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“Woah…?” One of the sophomore football players stared at me from the stairs. “Adam?”
King turned around and his eyebrows shot up to his hairline.
“Take it the hell in, boys. You don’t look this good,” I announced, thumbing out my jacket. “You have to accept it.”
The person who looked the most surprised was Coach Lawson. He slipped off his Romans cap and stared at me, shocked. “Goddamn, Russell.” He shook his head in amazement. “It’s great to see you so committed, kid. Wow. What stand did you get the hat from? That’s good quality right there.”
“Bought it beforehand, sir,” I reassured him and sunshine caught my eye, Piper’s blonde hair, standing at the petting zoo. As casually as I could, I shifted to the left. “Well, we have five minutes, I guess.”
And five minutes was all I needed. I just wanted to see her again before I was wrapped up in obligations I couldn’t wrestle my way out of.
“Piper.” I grinned, sliding up to the fence. I wrapped a hand around the post, leaning in. “Hey, ice princess.”
God, was she beautiful. Her light blonde hair was pulled up in a loose bun, strands draping down her neck, and she had a bright shade of pink lipstick I kept zeroing in on, and those gray eyes. Oh, fuck. I could stare at her forever. My hand twitched at my side. All I wanted to do was slide my fingers up her back, touch her hip, kiss her neck.
That had to wait for later.
I tried not to puff out my chest like an ape. This outfit would get her going for sure. At the end of the night, there was a big concert on campus, the crowds wouldn’t be Piper’s style. So we could sneak off to the dorms together.
“Adam—” Her mouth fell open. “Um—Adam?”
I pretended not to notice. Gazing down at her, I dropped my voice. “I really want to kiss you right now.”
A blush crossed her face but she shook her head, stunned. “Okay. Um…usually, the whole Western thing isn’t for me, but you look…oh my god.” Her eyes trailed down my jacket. “I completely jumped ship. This is my new thing.”
“And you’re gorgeous as—wait.” The grin evaporated. “What do you mean?”
Piper giggled. “You’ll have to beat girls off with a cattle prod.”
“No—Piper. What did you mean, not your thing? I thought you like cowboy stuff?”
Her eyebrows furrowed. “Who told you that?”
I froze for a second and jerked back to look at the football players, kept together by the stage. There was Ryan—I couldn’t miss his scowl anywhere—and right next to him, the dark braids. Kassie. Kassie was trying so hard not to laugh, her face was turning pink, but when our eyes met, she burst into laughter, while Ryan wrapped his arms around her.
And there was Zariah. Shocked, staring at me, mouth agape. And King, pinching the bridge of his nose, snickering.
Oh shit.
I stepped away from the petting zoo and the screaming kids and the animals that couldn’t have been too happy to be stuck there. “Uh—Piper, I’ll see you later, okay?”
“You don’t have to,” she called to me, her voice sweet.
“No, I’ll be here.”
“But we’re seeing each other tonight?”
“Yeah.” I clapped my hands together, still walking backward. “And I will see you here after contractual obligations.”
With that, I whipped around before Piper could argue with me and took a one-way ticket to the King, Zariah, and the illustrator-in-chief, the girl who tossed a mousetrap on the floor that I leaped on. All three of them were grinning when I walked up.
"Hey, guys," I said, butting into their conversation.
"Subtle," King said and Kassie and Zariah snorted.
"We love the outfit." Kassie beamed at me.
They know.
