Page 111 of Honey Pot

“Sorry.” He winked at me. “Alright then, do you see how easy it is to be kind to her?”

I stifled the giggle that rose from me and turned my face away from them.

“Now, let’s get back to the game,” Cael announced, clapping his hand on Julien’s shoulder. “I really wanna see how angry I can make my physical therapists.”

“Fuck your game, I’m going home,” Julien announced. “Are you coming?” He turned to me.

“I—” I didn’t have an answer for him. “I’ll be home soon.”

Julien looked like he wanted to say something more but kept his mouth shut, and it was a damn good thing he had because Cael was just itching for a real fight. There might have been an adorable smile on his face and a lightness to his step but it was written all over the rest of his body. How tight his fingers were curled into his palms and how the muscles in his jaw and neck flexed in restraint.

“Whatever.” Julien shook his head and stormed off the field.

I already knew that this altercation, no matter how one-sided it may have been, would cause a lot of trouble. Julien would raise hell, and I’d have to talk him down. Cael was innocent and valiant in his intentions but… he had successfully forced my hand. I would have to go home to fix the mess that it caused.

It took a moment to sink in, but I trailed my eyes across the field to where Cael sauntered away without another word. Chasing after him, I called out.

“It was only a week,” I said to him, and he turned to walk backward to the dugout.

I could hear everyone finally moving after the initial shock of the confrontation wore off, the familiar heavy footsteps of Dean coming up behind me.

“What?” Cael stopped with his brows furrowed together.

“I was only suspended for a week,” I corrected him and his wide smile returned. It was a silent, secret thank you meant only for the two of us.

“You’re welcome, Plum,” he mouthed and returned his focus to winning the game.

My heart throbbed painfully in my chest as he stared at me. The sun-brushed over his high, chiseled cheekbones and illuminated the bow of his lip as he smiled at me. He was in there, that boy. From the day my heart first leapt at the sight of him, I could see him. I could feel him. My skin was even warm from the sun in the same way it had been but the wind bit at my cheeks and reminded me thatwe were not those kids. That we weren’t under the Texas sun, running off into the field, abandoning chores in favor of dips in the creek and bonfires so large the sparks danced with the stars.

My head wasn’t straight anymore. I needed to figure out exactly what I wanted, and I needed to do it fast because I didn’t want the adrenaline rush that was Cael Cody to ever end.

MATTHEWS

2016

“Clem, come on, just come out and show me?” Cael’s voice echoed over the heavy curtain of the dressing room door.We were looking for homecoming outfits at Dandy's, but everything we pulled off the racks was either ugly or too tight on my curves.

“No,” I groaned. I hated everything about shopping for clothes. It only made me feel worse about myself, but Cael insisted we get something new for the dance. “I look stupid!”

Cael’s head peeked through the curtain, blond strands of hair sticking every which way as I flinched and covered anything that wasn’t concealed by clothes the best I could. “Cael!” I hollered and swatted at him.

“You didn’t want to come out, I came in. Problem solved.” Cael slinked into the changing room and scrunched his nose up. The bruise on his jaw was still healing from his fight with Kiefer, and I felt bad that it was festering in an ugly dark purple.

It had taken me two days to finally leave my room and, when I did, he was sitting at the bottom of the stairs. Momma had said he’d been there since it happened and that broke my heart all over again. I was stupid to trust a boy, especially one that Cael had warned me against. What had happened wasn’t his fault, I had gotten myself into the mess. I would have to get myself out.

There was a meeting set for my parents and Kiefer’s, because Cael had called his Mama, the incident was reported, and now we had to figure out how toproceed. Kiefer had called a few times to apologize, but Daddy had picked up the phone and hung it up after the first sob session.

He doesn’t deserve forgiveness.That’s what Daddy had said but it didn’t make me feel any better. After a week of sulking, Cael decided that getting out of the house was necessary. My parents were hovering, and I felt like I couldn’t breathe. I had sent out a S.O.S. in the form of a flashlight call into his bedroom window and he showed up the next morning with a plan.

“We’re going to homecoming,”he’d declared.

I responded with,“absolutely not.”

And then we drove to Dandy’s and Cael pulled thirty dresses off the racks.

He chewed on his lip.

“That’s horrible.”

---