Page 15 of Shot Through the Heart

Straightening my shoulders, I force all conflicting emotions away and focus on getting through this game without a hitch.

“Well, you look like you’re ready for a game,” Dean says, a lopsided grin stretching across his clean-shaven face.

Beside him, Landon snorts and rolls his eyes. “Dude, that was lame.”

“What? She’s dressed up and looking?—”

“Don’t you dare finish that sentence,” Greyson interrupts, his voice low and menacing as he nudges past Dean, not bothering to avoid bumping his shoulder.

If he responds, I don’t hear it. I’m too lost in Greyson’s intense stare as he closes the distance and stops only a few feet away.

“Hi,” I say on a breathy exhale. Swallowing thickly, I make sure to keep a smile plastered on my face and ignore the fact that his eyes slowly drag down my frame. If I weren’t watching him so closely, I might have brushed off the way his chest stops moving as he looks me over. Or the way his fist clenches around the strap of his gear bag.

Is he as affected by my presence as I am by his?

Not wanting to go down that spiral, I glance past him and find Landon and Dean staring wide-eyed at Greyson’s back. My brows scrunch together at the pure shock written across their features. Glancing between them and Greyson, I decide to break the growing silence. Side-stepping Grey, I extend a hand toward Landon first.

“I’m Stella, a” —I hesitate for the briefest of seconds as I fumble for how to introduce myself correctly— “friend of Greyson’s.”

He blinks at me, clearly struggling to process my words before catching himself and accepting my outstretched hand.

“Landon.” He subtly shakes his head, and a wide smile finally stretches across his face. “It’s nice to meet someone who’sfriendswith Greyson that doesn’t belong on the team.”

Ignoring the urge that bubbles in my throat to ask what he means by that, I turn to offer Dean my hand, but he’s still gaping at Greyson.

“She’s your…I’m sorry, what?” he says in a tone filled to the brim with disbelief.

Landon elbows him in the ribs and mumbles something under his breath, but all it does is make Dean’s eyes bug out further and bounce between myself and Greyson behind me.

“You mean to tell me our little boy actually spoke to a girl!?”

Wait…what does he mean ‘actually spoke to a girl’?

While Dean gets rewarded with another blow to the ribs, I finally glance over my shoulder, hoping for some clarification, but find Greyson frozen in his spot. His jaw hangs slightly open and his brown eyes are wide as he stares at my back. He finally blinks, shaking his head and dragging his gaze up to mine, and I have to quickly turn away at the intensity shining back at me. I’ve seen that emotion before. Saw it every time I showed up wearing his high school team’s jersey.

That heated look has no right being there now.

Smiling back at Dean and Landon, I try to ease some of the insecurity forming in my stomach.

“I mean, I don’t know that the term ‘little boy’ should be used on someone like him, but yes. Now that that’s out of the way…” I suck in a subtle, deep breath and finally spin toward Greyson with a smile. “Ready for the game?”

For a few awkward seconds, Greyson just stares at me before finally catching up with what I asked.

“Yeah, I’m parked right here,” he grumbles before turning on his heel and heading toward an all-black truck. With a final wave and a ‘good luck’ to Dean and Landon, I leave them gaping on the sidewalk and follow Greyson.

After tossing his gear bag into the back seat, he stops beside the passenger door and briefly hesitates before opening it for me.

I make sure Dean and Landon catch me smiling at him as I hoist myself up into the seat. Only once he shuts the door behind me do I realize the position I just got myself in.

No amount of professionalism could stop the way my throat tightens or the way my heart kicks off like a racehorse. With shaky hands, I twist to reach for the seat belt and remind myself it’s okay.

But even my own placated reminders don’t help ease the fact that the last time I was in a car with Greyson was when we were in the accident that tore us apart.

ChapterSix

GREYSON

I fucked up.

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