by L A Cotton
“Hailee mentioned it, but I didn’t, no. You think she did it because she knew you were going there?”
“I don’t know what the fuck to think, but she can’t go there.”
“Jase, you can’t tell someone where they can or can’t go to college, man. It’s her future and Hailee said something about her parents being alumni.”
“I don’t care if her parents are best friends with the Dean, she can’t go there.” I can’t have her there, everywhere I turn.
When I met Cam’s eyes again, he was scrutinizing me. “What?” I barked.
“What’s really going on with you?”
“Save the Dr Phil routine, I had enough of that from Asher.”
“You called?” he appeared out of nowhere.
“Great, now I have to listen to the two of you bitch.”
“Nope.” Ash held up his hands as I got situated on the bench. “No bitchin’ here. The way I see it, now you’ve cast Fee aside, she’s fair gam—”
“Don’t even fucking think about it.” My chest rumbled.
“About what?” He played dumb.
“Ash, don’t push him.”
“Push him? How could I possibly be pushing him when he chewed her up and spit her out like she’s nothing?” His smile was easy, but his tone was cool.
Yeah, Asher was pissed and I couldn’t blame him.
“You want my sloppy seconds, Bennet?” I swallowed the guilt crawling up my throat, and doing what I did best, I dialed up my asshole meter. “She’s all yours.”
“You’re a heartless fucker, you know that, Ford?” he said before storming off.
Cam shook his head, rubbing the back of his neck. “Was that really necessary?”
“He’s wanted her since day one.”
“And you’d be okay with him being with her? Because you know he’ll probably go after her just to prove a point.”
Shrugging, I pushed the press harder, grunting with exertion. “Like he said, she’s fair game.” The words snaked around my heart.
“I don’t believe you,” Cam said. “You’re a cruel motherfucker but you care about her.”
“Yeah, well I don’t care enough.”
I half-expected Cam to take a page out of Asher’s book and storm off, but he didn’t. Cameron was loyal to the bone. It’s why it had taken him so long to go after what he really wanted: Hailee. Still, he wasn’t impressed with my attitude and for the next ten minutes, we worked in painful silence. All while he studied me, trying to see past my icy exterior. But if anyone was an expert on keeping their emotions locked down, it was me. I’d had years of practice and I wasn’t about to open up now.
I had more important things to think about.
By the time lunch rolled around, all I wanted was to eat my turkey sub in peace. But even that was too fucking much to ask.
“You know, if you want to go over there, I’m sure they wouldn’t—”
My head snapped up to Grady and I levelled with him a hard look. “Jeez,” he breathed out. “Someone has a giant stick up their ass. I’m just saying—”
“Well, don’t.”
As if they heard our argument, Asher and Felicity both looked over at us. Ash held my stare, a silent ‘fuck you’ glittering in his eyes. I let my eyes run right over him to her. The blood drained from Felicity’s face as she tried to remain unaffected, but I saw the tell-tale signs. Wide eyes, the way her breath hitched, and I knew if I was close enough, if I ran my fingers up her neck, her skin would be warm.
Felicity wasn’t the only one affected though. My heart was racing like I’d just done an hour of cardio. It beat so hard I felt it in my skull. Curling my hands into fists, I pressed them into my jeans, urging myself to calm the fuck down. She saw it though. She saw it and instead of letting it go, she decided to bait me. Sliding closer to Asher, Felicity leaned into him, laughing at something he said.
“Easy, bro,” Grady said under his breath. “Before you break something.” He got all up in my face, blocking my view of Asher and Felicity. “It’s not worth it,” his voice was low.
“Yeah, I’m cool.” I sat back, forcing my hands to uncurl.
“Eyes on the prize, remember?” Grady moved back, squeezing my shoulder. “You need to get laid, work off some of that tension, Cap.”
“Did someone say my name?” Jenna appeared, a seductive smile on her face. “Hey, baby.” She made a show of wiggling onto my lap, draping her arm around my neck like she belonged there.
Like I belonged to her.
“S’up?”
“You, if I have anything to say about it.” Dipping her hand between us, she grasped my junk.
Grady bellowed with laughter, high-fiving a couple of the players. “Yo, Jenna, where’s the rest of you?”
“The girls will be here soon enough.” She shot him a suggestive wink.
“Mr. Ford, Miss Jarvis,” Principal Finnigan appeared out of nowhere, clearing his throat. “Please keep it clean. This a school cafeteria, not a strip club.” His narrowed gaze fixed right on me, his disdain for everything I represented etched into every line of his face, and there were plenty. “All set for Friday?”
I gave him an imperceptible nod.
“Well, I look forward to it.” He stalked off to his next unsuspecting victim.
“Dude needs to get laid,” someone said, causing our table to break out in laughter.
“He really doesn’t like you, does he?” Mackey asked.
I shrugged. He didn’t like me, but it didn’t matter. Soon the season would be over and then he couldn’t touch me.
Grady threw me a look, but I shook it off. I wasn’t about to do anything stupid, anything to jeopardize the team’s shot at the Championship. But after that, Thatcher was mine. All I had to do was keep my cool and refuse to be drawn any further into his games.
Jenna swept her hair off her shoulder and dipped her mouth to my ear. “I want you, let’s sneak off to the locker room.”
It would have been so easy to say yes.
So easy to let her drop to her knees and help me forget all the bullshit.
“Jason, what do you say? Shall we get out of here?” She nipped my ear, but I was too busy watching Felicity.
Watching her watch me.
“Maybe later, yeah?” I gave Jenna an easy smile, sliding my eyes back to Felicity.
But she was gone.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Felicity
“Okay, well thanks for getting back to me. Please keep me in mind if anything comes up.” I hung up, rubbing a hand down my face.
“No luck?” Mya dropped down beside me.
“No. I called every veterinary clinic within a fifteen-mile radius.”
“Well, that sucks. What about pounds?”
“There’s only two locally. One does offer volunteer positions, but they have no vacancies and the other one is undergoing a restructure so they’re not taking on new staff at the moment.”
“You could widen the radius.”
“I could but anything further and my parents will get suspicious.”
Mya nudged my shoulder. “You could always just tell them.”
“I could but I want to be sure first. If I tell them and it doesn’t work out, I’ll be causing a lot of heartache for nothing.”
“You really think they’ll be that upset? Veterinary school is a solid plan.”
“But it isn’t their plan and it’s at least eight years in school.”
“But do you want it?”
“I think so. I mean, I’ve taken all the right courses and I love animals. But I’ll need to talk to Miss Hampstead about changing my application and I’ll definitely need to find some hands-on experience.”
“Ooh, you could do some dog walking for your neighbors or run a doggie day care service on the weekend.”
“Oh yeah, my anti-pet parents would love that while they overreacted every day that I was going to get Tetanus, or the house invaded with fleas, or the neighbors complain about
barking.”
“Okay I get it, over-cautious parent alert. There must be a vacancy somewhere for you.”
“Hey, what are you two doing out here?” Hailee’s brows bunched. “I went to study hall but you weren’t there.”
“I wanted to get a head start on calling local veterinary clinics and Mya found me out here.”
“Any luck?”
“Nothing yet. I may have to figure out a plan B.”
“Have you tried the clinic in town?” she asked.
“No, it’s too close to home. If Mom and Dad find—”
“You don’t have to tell them why you’re doing it yet, just that you want to try new things.”
“I don’t know... it would be ideal being so local.” I wouldn’t have to worry about travel time and maybe I could help after school.
“You should call them,” Mya said, handing me her phone, the clinic’s number already punched in.
“Now?”
“Can you think of a better time?”
Hailee sat down beside me, the two of them giving me expectant stares.
“Fine, but I bet they have nothing.” I’d left it too late to try to find something.
I hit call and waited.
“Hello, Rixon Veterinary Clinic, Regina speaking. How can I help you?”
“Hmm, hi, Regina. I’m a senior at Rixon High School and I was wondering if you have any volunteering opportunities? I’m considering studying animal science at college and really wanted some hands-on experience.”
Mya gave me a little thumbs up.
“I didn’t catch your name?”
“Oh? I’m sorry, it’s Felicity.”
“Well, firstly thanks for thinking of us, Felicity. I’d love to be able to tell you we have something right now, but unfortunately—”
“You don’t.” My shoulders slumped. “I expected as much.”
“I’m sure you can appreciate, we have a rigorous process in place for all of our volunteers and we only recently recruited.”
“Of course, I completely understand.”
“That said, I might be able to arrange you a visit to our sister-center across town.”
“The pet rescue place?” I asked.
“Yes, A Brand New Tail. There’s no permanent volunteer spots at the minute but I’m sure George, the manager, wouldn’t mind showing you around.”
“That would be great, thank you.”
“Excellent. Drop me an email and I’ll forward it to George. We can also add you to the waitlist should anything come up...”
“Thank you so much.” We said goodbye and hung up.
“So...” Mya asked.
“They can let me look around, but they don’t have anything permanent right now.”
“Well, it’s a step in the right direction.” She gave me a reassuring smile. “And who knows. Maybe you can work your magic on George and get him to give you a shift or two?”
“Mya!” My cheeks burned. “I would never—”
“Relax, I’m joking. But it’s good to see you smile, girl.”
It felt good to smile. Until I spotted Cameron, Asher… and Jason heading in our direction. My breath caught in my throat. Even now, after everything, my heart still wanted him. The rest of me wanted nothing more than to watch him combust into flames, but my heart, well it wasn’t quite there yet.
Before they reached us, Jason split away from his friends and took off toward the gym. I let out a little sigh of relief, ignoring the way my stomach sank, and pasted on the brightest smile I could for Cameron and Asher.
“Ladies,” Asher said. “We missed you at lunch.” His eyes settled on mine, asking me things I didn’t want to answer.
“We had a... thing.” Mya winked at me.
“A thing. I like things. You could have invited me.”
“Asher,” Hailee warned.
“It’s okay, Hails. You don’t all have to pretend this isn’t awkward. But I’m fine. Truly.”
“That’s the spirit, Fee, baby. So what’s happening?”
“Felicity is trying to figure out her future,” Hailee said.
“Sounds interesting. Anything we can help with?”
“Not unless you know of a veterinary clinic taking on volunteers.”
“Huh.” Asher’s brows pinched. “I never had you down as a cat lover.”
“Hey, I like dogs too. Anything soft and cute really, I don’t discriminate.”
“You’ve tried the one downtown?”
I nodded. “They have nothing. I’ll figure something out.” I waved him off, hoping to deflect the attention from me to someone else. The last thing I needed was Asher on the case. He was worse than a dog with a bone.
“We should probably head to practice before Coach comes looking for us.” Cameron reached for Hailee, pulling her to her feet. “I’ll miss you.”
“Miss you too,” she said, kissing him.
“Miss you three,” Asher added around a grin.
Cameron flipped him off behind Hailee’s back.
“You’ll be at the game Friday, right?” Asher turned his attention to me and Mya.
“Actually,” I tucked my long bangs behind my ear, “I don’t think so.”
“What the fuck? You have to come. It’s our final game before the play-offs.”
“Hails will be there, right, Hails?”
“Yes, she will,” Cam answered for her.
“See, you have to come.”
“Hailee can hang out with Cam’s parents.” His mom and dad were making the trip to Brennington since she was finally feeling a little better.
“What about you, Mya? Can I count on you to be there, cheering us on?”
“Oh shoot, did you say Friday? I think I’m washing my hair.”
“I think I’m washing my hair,” he muttered beneath his breath, rolling his eyes. “If you don’t come, you can’t come party with us afterwards.”
“Whatever will we do?” Mya clutched my hands, feigning disappointment.
“We could always hang out at The Alley?” I suggested. “Or maybe get drunk down by the river again, that was fun. Oh, I know, we could—”
“Okay, okay, you both made your point. But let’s face it, whatever you do, wherever you hang out, it’s not going to be half as much fun as being with me.” Asher’s amused gaze lingered on Mya until he winked and walked off, not bothering to wait for Cameron.
“You really shouldn’t encourage him,” he remarked.
“He can handle it,” Mya scoffed, her eyes tracking Asher’s retreating form. She could play down the chemistry between the two of them, but she wasn’t fooling anyone.
Jealousy stirred in my chest, which was crazy. Because I didn’t want Asher like that. But I couldn’t deny his attention softened the blow of Jason’s rejection somewhat. Not to mention the part of me that worried if Mya and Asher hooked up, I’d lose my two closest friends to Raiders.
“Hey, are you okay?” Mya nudged me again and I flashed her a weak smile.
“Me? I’m good.”
“Everything’s going to work out, Flick. I can feel it in my bones.”
“Speaking of bones,” Cam cleared his throat, “I’d better go before Coach breaks some of mine for being tardy. I’ll see you tonight?” he asked Hailee.
“Of course. Bye.”
He pulled her in for one last kiss and disappeared after Asher.
“What?” she said, noticing us both glaring at her.
“You two are so cute it’s disgusting.” Mya grinned.
“So disgusting,” I added around a smirk despite the sinking feeling in my stomach.
I wanted that.
Wanted someone to look at me the way Cameron looked at her.
But I would never get it so long as I was stuck on Jason.
“Felicity, sweetheart, is that you?” Mom’s voice filtered down the hall as I kicked off my shoes and dropped my keys on the sideboard.
“Hey, Mom.” I entered the kitchen.
“How
was book club?”
“Good, thanks. No Dad?”
“He needed to stay late at the office.”
“Again? He’s always working.”
“Sure is. You know how it is, got to keep that roof over our heads. Well, you will soon enough.” She chuckled.
“So I’ve been thinking,” I said, sliding onto one of the stools. “Since its senior year and all, that I might like to do some volunteering.”
“What a wonderful idea.” Mom came over to the breakfast island to join me. “I’m sure me or your father can arrange some work experience with—”
“Actually, Mom, I was thinking I might do something else.”
“Something else?” Her brows pinched. “I’m sorry, I’m not sure I understand.”
“I just realized there’s so much I’ve always wanted to do and time’s running out, so I thought now might be a good time to experiment.”
“Hmm, that sounds kind of distracting, sweetheart. You have book club; that’s outside the box.”
Dear God, if she though book club was outside the box, I had no hope getting her on side for my new plan.
“It’s not exactly giving me major life experience though, Mom. I want to learn something new, try new things. Before I know it, college will be here, and I’ll have a full schedule of classes. I don’t want to leave high school with any regrets.”
“No, you’re right, you’re absolutely right.” Her bright smile gave me a smidgen of hope. “I bet if your father speaks to Killian at the bank he could help out or I could ask Mrs. Fenton if she has anything suitable.”
My bubble burst almost as quickly as it began inflating.
“Mrs. Fenton from the care home?” Disbelief filled my voice.
“That’s the one. I’m sure the residents would love to have a visit from you.”
“That wasn’t quite what I had in mind, Mom. I was thinking something more along the lines of working with… animals.”
“Animals?” she barely contained her surprise. “But why on earth would you want to work with animals?”
“Well, I did always want a pet, remember? And imagine how much fun it must be working with all cute little puppies and kittens.”
“Cute and dangerous, Felicity. And don’t even get me started on the allergies.”
