Page 29 of Scoreless Nights

“Hey,” I sighed. “There’s something I–”

“Here he comes,” Jackie squealed.Oh right, she kinda knows him.

Looking out to the field where the team was warming up, I saw Cruz walking with number seventeen, who I knew was Rhys Peyton after watching the game on Monday. Cruz was taking his gloves off and looking down at his feet while Rhys talked about something with his arms animatedly waving around. They were headed toward the bench that was directly in front of us. And by bench, I meant a dugout, where the team sat protected from the elements and the fans during the game.

But it was close, and if Jackie so much as waved at him, he would see me. I had to get the truth out fast, and ask for forgiveness later.

“Wait,” I started again, but Jackie had started talking as well.

“He told Deon he would come say hi.” She was somehow whispering and squealing at the same time.

“What? Why?”

“Deon is Cruz’s cousin, and he has a huge crush on me,” Jackie smirked. “I’d never waste my time with him except for the fact that,hello, Cruz Martin is his cousin. He got me these tickets when I ran my hand down his chest and made promises I won’t keep. Then he told me he would ask Cruz to come say hi when I grabbed his junk.”

My heart sank, and I wanted to go home. Not because of Cruz, but because of Jackie. Her words were everything I was afraid of when I made friends. She used Deon to get to Cruz. She led him on, and made him think they had a chance. She’d do it to me as well.

The only thing stopping me from standing up and calling a rideshare home was Angel, and the nasty look on her face at Jackie’s words. She was clearly upset as well, and I wanted to stay for her.

“Cruz?” Jackie yelled, when he got closer, waving at him like she was working the street corner. Rhys didn’t look up, just jogged ahead of Cruz, who slowed down and looked toward us. Jackie was by far the most noticeable, waving her hand while simultaneously making her boobs pop out of her shirt.Real talent.

“Hey,” he smiled, jumping on a railing to get higher, then reaching his hand out to shake hers. Shoving my back against my seat, I tried to hide. “You must be Deon’s friends.”

I thought she knew him?

“Jackie,” she purred, leaning forward and blocking his view of me even more. “Deon and I are good friends. I’ve heard a lot about you, so it's good to put a face to a name.”

Oh barf.She knew exactly what Cruz looked like, and she and Deon werenotfriends. He just didn’t know it yet. Angel was sitting down as well, letting Jackie have her moment, but when Cruz spoke again, unexpected jealousy flared up inside of me.

“So did he mention the thing on Friday?”

Jackie sucked in a sharp breath, taken by surprise at Cruz’s words. “He said something, but I hadn’t checked my schedule. What did you have in mind?”

“I’ll, uh, get your number from him.” I could hear the hesitation in Cruz’s voice. Something had been lost in translation, and made him wary.Good boy, Cruz.

“I’ll get yours from him, just in case,” Jackie giggled as she leaned over and pushed her hair back.

When she did, Cruz’s eyes caught a glimpse of me and he did a double take. His mouth fell open, and he started to speak, but I silently pleaded with him to go away. With the way Jackie was acting, maybe it would have been better to ask him to save me, but I still didn’t want to risk Angel hating me too.

He didn’t look away, but he jumped down from the railing and back pedaled toward the field, keeping his eyes on mine. Just like every other time our eyes locked, my heart sped up and my palms started to sweat. The way his nostrils flared and he licked his lips made me feel like he wasn’t seeing Jackie at all.

Finally, he turned and started jogging back onto the field. Somehow, Jackie had no idea Cruz had just stared a hole into my heart, but Angel was eyeing me strangely, so I shrugged like I was just as clueless as she was.

ChapterSixteen

Cruz

Lily was at my game.

The favor I did for Deon ended up being tickets for her friends. He even asked me to say hi to them because he thought it’d get him laid with one of them.It better not have been Lily, because I would beat his ass.

Jackie, on the other hand, was exactly what I didn’t need in my life. She tried to act a certain way, but I had seen that game so many times that it made me uncomfortable, and I was ready to run away from them. I even made a mental note to warn Deon not to give her my number. That was pretty much a standard code among us, but I was going to double down and be sure he understood.

When I caught Lily’s eye, though, I wanted to go back up on the rail and ask her what she was doing. Excitement made its way through me that she was at my game at the same time I registered the fear in her eyes.

She looked sick. Scared. It became very clear that she didn’t want me saying a word to her. I had to surmise that it was because she hadn’t told her friends about me. That hurt more than it should have, considering I didn’t blame her.

As I backed away, not wanting to cause any trouble, I couldn't stop looking at her. She was inmyseats, but I didn’t give them to her myself, and I felt like I should have.

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