is that I’m choosing the delicate balance between our teams over being with him openly.
I open and close my mouth. The anger in his expression cracks. Probably because there are tears forming in my eyes and my nose is starting to run already. I stomp my foot on the concrete, trying to force every chip of my breaking heart to go back to its rightful place.
“What do you want me to do?” My voice comes out in a whisper. It makes him flinch.
“I don’t know. I guess I want to have my cake and eat it too.”
“So do I but… I don’t know how.”
When the irritation fades away, all that is left is a throb in my chest. I want Max so, so much. Thinking about not being with him would be the same as drowning, even though my lungs will continue to work just fine. But we’re the captains. We can’t just throw our teams into a disarray.
“Where do we go from here?” Max asks.
