Page 51 of Blindsided

Not in the bedroom.

That thought makes me smirk. The girl is insatiable, but I have no issues keeping up in that department. This past month with Tilly has been a dream. When Desmond asked me to let her stay with me, I figured we’d both do our own things and hang out with each other if we felt like it. Instead, we spend as much time together as possible, and it never feels like enough.

“What are you smiling about?” Nolan asks. He drops his duffle bag onto the turf with a thump.

“Don’t worry about it,” I retort.

“Somebody’s in loooooove,” he singsongs.

I punch him in the arm.

“Fucker.” Nolan rubs his arm, which makes me snicker. The twerp deserves it.

“Fighting already, are we?” Sara asks, walking up to us.

“Matthew is just being an asshole,” Nolan tells her.

Sara rolls her eyes. “Like you didn’t instigate that punch.”

“You guys are mean tonight. Jesus.”

Adam and Carter show up on the field a minute later, and we all finish stretching together.

“I’m surprised Tilly didn’t come with you. It would’ve been fun to get her on the field,” Carter says.

“She’s having dinner with her parents tonight.”

“They finally made it back?” Sara asks.

I nod my head. I’d been dreading their arrival since Mom told us about it at dinner a couple of weeks ago. Having Tilly tell me straight out that she’d already told her parents she was staying with me took a massive weight off my shoulders. I didn’t realize how much I’d been worrying about it until she confirmed her plans.

Granted, it makes me nervous that they’re going to catch on to what we’re doing. If Desmond finds out we’re together from someone other than us, it’s going to be catastrophic.

It’s annoying that I can’t just be honest with him about how much I like Tilly. My feelings wouldn’t matter to him. He’s going to be pissed no matter when we tell him. I wish he wasn’t so protective of Tilly. I understand where he’s coming from. I can be just as protective of Sara, but I also trust Sara to know what’s best for her.

Desmond acts like Tilly is still an impressionable teenager. She can take care of herself. She doesn’t need him to shelter her from the world.

“Hellooooo. Earth to Matthew.” Sara thumps me on the forehead, and I swat her hand away.

“What?”

“We’re done stretching. Are you ready to play?”

I stand and nod my head. Sara points to where Nolan and Carter are standing, telling me without words that I’m on their team.

Then the game gets going. Any thoughts about Desmond or work go straight out of my head while we play. It’s the reason we all love getting together for these pickup games. We get to just hang out, have some fun competition, and enjoy a few moments where nothing else matters.

We push and shove, cheating like our lives depend on it to win the game. Then we start over with new teams, and the cycle continues until we’re all too exhausted to continue playing.

Nolan is the first to drop tonight. He flops down on the turf, yelling, “I’m out! I’m too old for this shit.”

“Shut the fuck up.” Adam taps him in the ribs with his cleat. Nolan laughs at his joke. He finds it hilarious that he’s ten years younger than Adam. At least, that’s the case now. He used to hate it when we were younger.

We sit down on the turf to stretch our tired muscles.

“You okay, Carter? You’ve been especially quiet tonight.” Sara lightly bumps her shoulder against his. Carter has always been the quietest of us all, but Sara’s right. He’s been more in his head than usual.

Carter reaches out to touch his toes. “Chase and I broke up.”

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