Page 35 of Snap

I chuckled again. "I suppose not. Actually, now that I think about it, I don't want them to see you like that. I want to have you all to myself." The idea of anyone so much as looking at her sideways sent an unexpected burst of anger through me. If they touched her, I'd punch them in the face. better yet, I have twin friends from school who could make them disappear.

Was that extreme? I didn't give a fuck, she was mine.

I swallowed down the ball of rage and tuned back in to what she was saying.

"Funny, that reminds me of something we were talking about. My friends are all dating Rapids players. Maybe I shouldn't tell you that, you might want to go back and meet them." She smiled up at me teasingly.

My heart stopped and sweat sprung up under my arms. "Your friends are…"

"See what I mean?" She tugged me across the crossing, since my legs had frozen at her words. She obviously misinterpreted why I was freaking out. "You can meet them another time. Maybe even the players."

I looked back over my shoulder in the direction of Waves. I half expected to see Bam, Chase and Hawk hanging out the door watching us. Thank fuck I didn't see any of them.

"Um. That would be um, great," I stammered. "So, what are your friends’ names?"

"If that's okay with you, I really don't want to talk about them. I'd rather talk about you. Or… Us." She suddenly looked tentative.

"Us? That sounds like a good thing to talk about." And a much better subject than the fact I felt like I was about to shit myself. I had to tell her who I was. And I had to do it tonight.

I cleared my throat. "I—" The word came out as an incoherent squeak. I tried again and hope she'd put my inability to speak down to nerves.

"I really like you." For the second time in a couple of days, I felt like I was back at high school. I decided to just roll with it. "I mean I really like you, like you."

She laughed softly. "I really like you, like you, too."

"That's great." I squeezed her hand.

"Not just because I know girlfriends of some Rapids players?" she asked jokingly.

"I liked you before I knew that about you," I pointed out. I was itching to know who she was talking about, but that would come out soon enough. I didn’t know if Pinky had a girlfriend, but I hoped one of them wasn’t her. The last thing I wanted was to be a part of his social circle.

"That's good," she said. "When we're alone, there are a couple of things I want to tell you."

That sounded ominous. "There's a few things I want to tell you too," I said.

"This is all sounding very intense," she said lightly. "But I hate secrets. I don't ever want there to be secrets between us. I watched my father live his whole life with secrets and lies. All he did was tear apart every relationship he's ever had."

My heart ached for her. "Including the relationship with you?" I asked gently.

She hesitated. "It's a strained relationship at times. He's a stubborn bastard. It doesn't help that I'm a stubborn bitch."

"You might be stubborn. There's nothing wrong with that. But you are not a bitch." I didn't like hearing her put herself down like that.

"You haven't known me for long," she pointed out. "In time, you may change your mind. That or you're biased."

"I'll take option B," I said with a firm nod. "I'd much prefer to be biased than to imagine myself ever thinking of you that way." I doubted the day would come when I didn't think the sun shone out of her eyes, and the moon rose in her smile.

She drew me to a stop and peered up at me."Are you even real?" Her brow furrowed. Then she reached up and pinched my cheek.

"Owww." I jumped slightly and pressed a hand to my face.

"Huh, what do you know, you are real." She seemed impressed by the fact.

"Yeah." I rubbed my face. "Thank you for not pinching my dick."

She laughed and tugged me along toward her apartment. "I'll save that for next time."

"Really?" I asked. "How do I know you're real?" I eyed her breasts like I might pinch her nipple.

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