Out of Bounds (The Summer Games #2)(95)

“Can I help you?” I asked with a hard tone.

“Brie,” Molly warned under her breath.

Erik smirked out of the corner of his mouth.

I frowned. “What are you doing here? Don’t the coaches eat together in some private club or something?”

“Not today.”

He unfolded his napkin and draped it across his lap without a care in the world. I sat, watching him in disbelief, wondering how long he’d actually stay.

“This is a joke, right? You’re not actually eating with us are you?”

He started cutting off a piece of his grilled chicken. “I’m eating with you.”

Lexi snorted.

Jesus.

“Ha ha ha. I get it, you want to make a point.” I pushed his tray closer to the edge of the table so he had to grab it before it clattered to the ground. “Well, consider it made. You can leave now.”

He slid his blue gaze to me and I saw the hint of amusement there. He thought this was funny.

I am going to murder him.

In the middle of the food court.

One look at Lexi and the rest of the girls proved they were enjoying this moment nearly as much as Erik was.

“How’s your day going so far, Brie?”

He sounded like a parent trying to engage an insolent teenager at the dinner table.

“Oh it’s going really well.” I nodded, swallowing down another sip of my smoothie. “I’m thinking of playing strip poker with the British men’s rugby team later.”

He smirked. “Sounds interesting. I’d work on my poker face if I were you.”

Lexi cracked up at that. I leveled her with a threatening glare, and then for the next five minutes, the five of us ate in silence. I watched girls stroll by our table, glancing at Erik with half hidden interest before scurrying off. I wanted to shout at them to move along. We get it. He’s good-looking.

Rosie and Molly scarfed down their food at record speed and then pushed away from the table, adding lame excuses over their shoulders. Bathroom! Phone call!

“What’s your goal here? To piss me off?” I asked, sliding my gaze to Erik.

His profile was sickeningly handsome: sharp jaw, high cheekbones, straight nose. I squinted to blur the edges a bit, but then he met my gaze and all bets were off.

“Do you see that you’re being hypocritical, Brie? We both want to have our cake and eat it too, but we can’t just all of a sudden be in an open relationship. There are reasons we’ve been discreet up until this point and I know you’d regret it if your accomplishments were buried beneath headlines about our relationship.”

My heart dropped and when his gaze fell to my lips, I realized I was gaping at him. I closed my mouth and shook my head. Guess he’s not concerned about Lexi knowing the truth…not that she didn’t already suspect something between us…

“Didn’t you listen to anything I told you this morning?”

He waved away my concern. “It wasn’t relevant.”

Lexi was in full-on hysterics at this point, snorting over her freaking chicken like she was sitting front row at a comedy show.

“I’m glad you find this so amusing.”

She held up her hands in innocence. “You guys are the most f*cked up, yet entertaining couple I’ve ever been around. Better than TV.”

“We aren’t a couple!” I clarified loud enough that the people occupying the table beside ours glanced over to check out the commotion.

I groaned under my breath and grabbed my tray. “Actually, I think I’m full now.”

“You only had like two sips of that smoothie,” Lexi pointed out.

I shoved my bowl of broccoli at her. “Well, I’m not going to stay here and eat with you two.”

She shook her head and stood. “Well don’t leave on my account. I just saw the soccer guys walk in; I’ll go eat with them so you two can talk.”

I groaned under my breath, but she was already walking away, leaving me alone with the enemy. Slowly, I sat back down and sipped my smoothie, keeping my focus on the British rugby team across the room. They were massive and bearded and fairly good at keeping my attention away from Erik.

“How’s your mom?” he asked with a gentle tone.

“Fine,” I snapped, not wanting to slip into normalcy.

He didn’t get to walk away from me like he had the night before and then pretend to be Mr. Oh-So-Considerate the next morning.

“Where do you two live in Austin?”

“What are you doing?”

Erik was asking me about my life…why? What was the point of showing me compassion?

He dropped his fork and turned to me, leveling me with a gaze that nearly swallowed me whole. When his attention was on me like that—so unwavering and intense—it was hard to bear. I wanted to fidget and turn away, anything to break the tension between us, but instead I met his stare and narrowed my eyes, testing him.

“Last night you told me you had feelings for me. Did they disappear overnight?”

His gaze dropped to my mouth and I realized he wanted an answer. Now.

“No. I-I just…”

He nodded. “It took me a few hours to wrap my head around everything. I left you hanging, and for that, I’m sorry.”

He was apologizing?

He knows how to apologize?