Page 12 of Eight Years Gone

All of this was coming out of left field. But he hadn’t seen her much over the past couple of days. Not since the pep rally.

Grace had been laughing and having a good time—taking her pictures for the yearbook. Then she’d disappeared after Katie Weiss sidled up next to him in the bleachers and pressed a hell of a kiss against his lips. “I haven’t seen you since we all sat together in the gym.”

“I’ve been busy.”

“Are you jealous or something?”

She huffed out a laugh. “Jealous of what?”

“Of Katie.”

Her sassy laugh was back. “Hardly. She’s about as dumb as they come. And it doesn’t matter anyway. It’s not exactly like you’re into girls like me.”

“And who are girls like you?”

She jerked her shoulders. “Intelligent. Ambitious. Going somewhere in life. We have high standards. You’d actually have to work to get into my pants.”

He grinned. “Girls like you are out of my league.”

She frowned. “Only because you don’t see us.”

If only she knew. “I see you. Trust me.”

She sat up straight in her seat, holding his gaze. “Are you and Katie dating?”

He shook his head. “No.”

“Then kiss me.”

He blinked, taken aback, trying to figure out if she was joking. He couldn’t tell, so he laughed. “You’re Logan’s little sister.”

She scrambled out of her side of the car, slamming the door.

He got out as she moved past the hood. “Grace—”

She whirled. “I’m not Logan’s little anything. The last time I checked, we were all sophomores. You guys are only a few months older than me. But just forget it.”

He picked up his pace to walk next to her. “I don’t— I’m not what you want. Guys like me are no good. I’m not good enough for you.”

She stopped. “Why do you continually sell yourself short?”

“I’m a white trash kid who can catch a football and run fast. Apparently, I happen to be an accurate marksman, too, which is a surprise to me.”

“You’re great at a lot of things. You can be whatever you want to be.”

He shook his head, even when he was starting to believe it. Grace’s unyielding faith in him was beginning to rub off. “I live with you so I can play sports—the Evan’s family charity case.”

She shook her head. “That’s not true.”

“It’s one hundred percent true.”

“You’re more. My dad wanted to help you because he cares about you.”

He huffed out an incredulous chuckle. “Your dad wanted to help me because he likes to win. I win games, Grace. I put points on the board. If Logan’s private coach hadn’t seen us tossing the ball around after taekwondo practice, we wouldn’t be having this conversation. I wouldn’t even be here.”

She opened her mouth, then closed it. “Okay, yes. That’s entirely accurate.”

He looked to the sky and laughed again—at the ridiculousness of it all.

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