Page 93 of Power Play

“Fuck you.”

He smiled. “Emotionally gifted goalie.”

Cade almost laughed while I looked down at my phone again.

Briggs might have had a point, and I hated that.

Charm had spent the last few weeks meeting me halfway every time I gave her room to do it. She texted first now. She asked me to come over and told me when she wanted another kiss instead of waiting for me to guess. She had started arguing with Professor Brown and sent me a picture of an A like she wanted me inside the moment before anybody else.

She was moving toward me. I had been so focused on keeping pressure off her that I hadn’t considered ambiguity could become pressure too.

Cade watched my face. “What do you actually want?”

“Her.”

“That’s broad.”

“I want to keep seeing her.”

“Then tell her that.”

“I have.”

Briggs groaned. “You’re irritating when you get literal.”

I flipped him off. “I’m not asking her to be my girlfriend right now.”

“Why?”

“Because I want to know she feels it too.”

Rider frowned slightly. “You just said you know she wants you.”

“I know she feels something.” I looked at Cade. “I want her to trust it.”

That came out closer to the truth than anything else had.

“She spends half her life questioning what she wants as soon as somebody else has an opinion. I’m not putting a label on us while she’s still looking at me every few days like she expects me to decide I made a mistake.”

Cade’s expression softened. “What happens for now?”

“For now, I’m seeing how it plays out.”

Briggs leaned back. “That is dating.”

“It isn’t.”

“You text all day.”

“Yes.”

“You bring her food.”

“She needs to eat.”

“You tutor her.”

“She needs help.”