Page 55 of Drifting

Pulling away, I peek over my shoulder and see the guys strolling toward us. “You set me up.” I pout. “I take back everything I just said.”

My door opens, and Cam stands there. “Can we talk?”

He helps me down while Mav and Dom put down the tailgate. Cam walks me around to the back and hoists me up before he steps over to the side. Mav joins him with Dom at their backs, his arms crossed. Luke stands on the other side of the gate with Nick.

Mirroring Dom, I cross my arms. “Okay, talk.”

“You need to understand that we grew up with those girls. Hell, we dated all of them at one time. It was expected of us,” Cam quickly adds the last part.

Mav pushes Cam. “Shut up, dude. You’re not helping.” Mav moves to stand in front of me. “Some of what Cam said is true. People expect the football players to date the cheerleaders, and we have a long history with those girls. They weren’t always like they are now, though. Something happened that opened our eyes, but some of us have dated for a long time. It’s been hard to pull away.”

I lift my hand to stop him. “I don’t care if you’re seeing them. It’s not like any of us are dating. What pisses me off is that I thought we were at least friends, and you all just ignored me lying on the ground, hurt.”

Cam curses. “They ambushed us.”

“It was a coordinated attack,” Mav fumes. “And we’re going back to that dating part in a minute.”

Luke sits beside me and touches my shoulder. “You’re right, we should’ve helped you up and made sure you were all right. For that, we are truly sorry.”

“Can you forgive us?” Mav frowns while Cam gives me sad, puppy dog eyes as they put their heads together.

No one could deny them.

Chuckling, I roll my eyes. “I forgive you all. But you need to stay out of this fight. It’s between the girls and me.”

Dom steps forward and touches my lip where I bit it yesterday. It’s black and blue and swollen, but that doesn’t stop those damn tingles from coming back. “We’ll stay out of it as long as they don’t do anything to hurt you.”

I glance up into his dark eyes and nod.

The bell rings, and I scoot to the end of the tailgate.

“Where do you think you’re going? We aren’t done yet,” Luke says, grinning.

I point at the school. “The bell just rang. School’s starting.”

“We’re going to miss first period. Well, except for Nerd boy.” Cam’s eyes flicker with amusement. “It would ruin his perfect attendance, and we don’t want that.”

Nick gives his friends a whatever look, then glances at me. “If you need me to stay, I will.”

“No, I’m good. Go ahead.” I wave my hand at him.

With the way I walk these days, I’d be late anyway, and I don’t want to go through that again.

Nick runs toward the school so he’s not late.

Once he’s far enough away, I glare at Cam. “Don’t call him that.”

Cam rears back. “Why? I didn’t mean anything by it.”

Dammit, I almost betrayed something Nick told me in confidence. “Just don’t. Now, what do you want to talk to me about so bad that I have to miss first period?” I scoot back so my leg doesn’t hang over. It’s still sore from yesterday.

I glance at each of the guys, waiting for one of them to talk, and they all glance at each other.

“Fine, I’ll start.” Mav runs his hand through his black hair and inches closer to me. “We need you to be honest with us right now.”

He takes a deep breath, and I can tell he’s thinking about how he’s going to drop this news on me. “You’re killing me here, Mav. Spill it.”

“Do you feel a pull or connection with me?” His eyes search mine as he bites his lip.

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