Page 87 of Hard Hitter

Two girls wearing almost nothing shrieked as they launched themselves over the slick surface, but my gaze landed back on Blue. Unlike most of the women I knew, Blue had never shown any appreciation for my body. As a matter of fact, I wasn’t sure she’d said more than two words to me in the months since she’d started coming around with Eva.

Another mystery I wanted to solve. Some part of me insisted I was focusing on Blue as a distraction from my splintered insides, but my interest in her was real. It was nice to feel something other than misery and exhaustion.

I bided my time, watching like a creeper until Blue shook her head in disgust and abandoned the game to head for the big house. She slipped through the sliding glass doors, and I took the opportunity offered to me.

The entrance from the patio led to a large white kitchen, empty except for the girl I was suddenly obsessed with digging through the refrigerator and mumbling to herself. She didn’t stop when I pulled the door shut behind me, and I grinned at the frustration in her voice.

I leaned on the island and peeked around the door to see her collecting cheese cubes from a tray. “Do the Chi Omegas know you’re raiding their fancy snacks?”

Blue gave a tiny shriek and slammed the fridge closed hard enough to rattle the glass bottles. Her blue green eyes landed on me—the color of water in paradise, another thing I hadn’t noticed about her—and somehow got bigger.

“It’s you,” she spit out.

My smile widened. “It’s me. You want to share some of your pilfered cheese?”

She blinked, then looked down at her handful of food with a frown. “It’s not stolen. Courtney said I could help myself to the snacks.”

I chuckled. “She probably meant the ones covering the tables outside, but what do I know?”

Blue held out her hand, and I plucked an orange cube from her palm. “No, you’re probably right. I just wanted something cold.”

“I won’t tell if you won’t.” I popped the cheese in my mouth, and she followed my lead.

We shared her snack while she peered at me with growing suspicion. “Did you follow me here?”

Busted. “To the party? No. Into the kitchen? Yes.”

“Why?”

I didn’t want to admit she’d been the only thing to capture my attention in weeks—or how much she intrigued me. Sharing my feelings had gotten me into this mess in the first place. To buy myself some time, I came around the island to grab two plastic water bottles from the pack on the counter next to her, handing her one.

She twitched toward the door like she wanted to run. “I’m not having sex with you.”

My brows shot up. “Was that an option?”

Blue cleared her throat and took a swig of water. “I don’t know, but it felt relevant.”

Her eyes caught mine, and the kitchen narrowed to the two of us. I could make a joke and laugh off her knee-jerk response, but the lingering need to burrow under her ever-changing exterior knocked me off guard.

“It’s not. Relevant. I don’t actually try to get every woman I meet into bed. I mean, the interested ones, yeah, but not for a while. And the whole thing with Eva kind of knocked me out of the game. I couldn’t handle a hookup even if I wanted to.” My words tumbled over themselves in an awkward tangle, threatening to strangle me if I didn’t get a grip on my tongue. I sucked at keeping things to myself.

Blue looked like she’d gladly strangle me too if it would stop this awkward conversation. “I’m sorry your penis isn’t working, but that doesn’t explain why you followed me.”

“My junk works, sunshine. I just don’t have any interest in using it.”

She tilted her head, confused. “Then why are you here?”

“I don’t know.” The truth slipped from me without permission from my brain. “I noticed you outside, and it was like seeing you for the first time—like you’d finally come out from behind your cloud. Despite your scowl. I thought I might be looking at the real you for once.”

So much for not spilling my guts all over the kitchen. I waited for her to run screaming from the room, but her uneasy expression smoothed away.

“I’m always the real me. Hardcore, unfiltered truth. Whether you want it or not.” She didn’t sound particularly pleased with the observation, but it was exactly what I hadn’t realized I needed until now.

Unfiltered truth. Someone get this girl a lasso.

“The real you sounds perfect. I’m tired of the bullshit.”

She took a step closer, examining my face. “I can see why you’d feel that way with the others tiptoeing around you. Why come to a party then?”

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