The Perfect Catch (Kissing the Enemy Book 1)

by Maggie Dallen

  “I don’t want to go with him,” she said the moment the deputy walked away. I knew it was coming but I was already racing through our other options and none looked good.

  “Cal,” I said gently, “I don’t see any other way.”

  “I’ll get caught,” she said, panic lacing her voice.

  “Maybe,” I said with a wince. “But what other choice do you have?”

  She blinked up at me. “I could wait here with you.”

  My chest tightened, my heart twisting painfully at the trust in her eyes. “And then you’d be caught because you’d miss bed check.”

  She took a deep breath. “I could head back to the party.”

  “By the time we got there your friends would have left.” I shook my head. “No matter what, Callie, odds are you’re going to get caught.”

  I nodded toward the deputy. “At least this way I’ll know that you get back safely.” And that was all that really mattered, right?

  But try explaining that to Callie.

  Her gaze moved over me, pausing on my injured arm. “What about you? What will you do?”

  I gestured toward my truck. “I’ve got to wait here.”

  She shook her head. “I can’t leave you out here all alone.”

  I nearly growled with frustration at her kindness and her concern. “Callie, I don’t want you to stay.”

  She jerked back and I realized that came out way harsher than I’d intended. “What I mean is, I’ll feel better if I know you’re safe back at the dorms.”

  She frowned at me and I could see her mind racing. “There’s no way I won’t get caught.” Her anxiety was clearly skyrocketing at the thought of getting in trouble, and I couldn’t say that I blamed her. Callie was so not a risk taker, and this was why. She hated getting in trouble.

  “What if they kick me out?” she asked, her voice rising a bit, a sure sign that she was stressed. “What if they don’t let me play in the game?”

  I took a deep breath and moved toward her, pushing aside my own inner turmoil to try and keep her calm. I had no idea what the punishment was for getting caught, but I hated to see her looking so freaked out, especially when this was all my fault.

  “Look,” I said gently, my hands on her shoulders. “You have a great reputation at the clinic. All the coaches love you, it would be a disservice to them if you didn’t get to show off your wicked skills just because you broke the rules for once in your life.”

  Her brows were still drawn together and she nibbled on her lip, but she gave me a short nod. “You’re right,” she said. “Maybe I’m overreacting. Maybe it won’t be so bad.”

  I forced a reassuring smile, the kind I used to give her when we were kids and she was scared of the dark. “You’ve got nothing to worry about, okay? Everything will be fine.”

  Chapter Five

  Callie

  Spoiler alert. Everything was not fine. It was so very not fine that when Noah found me the next day I was curled up in a ball by the locker rooms crying like a baby.

  In my defense, I’d thought I was alone. The rest of the girls were all at practice and while they were waiting on me to tell them how my meeting with the head coach had gone, I just hadn’t been able to face them yet.

  I knew it wouldn’t be an easy meeting. I’d known when the deputy escorted me to my dorm and we met the counselor on duty with her disappointed frown that today would not be awesome.

  The only bright spot had been that my chat with the counselor had kept her nicely distracted from my friends returning later than intended. So…that was something, right?

  The counselor had been nice and her grimace apologetic as she’d ended our talk with a phrase that made my stomach turn. “You know I’m going to have to report this, Callie. I can’t not.”

  And I knew what she meant. It was one thing to look the other way but it was quite another to be handed a truant camper by a local deputy.

  I’d nodded. “I understand.”

  So rather than join my friends on the field this morning I’d been seated across from the head of the whole summer camp program, Mrs. Krupchik, a stern-looking woman who may not have cracked a smile since the 60s.

  “I’m very sorry, Miss Cooper.” Her tone was hard, the set of her lips unforgiving.

  She wasn’t sorry. This woman was so not sorry.

  “If I were to let you play in the showcase after the way you’ve behaved…” She held her palms up as though the matter were entirely out of her hands, when in reality it was up to her and her alone.

  I’d swallowed down the great sobbing plea that threatened to burst out. I’d already tried to explain. I’d tried telling her that this was my first time getting in trouble. Ever. I offered to pay my punishment in some other form. Any other form.

  But she wasn’t having it.

  And so I’d found myself crying into my arms as I crouched down outside the locker rooms, hiding away from my friends until I could find some semblance of dignity.

  Of course that was how Noah found me.

  I didn’t even hear him approach, I just felt someone slide down the wall beside me, so close our thighs brushed together, and I knew it was him.

  I’d know him anywhere.

  “It didn’t go well?” he asked, his voice a low, soothing murmur.

  I wanted to forget what a prick he’d been and pretend we were still friends, because right now? I really needed my friend. But hearing that old, familiar kindness in his tone only irritated me. Sure he was being a friend now, but it took tears and pity to wrench it out of him.

  Where was this friend last night? Where had he been this past year?

  Anger shot through me at the unfairness of it all. The crappy way he’d been treating me only added fuel to the fire. I mean, I never did anything bad. Up until last night, sneaking out for ice cream was the height of my adventurousness. I’ve always played by the rules and never done anything to put my game at risk. And yet one stupid mistake and it was all ruined.

  It was all so unfair. My punishment, Noah’s bad attitude toward me, the fact that he’d kissed me and then called it a mistake…

  I lifted my head and glared over at him, hating the fact that my tear-stained, puffy face made me look pitiful rather than fierce. “I should never have left with you,” I said. “If you hadn’t been such an overbearing jerk, I would have gone home with Maddie and the others and none of this would have happened.”

  His eyes widened a bit in surprise at my anger but that was followed quickly by a wince of regret.

  “I should never have let you talk me into leaving with the deputy,” I continued, the words tumbling out of me even as guilt loomed. I wanted him to fight back, but he didn’t. Where was the arrogant, cold jerk when I needed him? For the first time in forever I wanted the new Dr. Jekyll. I wanted the jerk who bore no resemblance to my friend. But now? Now he was nowhere to be found.

  “I should have stayed with you and—” I shook my head. And what? We both knew my options had been limited.

  “The tow truck took an hour to get there,” he said, his expression filled with regret. “Even if you’d stayed, you would have been late.”

  “Yes but, I would have—” I would have been with you. I swallowed down those words because they were too pathetic. But true. I would have been with him. I wouldn’t have been alone in the dorms waiting on my friends and counting the seconds until my meeting this morning.

  I met his gaze and it was gentle. Kind.

  Friendly.

  He was being my friend and that meant there was no trace of that crazy intense passion I’d seen before he’d kissed me.

  My heart wobbled a bit in my chest. This was what I’d wanted. He was acting normally around me for the first time in nearly a year. “But if I’d stayed maybe I wouldn’t have gotten caught,” I finally finished, trying to hold onto my anger and failing. “If I’d stayed with you maybe I wouldn’t be kicked out of the showcase game.”

  My argument was lame but he still didn
’t try to argue. He didn’t point out that I’d been the one to sneak out in the first place, or that I’d been the one to insist on going to a stupid college party when I knew it could derail our plans.

  He didn’t try to point out that Maddie had gotten back late thanks to Lacey’s reluctance to leave a frat guy she’d been chatting with.

  Although maybe he didn’t know about that. But I did, and I felt a stab of guilt because now I was the one being unfair. It wasn’t his fault that I’d been caught, and it wasn’t fair to place the blame on his shoulders just because I didn’t want to face facts.

  I’d done this. This was my fault.

  I’d ruined everything.

  I buried my head in my arms again and when a moaning sob shook me again, I leaned against him and he didn’t hesitate. Noah’s arms came around me so my head was cradled against his chest.

  He shushed me gently as his he held me tight. “I’m sorry, Cal.”

  I heard the regret in his voice and it prompted me to sit up slightly so I could look at him, swiping away tears as I did. This wasn’t an “I’m sorry on your behalf” it was an “I’m sorry, this is my fault.”

  I shook my head and sighed. “I shouldn’t have snuck out in the first place. It was stupid to take any chances when my whole future was at stake.”

  That may have been a tad melodramatic, but Noah didn’t tease me because he got it. He understood that my family wasn’t rolling in the dough—his wasn’t either. You knew these things when you grew up next door to one another in the same neighborhood. Our parents had jobs, we weren’t poor, but we certainly didn’t have college funds set aside.

  He knew how cutthroat the competition was to get scholarships to any school, let alone a college of one’s choosing that competed in the NCAA division.

  So yeah, in a way that showcase really had been my gateway to the future. One of very few chances to be seen by all the right people.

  And I’d blown it.

  He sighed when another sob had my shoulders shaking and his arms tightened even more. “You’re right, Cal. If I’d never forced you to leave…”

  “My friends got in later than anticipated,” I said with a sniff. “There’s every chance we all would have been caught if I hadn’t provided a distraction.”

  “Yeah, but they wouldn’t have made you all sit out,” he said. “There would be no showcase game without four of you.” His brows drew down and his anger on my behalf was the first thing to make me want to smile since the meeting had gone down. “Hell, Callie, they don’t have a game without you. Everyone knows you’re the best player at this clinic.”

  My smile was wobbly but genuine. “Thanks.”

  “I’m not being nice,” he said, his tone fierce.

  “No, I know,” I said. “You haven’t been for quite some time now.”

  His eyes widened and I bit my lip—what an inappropriate time to bring that up. But it was the truth and he didn’t try to deny it. He let out a little huff of laughter and pulled me against his chest again so I couldn’t see his face.

  “I am sorry,” he said, his lips so close to my ear as he said it that I shivered.

  The thing was, though, this time I had no idea what he was apologizing for. That I got in trouble? That he’d been a jerk recently? Or that he’d pushed me to go home with the deputy rather than let me stay with him?

  I chose the latter since I wasn’t sure how to reply to the first two. “You were right,” I said, my shrug making his arms tighten even more. “If I’d stayed with you and made it back to the party I either would have missed them and been screwed or we all would have been late and who knows what they would have done.”

  He stayed quiet and I was glad. Because all logic aside, I still wished that I’d stayed with him and waited for the tow truck and taken my chances. Not because I would have avoided trouble, but because…oh I didn’t know.

  Because we could have talked more, I guess. We could have finished our conversation that never really began, and—

  We could have kissed again.

  I sat up straight, pushing myself out of his arms and cursing myself at the unbidden thought. What a stupid thing to focus on at a time like this. I wiped my hands over my face, keenly aware now of how disgusting I must’ve looked with puffy eyes and a swollen, runny nose.

  “Tell me what happened with Krupchik,” he said.

  So I did. I told him everything that happened from the time I left him, ending with the meeting which had just ended.

  He made a funny growling sound when I repeated her words.

  “She’s a miserable old cow,” Noah said. “Everyone knows that.”

  That shocked a hiccupy laugh out of me.

  “What you need to do is talk to your coach,” he said. “There’s no way she’d want to lose you from the team. You make her look good.”

  I rolled my eyes at the praise but that didn’t mean it didn’t make my heart expand with happiness.

  “Seriously,” he said. “Coach Everly knows talent when she sees it and there’s no way she’ll want you sitting out during the showcase. Talk to her. Maybe she’ll fight old Mrs. Krupchik on your behalf.”

  I felt his gaze on the side of my face like he was waiting for a response. “Okay,” I said with a short nod. “I’ll try.”

  It wasn’t much, but it did make me feel better to have some sort of game plan.

  “You got this, Cal.” He tousled my hair, and the gesture was equally familiar and also…not.

  While he’d always been one to tousle my hair or wrap an arm around me while we were throwing the ball around, this time it felt different. It wasn’t the gruff gesture; it was more like a stroke of my hair. It felt way more intimate than it should.

  And I was officially making something out of nothing.

  I blamed the kiss for the fact that my heartrate skyrocketed at the feel of his hand in my hair. That kiss was also the only explanation for why I was overanalyzing a stupid hair tousle.

  I sniffed loudly and started to stand. I couldn’t hide here forever and my heart and my brain clearly needed some distance from my…friend. My former friend? My brother’s best friend.

  My first kiss.

  See? My brain needed distance because I didn’t even know how to classify the guy coming to a stand beside me.

  He shoved his hands into his pockets, his gaze filled with concern. “You’ll let me know how it goes?”

  I nodded.

  He moved directly in front of me and placed his hands on my arms, gripping them like he could singlehandedly prop me up and keep me strong. The thought made my lower lip wobble all over again. He squeezed my arms gently, his voice a low, gruff drawl. “You can tell me how it goes tonight, all right? But I know your coach will help.”

  I nodded, but I was less focused on Coach Everly’s potential helpfulness than I was what he’d just said. Tonight. He’d see me tonight?

  I was going to have a heart attack if my pulse kept racing like this. A nervous flutter took up residence in my belly and my mouth went dry as I tried and failed not to read too much into that.

  He’d see me tonight? Did he mean, like…a date?

  “I got sucked into chaperoning your team’s outing tonight,” he said, every word laced with obvious irritation that he had to spend a night babysitting high school girls.

  I drew in a deep breath and squashed every weird, stupid little fantasy that had started to creep out of the woodwork. I didn’t even know where they were coming from. I’d never gotten nervous and excited about seeing any guy, least of all my brother’s best friend who’d practically lived at our house growing up.

  There was no way that was disappointment making it hard to meet his gaze. It was inconceivable that I’d actually been excited at the prospect of a date with this guy. It was even stupider that my mind had leapt to that conclusion.

  I forced my eyes up so I could give him a small smile. One thing was clear to me. I could never let him know how much that kiss had messed with my m
ind.

  This was a guy who’d given countless kisses. It wasn’t his fault that his kiss was my first, so of course it would be oddly meaningful, right? I mean, the fact that it seemed meaningful didn’t actually make it meaningful, right?

  Also, at what point during the last twenty-four hours had I completely lost my mind?

  I gave my head a firm shake and backed away from Noah with a little wave. “I’ll let you know how it goes tonight at the game.”

  Because of course now it was all coming back to me—the itinerary for tonight. The outing to a local minor league baseball game. A camp sanctioned fun treat-slash-bonding experience to help us coalesce as a team before the showcase game.

  “Wish me luck,” I said before turning around to head toward the field.

  “Good luck!” he called after me.

  Turned out, it wasn’t luck I needed. It was Noah’s help.

  Coach Everly had been nice but not at all helpful. No, that wasn’t true. She was trying to help, I was just disappointed because Everly quickly informed me that my coming to her was a waste of time. She’d already gone to Krupchik on my behalf and had met with the same answer.

  Coach Everly had already battled on my behalf and had lost. She also confirmed my suspicions that I was being made an example out of for my teammates and for campers to come.

  It seemed that while turning a blind eye to team outings was tradition—it wasn’t a beloved one, particularly by Mrs. Krupchik. My hunch was that the old battle-ax had just been waiting for something like this to happen so she could lay down the law and strike fear into the hearts of anyone who might have thoughts of having fun in the future.

  Miserable cow.

  But, enough about her. I had a new plan now, and it didn’t involve trying to get myself back on the clinic’s team for the showcase.

  It was a blow, but it was time to accept defeat on that front.

  However, Coach Everly hadn’t left me without any hope at all during our meeting. She knew as well as anyone that my heart was set on attending Fairfield University and being a part of their team and her eyes sparkled with mischief as she informed me that there was one way to be seen by Fairfield’s head softball coach.