Page 58 of Scoreless Nights

“Oh hell yeah. You’re naked and pulling food out of the oven. I’m not sure there’s a bigger turn on.”

“Don’t touch it.” I pointed and then ran past him to my room to put clothes on. I may have asked Cruz to be my first but I knew it wasn’t gonna happen right then. I hoped it happened naturally, maybe the next time we touched one another or after his game.

I wasn’t in a rush. As long as we both knew the line between us was officially erased, it would happen eventually.

ChapterThirty

Cruz

There was something special about having Lil in the stands, cheering for me. She was in the exact seat she was in before, but she had no one around her. She did, however, have her Tripp Maddux jersey on, and I hated myself for forgetting that I was supposed to burn it. It just seemed like since that night, every moment I spent with her, I hadn’t been thinking of Tripp at all.

Much less his jersey.

Lily joked about it the night before while we ate the best chicken and rice I ever had. She tried to explain that she didn’t have a Cruz Martin jersey, so she was going to have to wear her Maddux one.

When the game was nearing the end, I kept thinking about how much fun it was going to be ripping that jersey off of her when we got home. And now that we were no longer tip-toeing around our attraction to one another, I really did intend on ripping that fucking shirt.

The St Louis midfielder had closed in around the goal and I refocused on the game. He kicked but it was an easy stop for me and I quickly punted it back into play. I glanced up at Lily, who was cheering for me as if I had made the game winning save in the championship game. I smirked at her and shook my head, trying not to let everyone in the world see how she was affecting me. So I schooled my face and made it through the last two minutes of the game before the whistle blew.

Jogging toward the middle of the field, rain started coming down as I congratulated my teammates. We all ran toward the tunnel to escape, but before disappearing, I gave Lily a little wink, and then raced to get changed out of my uniform. She was supposed to meet me outside the locker room and it wasn’t going to take her long to get there.

Before the rest of the guys could even finish their congratulations and interviews, I headed toward the exit, making sure I grabbed one of my clean game jerseys to put Lily in.

When I pushed the door open, the rain was coming down harder, but Lily was alone, and she came running toward me, jumping into my arms soaking wet. “Good game!”

Fuck, it wasn’t that good of a game. We won, St Louis was scoreless, but there was no challenge like there would be on Friday when we faced Los Angeles. Still, it felt good to receive her joy and praise, and even better having her in my arms.

When I set her back on her feet, I grabbed her hand, and we laughed while we ran, trying to avoid the puddles forming across the parking lot. The rain shielded us, and made the parking lot fairly empty, but I still looked around while I opened the door for her. Not wanting anyone to see us the way we were.

With one hand, I held the steering wheel, but with the other one, I held onto Lily’s leg. I mindlessly traced patterns on her thigh and listened to her sing along to the music playing on the radio. Things were changing quickly, and it was getting hard to remember that she wasn’t really my girl. That she was only staying for a few more days and would be going back to our parents’ house.

Yeah, she had at least one job offer so far, and two more interviews, but it wasn’t like she would be moving to Miami for me. She had friends, she had a path that excited her, and not at any point was I a part of that.

Like a sore reminder, my phone started ringing, interrupting the song playing, and I hit answer when I saw my dad’s number pop up.

“Holà.”

“Tremendo juego, mijo.”

“Lo viste en la télévision?”

“Si, con Gloria. Los comentaristas hablaron mucho de lo feliz que te veías esta noche.”

Lil and I looked at one another, both suppressing a laugh.

“Sólo nos quedan par de juegos y si ganamos contra LA, jugaremos en las finales. Por eso estoy feliz.”

“Pues tu te veías como si hubieras anotado con una chica.”Dad lowered his voice, speaking to me like a man, but aware his wife could hear him if she was close by. Though he was speaking Spanish, and Gloria only knew one through ten, and the seven colors of the rainbow. Meanwhile, Lil seemed to be following along better than I thought she would.

“No.” I groaned.“Sólo me sentía estable mientras jugaba.”

“Hablando de sentirse estable, has hablado con Lillian últimamente?”

Lil heard her name, but I could tell she wasn’t completely sure what my dad was asking.

“She’s staying with me, Dad. Of course I’ve talked to her.” I replied in English.“She texted Gloria and said she was at your game tonight.”

“I got her a ticket, is that okay?”

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