Page 56 of Adorkable

Was that a trick question? “I’m good, and you?”

“Oh, I’m great. Actually I—”

Just then, the crowd erupted.

Thad jumped up, thrusting his hand out to encompass the field. “Are you blind? That was a flagrant. Call something ref!”

“Do your damn job,” Ollie yelled.

This time Mrs. Kent tagged him with a hard pinch to the ear. Judging by the sounds he was making, that had to hurt.

Austin tilted his head toward the game. “Is that your boyfriend down there? He’s killing us.”

“You mean, Becks,” I swallowed, feeling the lie stick in my throat. “Yeah, I guess so.”

“Man.” Austin shook his head as play resumed, and Becks made a breakaway. “It’s probably a good thing it didn’t work out between us,” he sighed dramatically. “I could’ve never competed with that.”

I laughed. No one could compete with Becks, at least in my view. “Not a big soccer fan?”

He grinned. “No, I’m more into role playing. Final Fantasy, World of Warcraft, that kind of thing. Actually that’s where I met my girlfriend. She’s right down there, front row, toward the middle.”

I saw where he was pointing and did a double take. The girl was gorgeous, almost as gorgeous as Austin, and that was saying something. Flashing the two of us a grin, she blew him a kiss, and he pretended to catch and tuck it into his pocket.

“Isn’t she great?” he said.

“Great,” I repeated then got serious. “But I thought you said you loved me?”

He blushed, rocked back on his heels. “Well…about that, I—”

“I’m just kidding,” I said, punching him in the shoulder. “I’m glad you found someone. She’s beautiful.”

“Oh, good,” he said, capturing my hand. The twinkle in his eyes was unmistakable as he bent forward. “But you know you’ll always be my first, Sally.” Bowing low, he dropped a quick kiss to my hand and looked up through his lashes, causing us both to laugh.

Someone cleared their throat. Loudly.

Glancing over, I saw Hooker, her boyfriend Will, my mom, Becks’s parents, and all the brothers watching us. Actually, the boys were giving Austin looks that ranged anywhere from dirty to threatening. I guess we’d taken their attention away from the game. Yippee.

I blushed as Austin released my hand and stood upright.

“Guess I’ll see you around,” he said, throwing nervous glances at the Kents.

I felt their stares shift to me. “Okay, I’ll—”

A thousand gasps seemed to ripple through the stadium at once.

I turned my head, heard Mrs. Kent scream as the others rushed by me to get to the stairs—but I couldn’t move. Couldn’t breathe.

“Sally?”

“Spitz, you okay?”

Austin and Hooker were calling my name, but I couldn’t focus. All my attention was on the chilling scene below.

Becks was on his back, clutching his right leg to his chest, face contorted in agony, as Clayton tried to get him to straighten out.

“No, no, no...”

Was that my voice?

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