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I roll my eyes. “No. I wouldn’t do anything that might hurt her. I’ll be back in a minute.”
I push off the wall to go in search of Evie’s books to earn myself some more brownie points, but Mike stops me.
“Alyssa already grabbed her books and headed to class.”
Damn, I wasn’t quick enough on the snap for that one. Jeremy probably put his girlfriend up to it. It makes me nervous that one of my best friends is dating one of Evie’s best friends. I keep waiting for someone to spill my little secret. My money’s on Jeremy to screw this up for me. He already almost did.
Kerri steps out of the restroom, still…holding my clothes?
“Sorry, Rob.” She shrugs. “She wasn’t in there. I can give these to her the next time we’re at our lockers if you want though.”
Aww, dammit. I run a hand through my hair and sigh. She probably thinks I’m some sort of crazy person after the way I reacted to her wet shirt idea. She must’ve bolted to get away from me as soon as the coast was clear.
“No sweat, bro.” Mike claps a rough hand on my shoulder. “Knowing her, she was embarrassed and probably just bailed to go home for the day.”
“You want me to keep these just in case?” Kerri asks.
Alex grabs them from her before I can even answer. “Nah, he’s good.”
Kerri stalks away, probably pissed at Alex’s dismissal.
“Fuck. This sucks.” I head toward class, not really caring if my friends follow. Misery has a chokehold on my throat, and they don’t really need to see me wallowing. I’m a total loser.
“Don’t be such a drama queen,” Alex laughs from beside me. “You did good today. Just do it again tomorrow.”
“And maybe the next day,” Mike chimes in. “And the next. It’s just like football. You only get out of it what you put into it. You wanna reach the goal? Work harder.”
If it only was that easy. Football, I get. Girls? No fucking clue. Evie Papageorgiou? Might as well be talking rocket science in Mandarin. I got nothin’.
“You guys don’t get it. I sound like a fucking idiot whenever I open my mouth. She probably never wants to talk to me again after today.”
“Hey, speaking of girlfriends, I gotta bail. Bekah is waiting.” Alex shoots us a slimy wink, then turns down the next hallway. He’s so freaking whipped.
I’m so freaking jealous.
“If you don’t know what to say, then just keep your mouth shut,” Mike coaches. “Actions speak louder than words anyway.”
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“This is on you, buddy. I’m not gonna help you. If you want her, then you gotta earn her. Today was a good start.” Mike bumps into me with his shoulder, knocking me off-balance.
I throw him a dirty look as another unwelcome thought forms in my brain that honestly makes me angrier than thinking about Evie trying to impress another guy. “Was that…was that a fucking test back there? Is that why you didn’t help her?”
He shrugs like it’s no big deal he left her to fend for herself. “Just wanted to make sure your rep won’t ever be more important to you than she is.”
“That was a real dickhead thing to do, Mike.”
“Maybe,” he admits. “You might be my friend, but she’s like my sister. She’ll always come first. It’s my job to make sure you’ll treat her the same way.” He stops abruptly and turns me toward him until we’re face-to-face. “Think of me and Alex as the angel and devil on your shoulders. He’ll be your wingman, show you the ropes, teach you what to do, how to act, what to say to win her over. But, me? I’ll be the guy always checking in with her to make sure you’re treating her right. I’ll be the one watching you like a hawk for one wrong move. And if you ever hurt her, I’ll be your worst nightmare.”
The hard expression on his face and the tone of his voice leaves no room for argument. He means every word. I both respect and fear him, and my averted gaze and hunched shoulders show it.
His smile proves that’s exactly the reaction he was hoping for.
“Try again tomorrow. Or don’t. It’s up to you. I’d rather her be with you because I trust you a hell of a lot more than any of the other assholes in this school. If someone else gets to her first, that’s only gonna make my job of watching out for her that much harder.”
“Is this another test? You want to see if I’ll react to the idea of someone getting to her before me? You want me to up my game, so that doesn’t happen?”
“Maybe.” With that, he turns on the ball of his foot to head into his next class.
