I glanced up at the sky, welcoming the rain, not caring how soaked I got.
“Dude,” Lucas called again.
Reluctantly, I hopped in. “Let’s go to my parents’ house.” I wanted to stay close to my parents, sister, and brother, and I couldn’t do that in the home Lucas and I shared near campus. Besides, I wasn’t ready to let go of them yet, even though they weren’t there.
Lucas gave the limo driver the address.
I leaned my head against the window.
“Isn’t Kari having a small gathering?” Lucas asked.
“No. We decided not to.” Aunt Kari had been too distraught to plan anything.
I closed my eyes, listening to the swish of the windshield wipers.
“You should take the semester off,” Lucas said.
“If I want to play football, I can’t.”
He looked at me seriously. “Do you want to play?”
I shrugged. “Not sure.” I really wasn’t. At the moment, football didn’t appeal to me.
“Maybe you should consider taking over your dad’s company,” he said. “Ditch school for a year.”
Straightening, I gave him a sidelong glance. “Definitely something to think about. But not likely. My old man set up the trust so that if something did happen to him and my mom, I couldn’t take over the company until I’m thirty, or later if I’m playing in the NFL.” Dad had wanted me to live my dream.
The limo turned onto the exit for the highway.
Lucas twirled his phone in his hand. “Are you still into the fundraiser?”
I’d forgotten about that. “It’s for a great cause.” My mom had been helping out at the Chelsea House for Battered Women. That was one of the reasons I’d suggested that charity to the football team.
He swung his light-brown gaze my way. “Do you still want to add a girl to the mix?”
“I was only fucking with Haven.”
“I know. I think it would be a nice addition, though. Someone like a senator’s daughter might bring in more money. And she’s beautiful.”
His last line stole the wind out of me. She was fucking unforgettable—her lilac scent and those damn emerald eyes.
“We’ll have her old man on our asses,” I said.
Lucas grinned. “When has that stopped us from doing something?”
We always did what we wanted. “She won’t do it.”
“She might if you ask her instead of telling her. I know you have a thing for her.”
He knew me well. The last girl I had a thing for was in high school, but Ellie and I had been short-lived. She had stolen my breath away when I’d first met her my freshman year. She’d had blond hair that hung down to her ass, bright-blue eyes that were big and round, and a smile that had sent shockwaves through my body. But my first crush had lasted four weeks. Ellie’s father had taken a job in another state, and I never saw her again. After that, I hadn’t fallen hard for any girl. Football had become my love.
“I’m not going to lie. She has gotten into my psyche for some odd reason.”
He laughed. “You mean she’s gotten your dick hard.”
“That too. There’s something about her.”
“Fire. She’s an inferno, and right up your alley.”
