Page 14 of Sparks Fly

I walk away before Brady can say anything else. Draining the rest of my beer, I grab another before joining a couple of my teammates across the room.

One of the guys, Kody, nods in Brady’s direction. “That looked intense.”

I shake my head. “All good, man. Just some old beef.”

“That’s the first time I’ve seen you back down from a fight,” Dave adds. “I’m impressed, Foster. Been working on your anger management?”.

“Ha ha, ladies,” I say, rolling my eyes.

“Looks like someone else is impressed, too.” Dave smirks and indicates the back door.

I look up half expecting to see Ivy. Instead, I lock eyes with a pretty brunette standing with a group of friends. Her cheeks tinge pink when she realises she’s been busted and she gives me a shy smile before lifting her hand in a small wave. I let out a deep breath. Any other night, I’d be all over her, but tonight my head is too fucking caught up with someone else. I turn back to the boys and chug the rest of my second beer. “I need to take a piss.”

“Ouch, harsh.” Steiger chuckles. “If you’re not interested, mind if I take a shot?”

“Have at it,” I say, heading off to the bathroom.

On my way back, I bump into someone and curse when I realize it’s Ellie. “What are you doing here?”

She pokes her tongue out at me. “Happy New Year to you, too, grumpy ass. Hopefully this year brings you a new personality.”

“Seriously, El. You shouldn’t be here.”

Hands on her hips, she stares me down. “Shut up, Connie. You’re not Dad.”

“No,” I counter. “But maybe I should tell him where you are, and then you might catch a fucking clue. Why is Harley bringing you to a party where there are drugs around?”

Ellie narrows her eyes. “That’s rich coming from you. Don’t throw rocks at glass houses, big brother. I was beginning to enjoy your company again. Don’t go turning back into the crazy, overprotective psycho you were last year. I’m eighteen, Connie. I’m old enough to look after myself, and besides, Harley isn’t going to let anything happen to me.”

“I know that, Jelly,” I say with a sigh, massaging my temples. She has a point. I don’t want to fall back into the habit of trying to dictate her life–just like Dad does with me. “I just want you to be safe.”

She pulls me in for a hug. “I’m fine. I’m designated driver tonight, and Harley’s not much of a drinker anyway. I promise, I’ll be safe.”

“Everything okay, babe?”

Ellie pulls away from me and smiles up at Harley, who’d approached behind her. “Great.”

I greet him with a simple nod of my head. “Harley.”

He grunts his reply. It’s about the extent of our conversations in the past couple of months.

“Great talk, you two,” Ellie says with a laugh as she starts to pull Harley away. She calls back over her shoulder before they disappear into the growing crowd. “One of these days you might actually achieve something that resembles a conversation!”

I grab another beer and make my way back over to Dave. “Ten to one Steiger goes home with a case of blue balls tonight,” he says, nodding in the direction of our teammate who’s currently doing some God-awful attempt of dancing with the pretty brunette from earlier. He’s standing in one spot, bouncing his shoulders out of time to the music, while she shimmies up and down in front of him, looking everywhere but at Kody.

“You’re on.” As I shake his hand, I spot Ivy talking to a guy from my sports media class.

Unfortunately for me, Dave follows my gaze. “Are you asking for trouble tonight? Brady will pummel your ass for even looking in her direction. He gave little Rossi a black eye when he started hooking up with her–and they’re mates. Imagine what he’d do to the likes of you, man.”

I take a pull of my beer. “Nothing’s going on there, dude. I’m not interested.”

But as I watch from across the room, she smiles at the other guy. My stomach lurches. Something in me wants her to look atmethat way.

I can’t take my eyes off Ivy as the rest of my teammates engage in conversation around me. When I see her smile drop, I stiffen. She says something and shakes her head. She makes a move to walk away, but he grabs her wrist. Before I can even think about my actions, I’m stalking across the room towards them.

“I said I’m not interested,” I hear Ivy snap as I get closer. “Let go of me!”

“You heard her, asshole,” I growl, stepping into his space. “Get your fucking hands off her.”

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