Floyd bit his lip, gaze straying back across the field. “We made out. She let me feel her up.”
My heart—already pounding—went double time. “Wait—what? Why? Do you evenlikeher?”
I felt the weight of Abby’s gaze on my face from where he sat on Floyd’s other side. But I ignored him and focused on the way Floyd shrugged, nonchalant as hell.
“Nah, not really,” Floyd replied. “I was just bored. But she seemed easy enough. I bet she’d let me do more.”
Disgust had my eyebrows pulling low.
I’d known Floyd Ellerby since preschool, too. We’d been friends and teammates for a long time. I’d heard him talk about hot actresses or models, but this was different.
I dated girls my age. I flirted and fooled around, but I definitely wasn’t spending time with anyone out of boredom. I wasn’t a saint. I didn’t know a teenage guy who was, but I didn’t talk about women like that—as if they were a commodity, like they were disposable.
Mac had gone out with a few guys earlier in the year. Granted, Connor Pritchard—her last boyfriend—was a self-absorbed dick bag, and I didn’t know why she wanted anything to do with him in the first place. Whatever. Mac was free to be “bored” with whomever she pleased. It wasn’t any of my business.
Yet, the thought of my friend hooking up with her made me feel like someone had hollowed out my stomach with a melon baller.
Instead of berating Floyd for being disrespectful—something my daddy would have done—I said something altogether worse. “I don’t know why you’d even waste your time with Mac. She’s not even pretty. She’d probably give you a disease. And, sure, she seems easy enough, but that’s because no one else wants her.”
Silence followed in the wake of my statement, as heavy and oppressive as the day’s sudden heat. I counted out ten thundering heartbeats before Abby whistled a low note.
“Jesus, Brady,” Abby admonished before standing and hoisting his bag.
But, Floyd was nodding. “Yeah, man. You’re probably right. She hasn’t datedanyone since Pritchard, and he talked all kinds of shit about her. I’m not looking for drama.”
I swallowed what felt like a mouthful of glass and looked down at the shirt still in my hands. With jerky movements, I slipped it over my head and zipped up my bag.
“I’m out of here,” Abby said. “I’ll see y’all later.”
Floyd called out a goodbye, saying he’d see Abby tonight at the bonfire.
I couldn’t seem to find my voice. With a quick glance, I could see the girls’ team had moved on from stretching to some passing drills. I couldn’t bring myself to search out Mac after what I’d said.
I didn’t let myself think about the relief that flooded my veins when Floyd said he’d back off. Nor did I want to consider the reason behind it. While I was at it, I ignored the guilt and disgust twisting my stomach into knots, too.
With a quiet “See you later” for my friend, I grabbed my stuff and went home.
Mac was at the bonfire that night. The entire girls’ soccer team had come straight over after their 4–1 victory over the Cookeville Red Devils.
The temperature had dropped as soon as the sun went down. Mac still wore her uniform but with a Kirby Falls Bobcats hoodie thrown over it to ward off the chill.
Floyd wasn’t here yet, and Abby was chatting up Lara Dillion over by the fire.
I watched as the pack of soccer girls finally dispersed, making their way toward the chairs scattered around the glowing flames. Mac hung back, digging through one of the coolers.
Without any common sense or forethought, I started walking in her direction.
“Good game tonight,” I said when I reached her side.
Mac glanced up and did a double take as if surprised to find those words coming out of my mouth, which was, okay, fair. We didn’t go around complimenting one another.
Her storm-gray eyes narrowed suspiciously.
“I heard you had two of those goals,” I tried again. “Nice job. Cookeville is tough.”
“Thanks,” she said cautiously as she straightened, pulling a blue sports drink out of the ice chest. “Yeah, they’re pretty aggressive.”
My instinct was to reply,Good thing you’re basically feral. But I didn’t say that. Instead, I offered a smile.
