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Barry shook his head, eyes downcast. Clearly, he was hard to convince.
Thorne tucked the ball under one arm and slid his gaze across our team. “Listen, the other team is full of alphas, right? My guess is they’ll play mostly offense and just attack with the ball. Go right in. But that’s where we’ll be smarter.” He tapped the side of his head. “Who here plays chess?”
Half of the group raised their hands, and I forced down a smile.
“See, dodgeball is a lot like chess, or any strategy game, for that matter,” Thorne continued. “There are four key strategies of focus. Ball control, the timing of offense, disrupting timing with defense, and, much like chess, match phases.”
Barry rubbed a hand over his jaw as if contemplating. “You have my attention,” he said, earning approving nods from his fellow nerds. “Go on . . .”
With a smile, Thorne launched into a lesson on dodgeball tactics so in-depth that by the time Mrs. Brian blew her whistle, we marched out into the middle of the gym like we owned the place, and even I was convinced we had a chance.
A bead of sweat dripped into my eye, stinging my cornea as I limped to the side of the court after taking a ball directly to the kidney. It had been a brutal battle, and only three remained. By some miracle, Thorne and Barry stood on our side of the court, facing off with the lone Royal, JT.
Gabby glared at me from across the court, which may or may not have been on account of the ball to the face I sent her in the first minute of the game.Oops.
I watched, clapping and cheering, as Thorne easily maneuvered around JT’s latest throw, leaving him unarmed. But when both Barry and Thorne threw at the same time, their balls hit each other midair, killing their trajectory. JT grabbed both, his smile feline as he faked to Thorne, then wailed one straight at poor, unsuspecting Barry.
Somehow, in a show of athleticism, Thorne propelled his body across the court. His feet left the ground, and he soared, taking a strike to the chest and saving Barry in the process.
When he landed on the hard ground with a thud, I winced. Stunned, Barry stared at JT, his wide eyes darkening with anger. And when JT threw the remaining ball, he missed.
Barry picked the ball up. Brows drawn, he took his time as JT dodged and moved around, taunting and daring him to throw it at the wrong moment. But Barry had the patience and reflexes of a cat as he waited patiently until JT boxed himself into the corner. One move back or to the left and he was out of bounds.
With nowhere to go but to the side or forward, Barry aimed for the right, whipping the ball as hard as he could.
The ball arced in the air to the right of JT’s body at the same time he stepped in that direction.
My stomach clenched.
Time slowed.
Until the ball beaned him directly in the shoulder with athwack!
I tossed my arms in the air. Our team roared with victory. The sound of triumph surrounded me as my teammates screamed and surged forward. Among them, Thorne clapped and ran toward Barry. Lifting him like a doll, Thorne raised him above his head, and each of us grabbed a limb, carrying him across the gym as the rightful victor while JT scowled, his face red on the sidelines.
After a few minutes of our juvenile behavior, Mrs. Brian called order, and everyone dispersed, picking up the balls in preparation for the end-of-class bell. And when I finally turned to Thorne, my grin spread ear-to-ear.
I laughed. “I can’t believe we won.”
Thorne picked me up, his powerful arms squeezing me tight as he twirled me around. A squeal burst from my chest before he placed me back on my feet. I stumbled and lost my balance, but he caught me before I fell, his hands circling my waist to steady me.
My breathing slowed, and our eyes locked, both of us grinning like fools. And for a moment, I forgot this was all a hoax. I forgot why he was there. That we were only using each other.
The breath rasped slowly in and out of my lungs, and Thorne’s hold on me tightened. “We make an excellent team, Rees.”
His words knocked my memory back in place, and I remembered. We were a team, nothing more, so I swallowed and urged my racing heart to slow down. “About that . . .” I pulled more air into my lungs, suddenly breathless. “I’m grounded.”
“What?” Thorne continued smiling like he didn’t understand, and maybe he didn’t. He’d probably never been grounded a day in his life.
“Come on.” I waved him to follow me out of the gym.
We stepped through the double doors along with the others, out into the hallway, letting our classmates pass on their way to the locker rooms.
Gabby knocked into my shoulder, her fiery gaze searing a hole in the side of my skull. But ignoring her was easy when I had more important things to steal my focus. Like breaking the news to Thorne that my father banned me from seeing him.
Reaching out, I grabbed a fistful of Thorne’s t-shirt and tugged him toward the corner of the hallway, out of sight. The sweat-damp cotton turned my insides to knots, but I ignored it and focused on what I needed to say to break the news.
With his face cast in shadows, his green eyes met mine. “Trying to seduce me, Rees?”
