“So what do you judge about my character then?” she asks, head tilted.
I look back at her with a little smile on my lips. I’m tempted to drag her back into the shadows of the building, back behind a little copse of bushes that are growing around a big square, green power generator, but I resist the urge.
“I think you don’t fit in here,” I say. “But that doesn’t stop you from making the best of it, which means you’re resilient. You’re also smart, and you’re quick to make fun of me for liking Star Wars, which means you’re brave. How am I doing so far?”
“You might as well just say I’m hot and you want to fuck me, because I’m already there,” she says with a grin.
I laugh and lean toward her, heart beating hard. “I don’t need to say it, little Chloe. I told you last night, you’re already mine.” I lean back as a red blush spreads across her cheeks. “Come on, let’s head inside.”
“Right. Uh, should we walk in together?”
“Sure, I think it’s fine. We’re just talking about some of the players you’re tutoring.” I hesitate. “Who else on the team do you tutor, by the way?”
“Marshal Jones. Landry… something.”
“Douglas,” I supply. “Okay, that’s good. I know those guys.”
“Don’t you know the whole team?”
I laugh. “I should, but there are a lot of walk-ons that just don’t get much attention.” We walk together into the flow of people. There are fewer of them now as the next class block gets closer. The lobby of the athletics building is cool, the polished tile floor reflecting the sun from the skylights above. We move back toward the elevators and I hesitate. The team locker rooms are on this floor at the back of the building. “I’ll leave you here,” I say.
“Well, it was nice chatting with you, Coach David,” she says, giving me her best perky smile.
“Sure. Tell Marshal I said he’d better study hard.” I smile at her, hesitate, then turn away. She heads over to the elevators and hits the call button, stepping back to wait in a little cluster of students.
I walk past the elevator back into a carpeted hallway. Heavy brown doors with fogged glass windows are spaced out at even intervals, and I assume they’re classrooms, though I’ve never looked inside before. Motivational posters with stupid slogans and smiling college kids are hung in a few spots. My favorite is the framed poster of a bored-looking blonde girl that says, ‘The World Is Magic!’ It make no sense, but I sure do love it.
I make it a few feet into the hall, just across from the magic poster, before I slow down and stop. Standing up ahead, leaning against the wall next to a water fountain and staring right at me, is Erik himself. He detaches from the wall and gives me a grin. I clench my jaw and keep moving toward him.
“Hey, Coach David,” he says. “What are you doing?”
“Heading to my office to watch tape. Don’t you have class?”
“Nah,” he says.
“Then what are you doing here?”
“I was getting some water,” he says, smirking at me. That square jaw and hooked nose make me want to kick him in the throat. Except the shiner I gave him almost calms me down. “Was that Chloe you were just with?”
“Yes,” I say, deciding it would be stupid to lie, he clearly saw us. “Ran into her outside.”
“I bet you did.” He laughs and runs a hand through his hair. “Hey, Coach, she’s pretty hot, right?”
“That’s inappropriate,” I say. “Why don’t you go somewhere else, Erik?”
“Nah,” he says. “I hear there’s someone making these creepy calls at night. You hear anything about that?”
I go still. My heart starts beating fast and he keeps smirking at me. The motherfucker is trying to provoke me, trying to get me to admit that I talked to Chloe about his little prank call. I want to smash his skull against a locker and leave him for dead but I have to keep myself under control. He’s still just some college asshole, and I’m the adult in the room. I need to start acting like it.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” I say. “But I got work to do.”
I move past him and he turns to watch me leave. “All right, Coach, I got you. Just be careful. Those calls can be pretty intense.”
He laughs as I walk away, my jaw clenched.
I know that motherfucker did it, and he’s not even trying to hide it. In fact, he wants to flaunt it, he wants me to lose my cool and hit him again.
That’s his plan. It hits me hard as I turn the corner and start heading back toward the football wing of the building. He wants to push me into making a mistake and going too far. He can tell I’m invested in Chloe, and he’s going to use her just to get back at me for going to Hardy about him.