Page 49 of Good at Being Bad (Rock Canyon, Idaho 8)

For the first time, she realized she was insanely jealous. She wanted a guy she couldn’t have.

And it sucked balls.

Chapter Fifteen

Two weeks later, Ellie sat across from Forrest Kilmartin at Jensen’s Diner, picking at her food and tuning out his expert opinion on why carb loading was so important. The big alumni game was on Saturday, and Forrest was playing quarterback for the alumni. Forrest had graduated two years ahead of her, but hadn’t played college football. He’d stayed in town and worked for a car dealership in Twin Falls.

But it seemed that he’d never lost his passion for football. It had been all he could talk about for the ten days they’d been dating. When things had fallen flat with the dentist she’d met in Twin Falls, she found herself drawn into a conversation and then more with Forrest. But now that the game day was getting closer, he wouldn’t shut up about it. At this point, she would actually take Mike’s stumbling explanation why he had a Frodo coin bank in his closet over the droning sound of Forrest’s voice.

Ellie smiled just thinking about Mike. Since the almost-kiss, they had tried to put their feelings aside and continue as if nothing had happened. The more time she spent with him, however, the more she looked forward to his goofy texts. The other night he’d sent her a video of a man dressed as Child’s Play Chucky breaking through his movie poster and chasing people down the street with a fake knife. She’d burst out laughing in the middle of one of Forrest’s old football home movies and he hadn’t been happy. She wished she shared more of a connection with Forrest, but like Dale, he was a distant second to Mike. Mike was hilarious, sweet, thoughtful, and he made her wish…

Well, wish for things that weren’t possible.

Mike and Ellie had gone out almost every night, and it was hard being his wing woman when every time another woman smiled at him, Ellie was tempted to scratch her eyes out. Which would defeat the purpose of her changing his image and attitude, and she had no idea how to stop it. It wasn’t like her to be jealous or possessive, but she didn’t want to share Mike. It was killing her to see him with someone else.

Of course, the fact that she might break the heart of Rock Canyon’s golden boy was enough to put a damper on her libido. Since Mike and she had started hanging out, people were almost nice to her. Mrs. Andrews had actually thanked her when she’d stayed after church on Sunday to help clean up. Their partnership was working perfectly.

Except

that she couldn’t stop thinking of their almost kiss.

Jenny and Dalton walked in, their arms wrapped around each other. When Jenny waved at her, she reciprocated.

“Babe, you’re not listening again,” Forrest griped at her. “This is really important!”

Pushing Mike and his lips to the back of her mind, she smiled apologetically. “Sorry, I was just saying hi to Jenny.” She picked up one of her fries and eyed Forrest’s plate of spaghetti in distaste. It looked like bloody worms with brain chunks on top. “You were saying something about body fuel.”

“Forget about it.” He looked sullen and butthurt, and Ellie resisted the urge to roll her eyes. “Are you going to the game tomorrow?”

“I said I would. I’ll even sit in the front row with a pair of pom-poms.” She tried to be funny, and apparently it fell short of the mark, since he didn’t even crack a smile.

“Okay, well, if I don’t talk to you much, it’s because I’m in the zone. We’ve lost the game almost every year because they like to have guys from every graduating year and most of them have gone soft. But this time we’ve got more guys in their twenties and thirties, and I’ve got a good feeling about it. I don’t need any distractions.”

Ellie laughed. “Isn’t it supposed to be a friendly game to raise money for the high school?”

“No. People always make fun of the alumni, and I am done being their joke. As if those little punks would be just letting us win or something.”

He was seriously getting bent out of shape over this?

“Okay, well, I’m sure you guys will be great and I’ll try not to distract you.”

“I’m not worried about it. Drew Carlson is able to play for the defense, and Travis Bowers is going to play receiver. As long as we…”

Ellie really didn’t care, and it was becoming clearer and clearer that although she had felt a spark of interest when they first met, she just wasn’t feeling Forrest anymore.

The door to Jensen’s opened behind Forrest’s shoulder and in walked Mike with Gabe, Gregg, Chase, and Travis.

Mike turned as if sensing her gaze and their eyes caught. His narrowed slightly as he saw who she was with, but before she could blink, the look was gone. In its place was a smile that drew attention to his mouth and the goatee that surrounded it. He had started growing that, and damn if it didn’t make her want to stroke his chin.

He strolled over and stood next to the booth, his friends behind him, and Forrest seemed surprised when he noticed Mike.

“Stevens, what do you want?”

“I’m just stopping by to say hi to Ellie,” Mike said coolly, but Ellie saw the mischief in his eyes. “We still on for tonight?”

“Yeah, my place at eight.” She ignored the way Forrest’s head swung her way. She didn’t need to explain her and Mike’s…whatever.

“All right.” Before Mike turned away, he gave her a wink. Ellie knew he had done it on purpose, hoping to rankle Forrest, who he’d already told her was a punk kid with an inflated ego. From the tense set of Forrest’s shoulders, Mike had succeeded in irritating him.

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