Page 86 of Between the Blue
“Of course he looks good.” Caroline rolls her eyes as she slips her jacket on. “But he knows that he looks good. And if, God forbid, he ever forgets, every other girl in Austin makes sure to remind him about a hundred times a day. I don’t plan to join in and give him an even bigger head than he already has.”
I don’t get a chance to respond before she slings her bag over her shoulder and moves for the door. “I gotta get going.” She pauses in the doorway, pointing over her shoulder at me. “Post those storm scene photos.”
And then, like that, she’s gone.
“Well, Caroline,” I shake my head, opening a new internet browser. “If you insist…”
“Cherry.”
I nearly drop my camera, my finger slipping and deleting one of the photos I was scrolling through.
“Shit,” I mutter, shaking my head as I look up to find Ben storming down the hall as he arrives for today’s game.
Seeing the other photographers’ camera flashes going off sends me into autopilot, and I raise my own camera.
I only get two frames in though before my camera is suddenly yanked down from my face, Ben’s elbow hooking around my own as he pulls me further down the hall. Immediately, I see the door opening for more players to walk in and try, uselessly, to fight him for my arm back.
“What the hell–” I stammer. “I have to take photos!Ben.”
“Not right now, you don’t,” he grits. He comes to a stop just as we round the corner, gripping me by my shoulders to placeme right in front of him. His fingers dig into my skin, and, as confused and irritated as I am, I can’t stop the shiver it sends down my spine.
“Ben, what–”
He suddenly takes a step closer, catching me off guard.
“Did you think that was cute? Your little post?”
My spine steels. “You saw it?”
“Of course I saw it.”
I swallow, refusing to break his eye contact despite my every instinct to. “They were good photos of everyone,” I say.
Ben runs his tongue along his bottom lip, scoffing out a humorless laugh. “Interesting caption choice.”
I squint my eyes, feigning confusion. “Was it? I make a lot of posts. Hard to keep up with all the captions.”
Ben’s jaw shifts. “Come for the Storm?”
“Oh,right.” I can’t help the grin that pulls at my lips. “Before it comes for you,” I finish. “Thatwasa good one. You’re right–”
The sound of Ben’s hands slamming flat against the wall on either side of my head startles me, stealing my voice. “You need tostop.”
My mouth falls open as I stare up at him. “Stopwhat?”
“Getting under my skin,” he growls.
I rear back. “What?”
He leans closer, dropping his voice further. “This is my job.”
“This is my job too,” I remind him. “To take photos. To post content.Goodcontent. And, I’m sorry, but those photos were great. And the caption was a hit. That post has more likes and comments than any Texas Storm post has had in the last year.”
Ben shakes his head, his lip twitching and eyes burning with some sort of conflicting emotions I can’t place. And when his voice comes out as a cracked gravelly whisper, it only confuses me more.
“This ismyteam. What I do. What I’ve done for ten years. I don’t need you coming in here–” He pauses, his throat bobbing. “Into mylife…and screwing with my head.”
I find myself standing down, my shoulders falling. “Ben…” I try to reach up to touch his arm, but he suddenly snaps to attention, pulling back entirely from me. I take a step forward, following him. “I’m not… Ben, I swear, I never meant to–”
