Page 69 of Keep Me
Visuals of him watching while I got myself off with the vibrator haunted me, and it didn’t even happen… but why did I want it so badly?
Ouch.
My toe rammed into a large paver, and I lost my footing. Okay, that was an understatement. I was heading straight for the hard sidewalk with nothing to grasp on to. Cringing, I closed myeyes, ready to bear the humiliation of breaking my nose on the concrete when a pair of hands caught me with ease.
When I gained enough courage to open my eyes, I was hovering over the sidewalk, my face so close to the concrete I could almost lick it.
“Coming up,” a deep voice said as I was lifted back onto my toes, and I smiled when I saw who was holding me.
“Erik.”
“Beanie Girl,” he said as though that was my actual name. Then he took his hands away and dusted off my arms even though I didn’t need it. I hadn’t actually fallen, thanks to him. “You still running?”
I huffed out a breath. “I only just started.”
“Not true. You’ve been running all morning. You started when you ran out of class earlier.”
Still flustered, I wiped down my leggings as though that would somehow calm me.
“So you saw that?”
“Kind of hard to miss. You looked like a deer in headlights again, staring at Marty for the longest time before you bolted.”
“Yeah.” I stepped away from him, adjusting my ponytail so I didn’t have to look at him. “You know his name is Matty, right? Not Marty?”
He shrugged, offering me a cool smile. Nothing seemed to faze this guy. “Of course I do. Everyone knows him. He’s the best kicker we’ve had in this school in years. Or, at least, that’s what the papers would have you believe. All I’ve seen is a performance I’d class as subpar.”
“It’s only been a few games, and he’s had some stuff going on.” I offered an explanation, but I hadn’t spoken to Matty properly since we came back. I assumed the looming pressure of becoming a father was the thing making his kicks less accurate.
“Yeah, but there’s always stuff going on.” He pointed at his head. “Part of being an elite athlete is getting out of your head for as long as necessary to win the game. But I gotta ask because I figure you’ll know the answer to this question. Is he an evil genius or something? I heard he took down Southern Collegiate with one stroke of a keyboard. Is that true?”
“I wouldn’t exactly say that.”
“But he did release some videos, right? There were articles about it.”
“He had good reason.”
A smile played on his lips, and he shook his head, looking to the sky wistfully. “Man, I’ve got to find me a girl that will defend me as hard as you do Marty.”
“What do you mean?”
“Not trying to be shady, but it doesn’t matter what I ask, you’ve always got an excuse for him. It’s cute. Why he doesn’t see it as the biggest green flag, I’ll never know.”
“Matty’s my friend. One of my best, so I’ll always stick up for him.” I shrank into myself. The sole reason we were in this mess together was because I was always there for him. He was off being too nice to Olana, and I was acting like a side piece being too nice to him.
“I guess so, but honestly, the guy’s an idiot for not seeing what’s staring right at him.”
“And what’s that?”
“The most devoted woman a guy could ask for.”
Devotion. Fuck. Was I that obvious?
Nodding, I tried to force out a laugh. Why was Matty the first thing everyone wanted to talk to me about? I decided to change the subject.
“Thanks for catching me. I have no doubts I would have ended up with a bloody nose and at least one black eye if you weren’t there.”
“No problem.” He shrugged before pointing to the ground. “You might want to tie your shoelaces next time, though.”
