Page 9 of Love Me Steadfast
When I explain our purpose, her bright blue eyes narrow. “I thought you hated jocks.”
“I don’t hate them.” I push open the metal door.
From behind the secretary’s desk, a woman glances up from her computer. “Here about the tutoring center jobs?”
Jeez, is it that obvious I don’t belong here?“Uh, yes.”
The woman’s mouth curves into a smile and her eyes squint but there’s little warmth in her expression. She opens a drawer and slides a small stack of paper stapled together at the corner across her desk. “Go ahead and fill this out.”
I pick it up and give each page a quick scan. It’s way too comprehensive for me to do in the remaining fifteen minutes of lunch, plus Ineed Dad’s signature. I’m about to thank the secretary and head for the door when Wren sucks in a breath.
The secretary has returned to her typing, so I follow Wren’s gaze to the offices behind her. William Hayes is stepping out of one of them.
“Thanks, Coach,” William says with a tight nod, then turns away.
Before I can scurry off, his dark blue eyes zero in on me, sending a cold flush over my skin. Combined with the way his lips twitch with the hint of a smile, it’s like being pulled into a vortex. Even though I know I should look away, I can’t. Then he spins in the opposite direction and pushes out the door.
I blink at the beige walls and the beige secretary desk, my face flushing and my lungs rattling inside my chest. It’s not like I haven’t seen William around these past few weeks. But we haven’t talked since that first morning. Throwing that winning touchdown pass at our first game of the season has transformed him from the shy outsider he was then to a star already burning into the next galaxy. I don’t think I’ve seen him alone—not in the halls, not at lunch, not after school.
And Tori Crenshaw’s rarely five feet away from him. Ugh. Doesn’t he see how fake she is? How shallow?
Wren links arms with me and steers us back to the courtyard. “Holy freaking hell,” Wren whispers. “He’s even hotter in person.”
“Who?” I say to stall.
“You know who that was, right?”
I slip my arm free and pause so I can carefully slide the application into my backpack. “Sure. He and Theo are friends.”
Her eyes widen. “Do you guys ever hang out?”
I laugh. “Why would I want to hang out with Theo or any of his kind?”
She snorts. “You’re gonna be tutoring them if you take that job. Ooh, do you think William needs tutoring? Maybe I should apply.”
“You giving up cowboys for jocks?”
She scoffs. “A hot stud is a hot stud. I’m nondenominational that way.”
I roll my eyes, but my tummy betrays me with an annoying flutter. “Come on.”
Saturday morning,I beg Theo for a ride since Dad’s not up yet. The Falcons won again last night, and I know he was out celebrating till curfew because I heard him and Dad talking. I’m content to ride to school in silence, but Theo has other ideas.
“Morgan tried to sneak out last night,” he says.
“What?”
“After Dad went back to The Limelight and I went to bed, I heard the screen door.”
“Did you stop her?”
“Yeah.” Theo turns left, downshifting before heading up the hill.
“What did she say?”
“That I was a buzz kill and an overprotective troll.”
“Where was she going?”
