Page 66 of Blood Sport

“Hey,” I say to break Miles out of his trance.

He blinks, turning to meet my eyes. For a split second, he still looks like he’s somewhere far away from here, but that is quickly replaced with happiness as he smiles at me. “Ev! I’m so glad you could make it.” He points to the coffee in my hand, halfway to my mouth. “I see you’ve already found the coffee.”

“What, do you expect me to just let it sit there and go to waste?”

He chuckles, shaking his head. “I’ve already eaten, so go right ahead.”

I don’t need him to tell me twice. I’m quick to dig into the toast, my stomach growling, reminding me that I didn’t eat a quick snack before I left. After Miles woke me up, I fell back to sleep until nearly 11:30 a.m., so I was scrambling to get dressed and leave on time.

“So, what do you want to talk about?” I ask after swallowing a bite of toast.

Miles shrugs and leans back in his seat. “What’s new with you?”

Oh, God. Where to fucking start? So much has happened to me since we last spoke, but I can’t tell him about any of it. Not about Jaylen in the locker room or the shit that had been going on with Roman. So, instead, I say, “Oh, nothing. Just school.”

“I didn’t get a chance to catch you after the game on Saturday,” he says, folding his hands together in his lap.

I pause, my tongue darting out to lick my lips. “Uh, yeah. I had to head home early.”

Miles nods before his eyes light up with excitement. “Wait, did you leave before or after that kid on the Panthers got his ankle snapped?”

I can still hear the sound of Kale’s ankle snapping in half from the force of Jaylen’s slide tackle. I think everyone in the fucking nosebleed section heard it. I’m still annoyed at Jaylen for what he did, but I can’t deny that my anger and his jealousy led to the most mind-blowing sex I’ve ever had. I’m still confused about my situation with him, so I push it to the back of my mind for now.

“Um… after.”

Miles slaps his knee as a laugh bursts from his mouth. “I can’t believe that happened. The poor guy never saw it coming. I didn’t even know Jaylen was that strong that he could do something like that. The red card will be a blow to the team for the next three weeks because of the severity of the injury, sadly.”

“I was meant to go out for drinks with that guy after the game,” I say, knowing full well that Miles is going to go into overprotective big brother mode, but it just slipped out.

He pauses, his eyes searching my face. His hair is styled back from his face with a little bit of gel and he’s wearing a white T-shirt. It’s his go-to style these days.

“You were going to go out with that guy?” he asks, voice slow. “How do you know him?”

I set my knife and fork down beside the plate of half-eaten avocado toast. “I don’t really know him, actually. We met last week in this coffee shop after accidentally reaching for the same drink. After talking some, he asked if I wanted to grab a drink with him after the game, and I said yes.”

Miles stares at me for a beat too long, his emerald eyes boring into mine. Maybe telling him about Kale was a mistake. I’ve been down this road with Miles many times, so it’s nothing new. It still doesn’t make it any easier, though.

“When were you going to tell me about him?”

I snort, shaking my head. “Miles, I met the guy one time. I’m not going to tell you every time a guy fucking talks to me. You need to relax, okay? I’m a big girl who can take care of herself. I don’t need you screening every guy in my life.”

“But what if they’re an asshole like Roman?” he retorts. “I know things didn’t end well between you two and you were left hurt. I never want to see you that upset again.”

“And I won’t be,” I counter. “I’m not dating anyone right now, so you can relax. You’ll know if I am.”

Miles folds his arms over his chest, a skeptical look on his face as he regards me. “Okay, fine. But what a random coincidence that Jaylen destroyed him. It’s almost like he knew he needed to sort him out for me.”

I almost choked on the air in my lungs. Yeah, what a fucking coincidence, I want to say, but keep the words lodged in my throat. Jaylen knew exactly what he was doing when he slide-tackled Kale, and that’s what annoys me the most. He did it on purpose instead of just talking to me about it.

“Yeah, what a coincidence.”

Thankfully, after that, Miles switched the conversation to one that wasn’t bordering on Jaylen territory and instead asked me about classes, and I asked him about Cindy. He didn’t say much about her, just that she was a nice girl and he liked her a lot. He said his classes are going well, and the Raiders are playing great, so he couldn’t be happier.

We continue talking until Miles gets a call from Cindy asking if they can meet up.

“Sorry, I’ve gotta go,” he says, standing from his chair. I follow suit. “But I’ll see you around, okay? Stay safe, little sis.”

I smile, walking around to give him a hug goodbye. “You too. Have fun with your girlfriend.”

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