“Right?”
“Creepy. But… kinda sweet?”
“Okay, thank you. I thought I was the only one who thought that was a little creepy.”
I love that he’s a little like me.
We both laugh, real and full this time, the tension easing just enough.
We keep walking, just a few yards from the dog park now.
“What about you?”
“What about me?” I ask, like I don’t already know what he’s digging for.
He laughs under his breath. “Are you going to the team’s Halloween party?”
“I am, actually. Got the perfect costume and everything.”
He wipes a hand down the back of his neck.“You should be proud of me,” he says, voice dipping into something dark and rough.
“Oh yeah? Why’s that?”
“Because about thirty wildly inappropriate things just crossed my mind, and I didn’t say a single one.”
I grin. “Good boy. Do you want—”
“See…” He says it like a warning.
“Sorry,” I add quickly, biting back a laugh.
He smirks. “So, tell me, Eslin Saunders. Will you carry a red rose that night? So I’ll know who you are?”
I should lie. Brush it off or change the subject. But I’ve never been good at softening the blow. So I just say it.
“I’m actually going with Jones.” I clear my throat. “Coach Jones.”
He stops. Dead in his tracks. And poor Rocky gives him a look like he is not having it, pulling hard toward the dog park in view.
“Eslin. Him?”
His voice is strained. Half heartbreak, half disbelief. There’s a thread of something else too. Possessive. Like he can’t quite believe I’d offer even a sliver of myself to someone who isn’t him.
And I hate it.
Hate the way it coils in my chest. Hate that it matters. Hate that after all this timehestill matters.
I shrug, trying to look casual. “Why not him?”
“Don’t get me wrong. Darren’s a solid guy. Respectable. Steady. But he can’t betheguy.”
My stomach tightens, because if he wanted to stop me from going out with Coach Jones, all he’d have to do is say the word. “What are you trying to say?”
He hesitates. Looks at me, then away. “He just…Not him.”
We keep walking. Mostly because Rocky’s about to dislocate his shoulder if we don’t. But also because if we stand still too long, I might do something reckless.
Like agree with him.
