Page 20 of Runaway Girl
Everythingexploded.
Screams, pained grunts and the irrevocable sound of hard fists meeting flesh took over. Time was disjointed as a crowd converged, separating the two blurring figures on the ground.
Ethan stood up. Jake didn’t.
Chapter 13
ETHAN
I knew Jake was playing me, yet that logic didn’t do anything to curb my temper when he whispered his taunts.
“Geez, she’s so hot, isn’t she?” he said, his leery stare soaking into Alicia. “I want her, but she’s a hard nut to crack. A woman like her—fuck, I’d never fumble that.”
I should have been drained and tired from training, but my body was highly strung, ready to jump in for round two.
“She’s not yours. She will never be yours,” I said.
We were getting closer to Alicia, and all I wanted was to disengage with the dickhead and have a couple of private minutes with my girl. But that was shattered when Jake opened his mouth, spitting the most damning words.
“I’m taking her on a date tonight. How much do you think I have to spend before she puts out? Hell, I don’t even care. I bet she’swildin bed. I can’t wait to fuck that attitude right out of her.”
I was balancing on the precipice, close to snapping into a psychotic rage. I knew I had to scale back and take a breather before Idestroyedhim.
I thought Jake would have caught the hint from my tense shoulders to my twitching fingers. But he didn’t know how close he was to death.
However, Jake proved he had nil self-preservation by confirming dinner with Alicia. What little resolve I had completely evaporated when he winked, causing a cascade effect.
Red filtered into my vision as my muscles moved on autopilot. I tackled him to the ground and managed to land a few jabs to his ribs, but I barely had two seconds before we were ripped apart.
I pulled against solid arms as Jake remained on the ground, blood dripping from his nose, howling like a little bitch. I didn’t even hit his face, the moron.
People ran rampant as I heard our names being called from all sides.
But that’s not what held my attention. That’s not the reason I wanted to jump back in and hit Jake square in the fucking jaw to add a black bruise alongside that pretty red.
Alicia kneeled beside him, grabbing his chin, turning his head from left to right, assessing the damage.
I couldn’t watch, refusing to witness hercarefor him.
“Fuck this,”I said before I pushed through the crowd.
Before I could flee, I heard Coach’s enraged roar, “HARRIS, MY OFFICE. NOW!”
Yeah, yeah.
I drowned my chaotic thoughts beneath the showerhead, the water cleansing the tense muscles that were stretched to the point of snapping.
Everyone had left the stadium, leaving me to wallow in my own misery. Not that I blamed them.
Coach suspended me for two weeks in response to causing conflict amongst the team. Now, Jake, that mediocre running back was going to get a chance onmyfield. And what made that sting even worse? I was the one who fucking put him there.
I cut the shower, wrapped a towel around my waist and turned for the change room when I caught her silhouette in the bathroom doorway.
Alicia stood ramrod straight, arms crossed tight as she tapped her heeled foot against the tiles.
My dick twitched just at the sight of her. Maybe that wasn’t the time to announce she was fucking sexy when she was mad.Oh, I miss her.
“What is wrong with you?!”
