I Dare You (The Hook Up #1)(15)

She nods, and without another glance at me, moves down the aisle.

I’m watching this in fascination. Maverick has a sister…a sister with special needs…and he adores her—it’s obvious in the softness of his eyes as they follow her.

He turns back to me. “What?” he asks, and I guess he’s reading my face.

I shake my head. “You’re such a surprise.”

“Yeah?”

I nod. “Is she the reason the highest-rated defensive player in the country decided to stay home and play for the local college?” It’s no secret that Maverick received ESPN’s highest ratings and was courted for scholarships from the big schools like University of Alabama and Georgia. I’ve even heard he promised himself to a big SEC team, but at the last moment decided to stay in Magnolia and play for Waylon—which, admittedly, isn’t a horrible team, but it doesn’t have the same prestige the Crimson Tide does.

“Yeah. It happened in a car accident my senior year that also took my mom. It…changed a lot of things for me.”

His countenance is full of melancholy, an emotion I recognize because I have the same darkness inside of me. Anyone who’s lost a loved one knows it. I nod. “I lost my parents at age ten in a car wreck. I get it.”

He straightens and gives me a surprised look, almost as if he’s restructuring how he sees me. “I never would have known it. You seem so…adjusted.”

I huff out a laugh. “Thanks?”

“You know what I mean,” he says with a little smirk. “You’re a good person, Delaney. You’re always kind and sweet and…” He stops talking and shakes his head. “Never mind. I’m talking too much.”

I clear my throat, easing over the awkwardness. “Anyway, my Nana took me in and raised me. I’d just graduated high school when she passed from a bad heart. Sometimes I think she waited until I was old enough and then just let go.” I don’t know what it is about this guy, but suddenly I’m opening up to him.

He nods. “That must have been tough.”

I shrug, playing off my grief, but when I look back up, there’s this look on his face like he gets me…like he’s been there a million times before and—

God.

Stop, Delaney. Just stop. No more football players.

I recall the words Martha-Muffin just spoke to me: Athletes screw around—it’s what they do.

I clear my throat and move closer to my cart, wrapping my hands around the handle, anchoring myself, because Maverick makes me feel like I might toss aside everything I think about football players and give him a chance. “Look, you’re a great guy, and thank you for the offer of hanging out, but it’s best if we keep it simple.”

He studies me. “You’ll change your mind.”

My chest rises rapidly, and before I can formulate a snarky reply his sister’s voice drifts toward us from down the aisle, calling to him, and he waves back at her.

“Guess I have to run. Later,” he says, and then just like that, he’s walking off—and damn if his ass isn’t fine.

I let out a sigh and push my cart to the front to check out.





Maverick



“She’s…pretty,” Raven says as we get in my silver truck, ten-year-old Toyota I bought with my own money when I was sixteen. It’s seen its fair share of dings and scrapes, but it still runs like a well-oiled machine. Someday when I’m playing in the NFL, I’ll buy something sharp, but for now, I can’t think about that. One day at a time is all I can handle.

“Who?” I ask, helping her with her seat belt. Her eyes follow as I clip it into the buckle.

“Have…you…kissed…her?”

Raven’s eyes are turned up to me, and the light from the streetlight illuminates her sweet face. Emotion slams into my chest, reminding me that she’s not the same, not even close.

“No,” I say tersely as I start the truck and drive out of the parking lot.

“You…like…her?”

“Apparently, she’s just a friend.” I roll my eyes. “This isn’t one of your Disney shows where everything has a happily ever after.”

She shrugs and looks out the window. “You…should…ask…her…out.”

I shake my head at her, not telling her that I practically had. “Thanks for the dating advice, sis.”

Delaney…where do I even begin with her? Sure, we met at the bonfire, but I cocked that up, and by the time I tried to find her, she was with Alex. Once a football player has a girl, you can’t mess with them. It’s the bro code, not to mention the fact that Alex is the kicker and any small thing can freak them out.

I recall the first time I saw her after the bonfire: at a football party, on Alex’s arm, looking like she just stepped out of the pages of a geek girl magazine with her glasses, tight jeans, and a Walking Dead t-shirt she’d turned into some kind of halter top. What I liked about her was how she never looked at me any different because of who I was. She never put me on a pedestal or kissed my ass. In fact, she always fucking ignored me.

But now she isn’t with Alex.

The question is…what am I going to do about it?

I pull up at Dad’s doublewide, wishing like hell I had the money to get Raven out of here and in at Pineview Retreat, a state-of-the-art facility near Jackson, Mississippi. I’ve been eyeing it since she left the home where she was staying.