Page 85 of Broken Romeo
My arm around Kate tightened at the mention of Dave’s name and I was suddenly anything but casual.
Kate cleared her throat. “Oh. Um, I’m not with Dave. We only had that one date—”
Addison’s glare became downright hostile at that.
We needed to defuse this shit and fast. I slid my arm off Kate and sauntered toward my locker… the one with my personal items, not the cash for Kate.
I can feel her eyes on my every movement. I’m practically naked in the speedo and I clench with each step to really give her a show.
Eat your fucking heart out, Kate.
I opened my locker and pulled out an EpiPen from my bag, holding it out to Kate.
She blink at it—and me—completely confused.
“Here,” I said. “Take it.” Then, I looked at Addison. “Kate has a shellfish allergy and I told her I had an extra EpiPen she could have.”
Addison shifted her weight, crossing her arms and narrowing her eyes at both of us. “So you’re just here to pick up a random ass EpiPen?”
Kate took the pen from me and nodded. “Um. Yeah.”
For an actress, she really wasn’t playing this off well.
“Girls!” The women’s swim coach came out and clapped her hands, the sound echoing loudly in the cavernous hall of the pool. “You’re two minutes late to practice!”
The freshman scurried into the pool, the steamy glass door shutting behind her while Addison took another long moment to glare at us before she too turned and went inside.
“Thanks,” Kate murmured and stretched out her hand to give me the EpiPen back.
“Keep it. I was planning to give that to you anyway.”
“So… you just keep random EpiPens around?”
I shrugged. “When I was a kid, I had an intense reaction to penicillin and my mom insisted that I have an EpiPen on me at all times after that. I’ve literally never used it and I get a new three-pack every six months.”
“Well, thanks. Hopefully I never have to use it either.” She stuck the EpiPen into her backpack, then added, “I didn’t know you were on the swim team.”
I gave her the perfunctory answer. That I train here and blah, blah, blah. I should leave her alone. Let her leave the panties and get her cash and get out of here.
But she’s so fucking cute and fidgety, I wanted to watch her squirm just a little bit longer. “What are you doing here, anyway?” I ask.
Her eyes swung guiltily toward the bulletin board beside the lockers where tons of flyers, ranging from private lessons to tutoring, littered it. “Um, it’s kind of embarrassing,” she said. “But I can’t swim. And I thought maybe I’d come check out the pool and look into… lessons.”
I narrowed my eyes at her as she reached up and ripped a phone number off one of the flyers and I couldn’t help but wonder if there was any truth in her excuse. Could she really not swim?
She shoved the phone number into her pocket, then added, “I thought Monday morning would be empty in here but clearly I was wrong.”
I back away toward the locker room again, nodding, trying to give her a little space. “Weeknights and mornings before class are always packed here. Friday and Saturday evenings are the quiet hours. Everyone’s at the football games or parties or whatever.”
My gaze traveled over her black jeans, hugging tight curves. And her blonde hair that fell in messy waves past her shoulder. I imagined what she’d look like spread across my bed, that hair tousled and messy—
Fuck.
I had to stop. Save this shit for my spank bank.
Masturbatory thoughts only. Every other moment, she was just Kate. My classmate. A freshman I was in a play with. That was it.
I tried to clear the thoughts from my mind as I turned to head into the pool.