Page 32 of A Chance at Forever
Victoria finished blocking the skit her drama class would perform the following week and glanced around as one of her students yelled, “Hey, Coach!” A chorus of other greetings echoed in the auditorium. She spotted Rusty leaning indolently against the back wall with his powerful arms crossed over his muscular chest.
Annoyed by the class disruption, Victoria tried to regain control but the bell rang. Her annoyance further increased as she observed how many of her students stopped to shake his hand and say a few words to him. She wanted to blame their attention on Rusty’s arrogance, but she couldn’t. The man didn’t have an arrogant bone in his incredible body.
Shoot. Why did that pop into her head?
Oh, lord. Here he comes.
Rusty strode purposefully in her direction. She turned her back and shuffled papers.
“Hi, Tori.”
“What are you doing in here?”
“It’s my planning period. I was curious about what you do. It’s amazing. I should have dropped in sooner.”
Victoria saw the teasing glint in his bright green eyes, but she was too bothered by his presence in her domain to take heed. “I have another class to teach,” she declared as her students wandered to their seats. She lowered her voice. “And I don’t appreciate your flirtatious remark. Boundaries, Mr. Sinclair.”
Undeterred, Rusty replied, “I came to issue a personal invitation to the game tonight. Are you going?”
She shrugged. “I don’t know. I have to wash my hair.”
He gazed at the long strands falling down her shoulder and chuckled. “Troy is on the team.”
“So?”
Rusty reached into a pocket of his pants. “So, take your faculty athletic pass. You’ll need it when you come to the game. The team could use your support.” He leaned closer and murmured, “And your hair is beautiful.”
He flashed a grin as he gave her the pass, and their hands connected. The scintillating touch shocked both of them. Rusty’s eyes darkened a bit with an undefinable emotion as her heart cartwheeled. It reminded her of the day they’d met, and he had tucked stray strands of her hair behind her ears.
Stepping away from her, he said, “See you tonight, Ms. Lockridge.” As he sauntered out of the auditorium, her students called out fond greetings to him.
Victoria shook her head. Only one word came to mind.
Arrogant.
CHAPTER 10
Victoria stewed. Shestomped toward Jonica’s classroom where they agreed to meet at the end of the day and burst through the door. “Of all the arrogant jerks, Rusty Sinclair tops every single one of them!”
Jonica laughed and stuffed her backpack with her students’ algebra homework. “What did he do?”
“Barged into my auditorium so he could personally invite me to the game. The gall! Who does he think he is?”
“Uh, our friend? You need to relax. Give the man a chance. You might be surprised.”
“And let him make a fool of me? No, thank you. I’m not going to the game. I told Rusty I had to wash my hair.”
Jonica laughed again. “You know you’re going. Same routine as always. Meet at my house. Pizza after the game.”
Victoria let out a deep sigh of defeat. “Okay. See you in a few hours.”
*
As the bandplayed the Bears’ fight song, Victoria and her friends found seats close to the fifty-yard line. The team looked splendid in their gold and blue uniforms as they broke through the banner hanging between the goal posts and ran onto the field. The home stadium roared with excited fans. The entire town had turned out for the game, hoping to witness a hard-fought win.
Victoria yelled along with everyone else as they watched the opposing Leopards flawlessly execute their plays.
The mighty Bears held their ground. When the score was twenty-one to fourteen in favor of the Leopards, Victoria’s attention focused on Rusty. Instead of yelling at his boys for fumbling the last play that brought about the Leopards’ third touchdown, his strong arms went around his players in encouragement. He wasn’t ready to give up and neither were they.
