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I nod my head soberly. I lift my head up again just in time to catch Ronnie’s gaze before she quickly looks away.
“What’s up with you and her?” He nods his head towards Ronnie. “You gonna make a move or just stare at her all night?” Here Dax goes, pushing me towards the one thing I can’t have.
“I told you already, I’m not good enough for a girl like that. I’m keeping my hands off.” I may not be able to stop my perverted mind from having fantasies but my hands are staying far away, even if they are itching to touch her.
Dax chuckles. “Yeah, we’ll see how that works out. Hell, man, she might make the first move from the looks she’s giving you. I wish a girl would look at me like that.” He sounds wistful and I know he’s thinking of Lily again.
It’s true. Ronnie has been silently watching me all day. I know she wants to know what’s going on with us since our kiss this morning. I don’t want to lead her on, and I know I can’t have her. Being around her and not staring at her is next to impossible. If I were a poet, I could write a damn sonnet about what she looks like now, with the firelight and moon framing her red hair.
“Ronnie isn’t swept up by the stuff most of these girls are into. Money, clothes, all that. She’s usually got her nose stuck in a book, but I’ve talked to her a few times. She’s a decent chick, honest to a fault.” His tone is so admiring that I feel a knot of jealousy rise up in my throat. I know he’s not a threat, but even the thought of someone else admiring her makes my fists clench.
My hard stare must be full of jealousy because he puts his hand up a stop gesture. “Man, no. You can stop thinking that right now. I have no interest there. I think she’s a great girl, but I’ve got enough problems without worrying about the principal’s daughter. Brad is the guy you need to worry about. You know he never stops until he gets what he wants and he definitely wants her.”
“You think he would do something crazy?” I can’t keep the worry out of my voice. The thought of him doing anything to my girl has my jaw hardening in anger.
“I think he’s an entitled mother fucker who would slit his own mama’s throat if it meant he got what he wanted.” There’s a quiet bitterness in his words that make me feel like there’s more he’s not telling me. He obviously doesn’t trust Brad, but I’ve always thought the two of them were pretty tight.
“What did he do to you? I thought you guys were friends?” As far as I knew, there had never been any problems between them. Their friendship had always surprised me to be honest. Brad’s such a hardcore leader and Dax usually follows the beat of his own drummer. Of course, I haven’t been around much since I graduated, so I don’t know how their connection is now.
“It isn’t what he did to me. It’s what he did to someone close to me.” His voice is harsh and unforgiving.
I take a long look at him. His cheeks are red and his rage is barely contained. Dax is usually so relaxed about everything that it’s hard to reconcile the angry man beside me. Suddenly, I know exactly who Brad messed with.
“You mean Lily, don’t you? He tried to mess with Lily? I’m surprised you haven’t already beat the shit out of him.” And I truly am. There’s only one person that Brad could mess with that would bother Dax.
Lily Winters has been Dax’s best friend since kindergarten and they are amazingly tight. She’s a little slip of a girl and seems afraid of her own shadow. She never hangs out with us. Anyone who knows Dax knows he’s obsessed with her and extremely protective as well.
“I would have killed the fucker already, but Lily asked me not to. She doesn’t want to tell anyone. She didn’t even tell me what happened. I just know it was something bad. So, I’m waiting until he slips up again. I’m trying to make sure the same shit doesn’t happen to another girl. Brad’s gonna mess up eventually and I’ll be there.”
Hell, I would not want to be Brad when Dax does get hold of him. Dax is so relaxed that it’s easy to forget he’s also a huge dude. He’s slightly taller than Brad, but he’s got a shitload more muscle. That’s why he’s so good at playing center in football. He can squash anyone that tries to get to our quarterback. I try to distract him the only way I know how. I bring up the old days. Dax and I were both on the football team together when he was a sophomore and I was a senior. He was such a damn good player that they put him on the varsity team.
“How’s everything else going? How’s the team?” I watch as his jaw unclenches and he leans back casually.
“We’ve done good. I never thought we’d pull it back together after what happened with Beau last season, but we did. It could have been a shit show, you know? I’m starting to think the position of quarterback is cursed though. First you, then Beau. The position seems to bring bad luck for anyone who plays it.”
I nod quietly. Beau’s luck was just as crappy as mine. His father died on the sidelines during the championship game last season. The clip had played over and over again on ESPN. As his dad collapsed on the sidelines, some idiot player for the other team had sacked Beau. He had torn his ACL in the process. It had been a double whammy for Beau. His dream of playing in the NFL and his father gone in the same day. Once upon a time, Beau and I had been close. He was my backup as quarterback and a junior to my senior. I respected him and liked him. Somehow, over the last year, we drifted apart and now barely talked. I needed to reach back out to him again, if only to see how he was doing. Last I heard, he was at a small prestigious college further south. He had changed from a gregarious, friendly person to a loner. Changing after loss was something I could easily understand.
“I watched the highlights of the last game on YouTube. Y’all looked good, even Brad.” I don’t want to acknowledge my shitty cousin, but he’s a decent player.
“Whatever, he’s a selfish son of a bitch and a ball hog. Can’t say I would be too upset if the quarterback position is cursed and he gets the worst end of it.”
He clears his throat and stares across the fire. Dax’s spine snaps as he straightens. His gaze is suddenly much more alert. “Man, I think we need to keep a watch on your girl.”
He gestures towards Ronnie. I look across the fire to see her talking to Marissa. What the hell?
“Brad is the king of douches, but Marissa is the Queen. Why the hell is she trying to get friendly with Ronnie? What’s that about?” I’ve known Marissa for a few years but it only took me five seconds for me to figure out I couldn’t trust her.
“I don’t know man, but I wouldn’t trust that viper either. You heard how she helped Brad get Fallon Shepard expelled right?” His bitter voice clues me in that the story isn’t pretty.
I shake my head. High school and college are different worlds. I don’t know any of the gossip. I do know that Marissa was a bitch even when she was a freshman.
“She told the coach that Fallon tried to grope her after the game against Westinghouse. Brad wanted to make sure that his spot on the team was secure. Once she told her parents the groping story, they got Fallon expelled.”
“Did he actually do anything to her?” I think I know the answer but I have to ask.
He raises an eyebrow and shoots me a look of dark humor. “I’ve known Fallon since second grade. Believe me when I say he isn’t like that. He wouldn’t touch a girl like that, nor would he want to. He’s gay. Marissa said it because she always does what Brad tells her to. She wants to keep her status and he’s got a lot of power at school.”
“Why do you think she’s talking to Ronnie?” The girls’ heads are close together and I don’t like it one bit, especially after Dax’s story.
