Broken Ties Page 3

  “Jesus, Sofe, what do you want from me? I was there for a bit. I didn’t realize hanging out with my friends was such a big deal.”

  “Pissy much?” she shot back.

  “Whatever.”

  The two of them didn’t talk for the rest of the ride, and I didn’t want to get in between their spat so I kept quiet.

  By the time school came into view, the air in the car was thick with tension.

  “Thank fuck,” Aaron muttered, pulling into an empty parking spot and cutting the engine.

  “Come on, Poppy, let’s leave Mr. Ego to it.”

  “Sofe, that’s not—”

  “See you later, loser.” She smirked, shouldering the door and climbing out. I hurried after her, wanting to avoid any further awkward interaction with Aaron. But the universe obviously wasn’t done messing with me because Zara Willis appeared.

  But she wasn’t waiting on us.

  Sofia and I stood and watched as she sauntered over to the driver’s side and waited for Aaron to climb out.

  “Uh, hey, Zara,” he said, trying to wrestle her out of the way.

  “I had fun last night,” she said loudly, casting me a smug look.

  “I… yeah. It was—”

  “For real?” Sofia balked, moving closer to them. “You said you were with the guys from the team.”

  “I was. We were—”

  “Oh, Sofia, hi, I didn’t see you there.” Her saccharine sweet smile was laced with venom. “Poppy.” She barely looked at me, wrapping a hand around Aaron’s arm.

  My gaze zeroed in on where she touched him. There was so much ownership in it, it made my heart sink.

  That and the fact Aaron didn’t ask Zara to remove her hand.

  “I have to get to class,” I blurted, and without waiting for Sofia, I took off toward the building, willing my heart to calm down.

  He wasn’t mine.

  Besides, I had Eli.

  I liked Eli.

  But jealousy coursed through my veins as my heart failed to catch up with what my head already knew.

  Aaron wasn’t mine.

  He never would be.

  “There you are.” Eli pressed his hand against the locker bank and smiled down at me. “How was the party last night?”

  “It was okay. How was your evening?”

  “Oh you know, a thrilling night of homework and annoying little brothers.” He dug his cell phone out of his pocket and pulled up a photo of Riley and Reese.

  “Aw, look at all that cuteness.”

  “You call it cuteness, I call it chaos. They run me ragged, and I can swim two hundred yards in one-fifty point eight.”

  “Impressive.” I grabbed the books I needed and closed my locker.

  “You should come watch me practice.”

  “Maybe I will.”

  His eyes twinkled. “Yeah? I thought I’d have to work a little harder to get you to say yes.”

  “Half naked guys in itty bitty Speedos. What’s not to like?”

  “Oh, it’s like that, huh?” Laughter bubbled in his chest. “Can I walk you to class?”

  “Sure.” I shrugged, keeping a respectable distance between us. It wasn’t like we were dating, not really. We’d hung out a few times. Maybe shared a kiss in the library last week.

  My cheeks burned as I remembered his words.

  “You know, my friends told me you were a lost cause. Said that you and Aaron Bennet were a thing.”

  I’d instantly regretted it—not that I’d kissed him, but that I’d done it out of anger. Because a few days before, I had watched Aaron kiss Zara, and I wanted to get back at him.

  As irrational and futile as it was, I wanted to hurt him, the way he’d unknowingly hurt me.

  Eli seemed happy to go at my pace, but I could sense his confusion. I’d gone from hot to cold in the space of a second.

  “You know, we haven’t talked about what happened.”

  “I didn’t know we needed to,” I replied.

  “We don’t. But perhaps we should. If I overstepped—”

  “You didn’t. It was my fault.”

  “Whoa. Hang on, Poppy.” He gently snagged my wrist, tugging me out of the flow of bodies. “It was nobody’s fault.” Hurt shone in his eyes. “I don’t know about you, but I liked it. I liked kissing you.”

  “I… It was nice.”

  “But?”

  “But… I don’t make a habit of kissing strange boys.”

  “Is that what we’re calling it?” Humor danced in his eyes, and I found myself smiling.

  Eli was cute in a toned athletic dork kind of way.

  When we reached my class, he blocked my access, gazing down at me with a playful smile. “Go out with me tonight?”

  “I can’t tonight, I’m helping my mom at the clinic.”

  “Tomorrow then?”

  “Eli…”

  “Come on, Poppy. Give me a chance. I’ll make it worth your while, I swear.” He leaned against the wall, his bicep practically bursting out of his t-shirt. Damn they sure grew them good on the swim team.

  “Ah-ha.” He snapped his fingers and grinned again.

  “What?”

  “You’re thinking about it.”

  “I didn’t say that.” My brow quirked up.

  “You didn’t need to.” Eli’s laughter was infectious and I found myself laughing right along with him.

  And I almost found myself forgetting all about Aaron Bennet and his stupid traitorous lips.

  Almost.

  “Is everything okay?” I asked Sofia as we headed to the cafeteria. She was quiet, unusually so.

  “Yeah, just tired.”

  “Maybe you’re coming down with something?”

  “I’m fine. How was English?”

  “Dull. The teacher wants us to write a letter to our younger selves.”

  “Sounds… exciting.”

  “Hardly.” I snorted. The only advice I had for my younger self was to never, under no circumstances, fall in love with your best friend.

  We entered the cafeteria, the rumble of chatter and laughter almost deafening. My gaze immediately went to the cluster of tables occupied by the football team.

  “Ugh, I can’t believe he’s still entertaining her,” Sofia murmured and I knew she’d spotted Aaron and Zara. She wasn’t sitting in his lap, but she might as well have been given how close there were.

  “Let him do his thing,” I said.

  “Seriously?” She frowned.

  “What do you want me to say?”

  “I don’t know… I just thought after you and Zara had a bitch fight over him…” Sofia trailed off, pity glittering in her blue eyes. Eyes she shared with Aaron.

  “It was hardly a bitch fight,” I scoffed. So I may have thrown a drink at her the night I saw them kissing and she may have tried to pull my hair out but it wasn’t that bad.

  Sofia arched a brow and I shrank under her knowing gaze. But then a ripple of irritation went through me and I said, “Did you really think we’d get to senior year and he’d realize that he feels the same about me?” The words soured on my tongue. “He doesn’t.”

  “I don’t buy it. I’ve watched the two of you dance around each other for years.”

  “Seems like he has a new dance partner now.” I cast another discreet glance in Aaron’s direction, hating the way my heart withered at the sight of him with Zara.

  “Poppy—”

  “Can we not do this?” I let out a frustrated sigh, swallowing the ball of emotion lodged in my throat. “He doesn’t see me like that.”

  He never has.

  “But you’d be so good together, I don’t understand.”

  “Friends. We’re friends.”

  At least, we used to be.

  “So you’re going to give Eli a chance?”

  I met her sympathetic gaze and forced a smile. “I am going to do what Aaron is doing. Make the most of senior year and forget about the things that aren’t important.”

  The second the words rolled off my tongue, I felt the lie in them. Because Aaron was important to me.

  I couldn’t ever imagine a time where he wouldn’t be.

  “Okay, but I’m going to go on record and say this is a bad idea.”

  “Sofe.”

  She held up her hands. “I’m just saying, Eli is sweet and nice and he deserves someone who can reciprocate his feelings.”

  “I like him,” I said as if it was that simple.

  “Well, that’s good. Because what a disaster it’d be if you were going out with him just to get back at my brother.” Her lips twisted with mild amusement but I didn’t reply.

  What was there to say?

  I did like Eli.

  But I loved Aaron.

  It was going to take time to bury those feelings.

  I owed it to myself to try though.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  Aaron

  “Okay, gather in,” Coach Ford boomed across the field, and we all fell into line, forming a circle around him. “That was good, you’re looking strong. Cole, good job out there, son. You and Ezra are working those plays hard. But don’t become too dependent on him. Use your other players. Learn the plays. Memorize the shit out of them.

  “We had it easy last week, but Marshall Prep are going to come at us hard Friday, and we need that win.”

  “Hell yeah, we’ve got this, Coach,” I said, encouraging the rest of the guys to join in.

  As captain it was my job to get them amped, to lead by example. I might not have been quarterback but I knew these guys. I knew every player’s strengths and weaknesses, every play in the playbook. For the last three years, I’d made it my mission to be indispensable to the team. I wanted to win; I was hungry for it. Football was all I’d ever wanted, and y
eah, maybe I wasn’t the best. But I worked hard and gave my all. That had to count for something, right?

  “Good, that’s what I like to hear. Okay.” Coach whipped off his ball cap and ran a hand through his dark hair. “Everyone hit the showers. Aaron, Cole, Ezra, a word please.”

  I glanced at Ezra and he shrugged. It was still strange watching him play nice with the team, but it was a welcome change. Ashleigh was good for him, and football seemed to be the right kind of outlet for all his pent up anger and frustration.

  “What’s up, Coach?” Cole asked when everyone else had left the field.

  “Just wanted to check in. See how you’re all feeling about Friday’s game?”

  “Good, I think we can do it,” I said.

  “I think so too. But I’m going to need the three of you to lead the younger players, set an example.

  “With Cole in a new position and Ezra new to the team, there’s been a lot of changes. Change can be a good thing, but it can also rock the foundations. I was pleased with how it went Friday, but we can’t become complacent.”

  “We’ve got it covered, Coach. Right, guys?” I looked to Cole and Ezra and they both nodded.

  “I’m not just talking about on the field. Being a Raider is more than that. It’s about the example you set off the field too. I know senior year can be kind of wild. Just don’t lose sight of the—”

  “End goal. Have you been talking to my dad by any chance?” I chuckled, but it came out strangled.

  “Ash told me he talked to you.” Coach Ford rubbed his jaw. “I’m going to level with you. Between the shit with Lily last year, and the stuff with Ezra and Nathan Carrick at the beginning of the semester, my limit on teen drama is at full capacity. I need the rest of the season to run smoothly. I’m counting on you guys to make that happen.”

  His eyes pierced mine, making me shift uncomfortably on the spot. I had a lot of respect for Coach Ford. He was my dad’s best friend, not to mention an NFL legend. He’d played alongside some of football’s greats before his career was cut short by an injury. But he’d never once complained, entirely devoted to his family and his team.

  The Rixon Raiders has gone from strength to strength under his leadership, growing to be one of the best high school teams in the country. That’s why we had to defend the championship this season.

  Anything else was simply not an option.

  But he was right, the team had gone through a lot of changes. We’d lost a lot of good players at the end of the summer. Experienced players who didn’t require tons of direction or hand holding.

  “Consider it done,” I said, the weight of the words sinking inside me. I didn’t want to let anyone down. Not my team, and certainly not Coach Ford and my dad. Success with the Rixon Raiders was my legacy.

  One I had every intention of fulfilling.

  “Glad to hear it. Now get out of here and get to class. The last thing I need is Principal Kiln on my ass about my players being tardy.”

  “He seems stressed,” Cole observed as we made our way toward the locker room.

  “There’s a lot riding on the season,” I said. “He wants to win again.”

  “Yeah, but come on, Aaron.” Ezra glanced at me. “It’s just a game.”

  “Blasphemy.” I snorted. “Surely you’ve been in Rixon long enough you must know by now that it isn’t just a game, E.”

  “Don’t listen to him,” Cole murmured.

  “We’ll either end our final season as heroes, or we’ll be the ones who didn’t do it. I know which side of the line I want to be on.”

  “You need to lighten up, Bennet. Go get laid or something,” Cole muttered. “I’m sure Zara would be more than willing to—”

  “Would you stop with that shit?” I moaned.

  “What is going on there?” Ezra asked. “The two of you hooking up?”

  “It’s not serious.”

  “Looked pretty serious from where I was standing at lunch.” He smirked and I flipped him off as we entered the locker room.

  It was already emptying out but I soaked up the noise. Damn, I’d miss this next year but hopefully I’d be playing for the Pittsburgh Panthers or the Connecticut Huskies.

  If the call ever came.

  I shoved away the sinking feeling in my chest. I had three colleges on my list: Pittsburgh, Connecticut, and Iowa. But things had moved slow last year. Coach Ford and Dad constantly reassured me not to worry, that I still had time. But how could I not? I wasn’t like Sofia. I didn’t have my future all mapped out or a 4.0 GPA. I was an average student with average life goals. Except for football.

  Football was my shot at being something, at making my mark.

  “Hey, you okay?” Ezra noticed my sullen expression.

  “Yeah.” I gave him an easy smile. Because that’s what people expected of me. I was the laid-back one, the joker, the good guy. I didn’t take myself—or life—too seriously.

  “Hey, you guys want to go to Riverside after we’re done here?”

  “No can do, I’m meeting Ashleigh. We’re going out with McKay and Pen,” Ezra said, dragging his jersey over his head.

  “Of course you are.” I smiled. He and Ashleigh spent a lot of time with Gavin McKay and his girlfriend Penelope. But McKay was good people.

  He’d graduated from Rixon High last year and had helped Ashleigh through a hard time over the summer.

  I couldn’t resent Ezra or Ashleigh for wanting to do their own thing occasionally, they’d been through too much. And the fact he was here, talking to me and playing for the team was more than I ever dreamed of.

  “Cole?”

  “Yeah, why not. Beats going home and listening to my dad remind me of the important things in life.”

  “He still giving you shit?”

  “When he’s around, yeah.”

  Curtis Kandon was a real piece of work, but thanks to his job as a lawyer in the city, he was rarely around. And Mrs. Kandon was out of town a lot too, so Cole had been raising himself since we met in junior high.

  My life was the complete opposite. I had two parents who cared a little too much sometimes. A house full of love and laughter and life. But Cole didn’t complain. He just kept his head down and got on with it. Where football was the goal for me, it was a means to an end for him. If he wanted to go to college for anything besides law he needed a scholarship. I knew it was causing a lot of strain between him and his old man, but Cole being Cole didn’t like to talk about it.

  “Shit, man, I’m sorry.”

  “Nothing to be sorry for. It isn’t your fault I drew the short stick where parents are concerned.”

  “Only one more year, man,” I said. “Then you can get out of here and never look back.”

  A strange expression washed over him, but he didn’t explain it, and I didn’t ask.

  Cole was entitled to his secrets.

  Just like we all were.

  “And that is how you do it.” I slammed down my paddle and waggled my brows at Cole.

  “You’re a dick,” he muttered.

  “And air hockey king.” A grin tugged at my mouth. “Want to check out the food trucks? I’m starving.”

  “Sure.”

  We headed out of the arcade and onto the promenade. A couple of girls from school spotted us and waved.

  “She’s cute,” I said, and Cole shook his head. “What? It wouldn’t kill you to have some fun.”

  “I have fun,” he said.

  “When was the last time you got any?”

  “I could ask you the same thing.”

  Shit.

  I’d walked right into that one.

  “I fooled around with Zara the other night.” The second the words were out of my mouth, I regretted them.

  “Something I’d rather not talk or hear about.”

  “You really dislike her that much?” I asked.

  “Zara is toxic, and I don’t want to tell you what to do with your life, or your dick, but just… be careful. I know you want to smooth things over between the football team and cheer squad but it’s not worth the headache if you ask me.”

  “Relax.” I clapped him on the shoulder. “I know what I’m doing.”

  He gave me a look that said he disagreed but swallowed the words.

  “Oh, hey, Bennet.”

  No.

  Fuck no.

  I turned slowly, guiding Cole around with me to come face to face with Eli Hannigan. “Hannigan, what’s up?”