Page 79 of Leave Me Broken
If only I knew the answer to that.
I drag Ash by the hand toward the large colonial-style brick house until there’s a chance someone could see us, then I drop his hand and shove mine into my sweatshirt because it’s freezing outside.
“Celebration” by Kool & The Gang plays from the overhead sound system they have throughout the house, and I crack a smile. Glancing over my shoulder to Ash, he lifts his stare from my ass and grins.
“Brette has the best taste in music!” I shout over the noise.
Ash breaks into a huge smile. We continue through the crowd of people, definitely not just the team and our parents like Janelle said Lauren was inviting. It’s not overly crowded that we are bumping into people or anything, but I know a few are from Brette’s work and others are neighbors. Mika’s dads are sitting on a couch chatting with someone I don’t know. Aubrey’s mom is on the other side of them.
We break into the kitchen and the noise dramatically decreases, meaning they must have the kitchen speaker turned down. “Wick’s really know how to throw a party,” Ash tells me.
“Considering it’s a Thursday.” I snort and head for the freezer across the huge kitchen.
The door from the garage swings open to my right. Brette and Luca walk in, each carrying several cans and bottles of beer, laughing at something in such a guy way I nearly roll my eyes.
After checking the freezer, I come up empty-handed on ice. I grab out one of the fudgsicles that Lauren buys for me and let the door close behind me.
“Hey big guy where is all your ice?”
Brette whips around hearing me and obviously not seeing me before now. His big brown eyes soften immediately. “You need a bag for your knee?” He drops a look at my leg and his eyes grow. “I’ll take that as a yes.”
I laugh and wobble over to the island. Luca has since emptied his arms of the beer into the buckets I hadn’t seen before.
Ash moves closer, looks at my fudgsicle and lifts a challenging eyebrow.
“I just won the first round of districts, Coach. Don’t be annoying about your diet thing. No one follows it, anyway.”
He rolls his eyes and throws the liquid in the glass Luca handed him down his throat before slamming it on the counter. “I was just going to tell you to eat real food before junk.”
I take a dramatic suck off my popsicle, loving how his eyes brighten and how he cringes when I aggressively bite the tip off. “I’m good.”
“Here you go, sweetheart.” Brette passes me a bag, not noticing or caring that my coach is staring at me with the heat of a million suns. “Lauren ordered food. Should be here anytime,” he tells us.
“Sweet,” I say.
The kitchen door opens along with Lauren and Janelle, with a pizza boy trailing behind them.
A very familiar pizza boy.
Hero.
He is carrying at least twenty pizzas and hasn’t yet noticed me, but Janelle has definitely noticed who it is, and her eyes are nearly popping from her excited face. Somehow, I have no clue how, her hair is curled, her makeup is light but done and she’s wearing a short skirt and floral top. She doesn’t look like we played a hard game less than an hour ago. Me, on the other hand, my hair is in a sweaty ponytail and I’m still wearing my uniform, with an added sweatshirt on top.
“Right here, dear.” Lauren pats the counter next to the drinks, right in front of me. Hero places all the pizzas down and that’s when his brown eyes find mine.
I swallow. I’m not sure why but it feels weird. Like I’ve been caught doing something I shouldn’t, having Ash to my side and Hero in front, both watching me.
“What do I owe you?” Lauren asks, unaware of the tension.
Ash steps closer to my side—all but wrapping an arm around my waist. It doesn’t go by Hero, but his face stays blank as he rattles off the total. Lauren says something about needing to find her checkbook and wanders off. That’s when Collins, Alyssa, and Parker walk into the kitchen.
I narrow my eyes at Collins. This is the first time I’ve seen him since Janelle told me about his cheating. I could beat the shit out of him. Like he knows what I’m thinking when he sees me, he looks away.
Parker wanders forward and opens the top pizza, stealing a slice. Everyone else is standing around awkwardly staring at each other. Ash moves closer to my side, pressing against me, and his arm hangs loosely behind my back. He tugs on the end of my ponytail, jerking my head back.
“Pay, want to ice your knee in my room? You can put it up,” Janelle asks loudly, for everyone to hear and maybe cut the tension. I’m not sure but it’s appreciated.
Stepping forward, Hero is forced to step back since Ash has left no room for me to move to the side. I sneak around him, still feeling like everyone is watching me as I fill my bag with ice.