Ryan Hunter (2 page)

Okay, she was a brave one, and not only because she dared to come here in heels that were longer than my middle finger and clearly gave her trouble walking. I wondered if she would have said this if she had faced us alone, without her lioness pack to back her up.

“We’re playing soccer just outside the city,” I told her. “In the next few weeks, you might have time to get used to us coming here.”

She smiled a wide welcome and hooked her brunette hair behind her ears, revealing pirate hoops for earrings. “Mind if we sit down?”

“Sure.” I grabbed a seat from the vacated table behind me and pulled it around so that she’d sit right next to me. I don’t know why. Maybe because Frederickson had made the most hopeful face when the girls came over, or maybe just because it was an old habit. Whichever it was, I regretted doing it the moment the other girls got chairs, too, and the pirate replica scooted so close that our legs touched under the table.

Gentlemen that we were, we paid for a round of sodas and made some casual conversation, but other than Frederickson, none of us guys seemed really impressed with the catch we’d made. The girl next to me, who had introduced herself as Sandy, ordered a mineral water and leaned in a little too close to say thank you. When I looked at her face, all I could think was that I’d prefer a girl who came clean and natural, without all the colorful cement on her face. I leaned back a few inches then widened the space between us to a solid foot. Not only was she painted like Picasso’s first guinea pig, but she also seemed to have fallen into a pot of her mother’s perfume, which stung my nose.

I had stood next to Liza a million times, and the floral scent of her shampoo and soap had never curled my toes.

Mitchell had troubles warding off a strawberry blond, who flashed braces in a flirtatious smile at him. It would have been interesting to know if he was avoiding her because of the same girl that was on my mind right now. We made it one hour, but finally Tony and I shared a look that said
Run, and run as fast as you can
.

To escape, we produced a lame ass excuse. That we weren’t allowed to stay out so long or we’d get thrown out of soccer camp, which wasn’t exactly a lie, but also nothing that we were really bothered with.

“Will you come back in on the weekend?” Sandy asked and curled a strand of her hair around her forefinger. God, who had taught this girl to flirt? It was like she had watched the worst chick-flicks ever and taken notes.

Okay, maybe she wasn’t that bad, and a few months ago, I might even have encouraged her flirting, but tonight I wasn’t in the mood. “Guess we will. But we’ll probably bring our girlfriends, too, so this round won’t happen again.”

That made her back off, and I wasn’t in the least sorry for pulling that shitty lie from nowhere. I tapped Frederickson on the shoulder and interrupted his making out with a girl who had hair as red as his. “We’re off, dude. Are you coming?”

He bit his lip, seriously deliberating. Then he detached himself from the girl he called Kelly and walked out the door with us.

“I’ve never been that happy to get away from a bunch of girls,” Mitchell said as we climbed over the threaded wire fence back at camp.

“Why?” Frederickson mumbled. “The chicks were willing. What’s your problem? Don’t want to get laid?”

Tony and I simultaneously smacked him upside the head. “I don’t like it when a girl doesn’t take no for an answer,” I told him then held the door open for the rest to slip inside. And Sandy’s hand on my thigh definitely hadn’t heard the word no before.

We crawled into the bunk beds and turned off the light.

As we walked out to the training grounds the following morning, we knew at first sight that this was going to be special day. A group of girls all dressed in soccer jerseys and cleats sat on the lush green lawn, apparently waiting for us. This year was the first time that girls had come to soccer camp, too, and initially I thought this was a good idea. But when the coach told us to gather into co-ed teams, I was a little skeptical. We’d never played with girls before. They were fragile and breakable and definitely should not be out on the field with us rowdy guys.

“Hi, Hunter,” two girls from my chemistry class greeted me.

“Hi, Brinna. Hi, Cloey,” I said without stopping to talk to the two blondes. Cloey Summers was a capable player from what I’d seen the past three days on the other field, and Brinna McNeal seemed glued to her heel, no matter what.

For the sake of everyone’s bones, the guys and I toned it down a little as we started the first match. Maybe this was foolish of us, because before the first half was over, Cloey had fouled me three times, and I don’t mean gentle, womanly fouls. Twice she rammed into me full speed and the last time she’d hooked her right leg around my ankle so that I went sailing a couple yards before I belly-flopped onto the grass.

I took a moment to pump air into my lungs again then climbed to my feet and headed toward her. Since she almost matched my six foot two, I could easily press my brow to hers and growl in her face. “Ah, you’re such a
lady
, Summers.”

“Sorry, did I hurt your feelings?” she countered with a grin that sat custom made for trouble on her lips. “Can we continue with the game now, or do you need a minute to catch your breath, Hunter?”

I had known that girl my whole life, since she lived only three streets away from me, and she’d never interested me one bit. But her aggressive style left an impression that day, and after two weeks of occasionally playing with the girls, I decided to chew through a topic with the guys on my team.

The Teen Spirit
was the place where we would talk tonight. We hadn’t gone in there since our first night out, and I wondered if Sandy and her lionesses would be around again. Guilty of the stupid lie with the girlfriends, I had a queasy feeling as we walked through the door. The feeling grew when we spotted the girls hanging out by the bar.

Very much to Frederickson’s dismay, we chose a table at the far end of the room. The place was packed on this Saturday night, and so we lost those junior chicks easily enough.

“I was thinking,” I started, only to be immediately interrupted by Alex.

“Hear, hear!”

“Shut up, Winter!” I punched him on the shoulder. “So, what do you think about a co-ed team back home?”

All seven leaned forward to rest their arms on the table.
“What?”

“Not for all the time. But you saw that playing with them wasn’t half-bad. I was thinking we could split the training time.
Half time with and half time without the chicks.”

“If they agree, anyway,” Tony pointed out.

“I saw Cloey Summers and her friends near the entrance when we came in. If you’re cool with the idea, I’ll get them and we can discuss this together.”

There was a collective silence. Slowly, grins began to grow in their faces. “Sounds like a plan to me. I’m in,” Frederickson said.

I knew he was swayed easily because, of all of us, he seemed to have the most fun with the girls.

Mitchell pulled a skeptical face. “I don’t know about this. I mean, they would never play any big games with us, anyway, so why sacrifice training time?”

“We might not play big games with them, but I know that Hamilton High has a co-ed team, too, and unless I’m very much mistaken, so do the Riverfalls Rabid Wolves. They are two teams we could invite for a friendly game once in a while.” Then I laughed and slapped him on the shoulder. “If it helps, you can ask your girlfriend to join the team as well.”

“Who?
Liz?
” He made a baffled face. “She’d rather touch a leper than a soccer ball. And she’s not my girlfriend.”

“Yeah, right,” I teased him, but to hear the truth out of my friend’s mouth felt unspeakably good. “So, do we ask the girls now or not?”

The guys agreed as one. I got to my feet and headed over to the bar where I had last glimpsed Cloey, Brinna, and three other girls from our school. Tough luck. And right next to them stood Sandy and the junior chicks. Sandy saw me walking closer, and the fact that I was alone seemed to make her happy. Her smile moved into place, and she said hi to me.

“Hey, Sandy.”

“No girlfriend again?” It sounded like a mix of accusation for the lie I had told her and delight about finding me still single.

I didn’t want to give her false hope, and more importantly, I didn’t want to spend the next hour fending her off again, so I grabbed the first familiar girl I saw and pulled her to my side. “Sorry to disappoint you,” I told a baffled Sandy. “But I just came over to get my girl.” I tilted my head to see who my girl actually was and found myself nose to nose with Cloey. She lifted a delicate brow at me but was cool enough to handle the moment.
“You ready to come back to the table with me, hun?” I said through a grin.

Cloey caused me a second of panic, but then she smiled. “Of course, baby. Let me just tell the girls that we’re moving. And that you agreed to pay for a round.”

I gritted my teeth behind a tight smile, but the rescue was worth it. With my arm still around Cloey, I walked her over to our table in the back, knowing that Sandy would stare after us with those disappointed navy blues.

Cloey played her part a little too well. She overdid it when she wrapped her arm around my waist and shoved her hand into the back pocket of my jeans.

“Hands out of there, Summers,” I growled, but kept her tucked to my side.

“Why? You have a sexy ass, Hunter.” She laughed and pinched my butt cheek before she moved her hand out of the pocket and up to safer grounds.

The guys had found chairs for the ladies, and I was more than happy when I could let go of Cloey and slump back into my seat.

“Wow, this looks like you’ve been expecting us,” she said as they all sat down. “What’s up?”

“There’s something we want to discuss with you,” I replied.

“Really?
And here I thought you only wanted to use one girl to escape another.”

I grimaced. “Yeah…thanks for that.” Then I ordered sodas for all of us, and we told the girls what we had in mind.

All of them were intrigued by the idea, especially since they didn’t have a girls’ team back in Grover Beach. The most they could play soccer was in gym class, and only when their teacher had a good day.

“I know of a few girls at school who would love to be on a team,”
Brinna said. “If you don’t mind that they aren’t all going to be seniors next year.”

“It’s actually only Sasha, Tyler, and
myself, who are going to be seniors on our team,” I pointed out. “So you don’t have to worry.”

“Cool. I can text a few girls back home and we can all meet up when we’re back. How many girls do you need for the co-ed team?”

“I guess it makes sense to split the team in half, so eleven players would be good. If there are more who want to join, we’ll have to hold tryouts.”

The evening wore on a few more hours, before we finally left the bar together.

“Everybody grab a girl,” Alex said over his shoulder with a grin as we passed Sandy and her lionesses by the bar.

I wanted to tuck Cloey under my arm again, because she was walking next to me, but the blonde gave me a grim look. “Take
Brinna,” she snapped, then she hooked her arm through Tony’s and cast him a flirtatious smile. “I want to be his girlfriend for the walk out.”

Mitchell raked a hand through his blond hair and let loose a shit-eating grin.
“Sorry, Hunter.”

He didn’t have to be.
Brinna was as good a match as anyone, and I released her as soon as the door had fallen shut behind us. However, Cloey clung to Mitchell’s arm the entire way home. Later, I got an update from Frederickson on the flirting that had apparently been going on all evening, and which I had completely missed.

Summers and Mitchell?
Now, why did that thought make me grin to myself?

Back at camp, I threw a quarter into the soda machine in the hall, just to get a chance to see how Tony and Cloey would part tonight. Knowing Cloey, I was sure she’d go for a kiss, and if she did, this could finally be my chance with Liza. If Tony was taken, she’d sooner or later realize that he wasn’t the only boy in the world.

I took a swig of Coke, watching them from the corner of my eye. To my total frustration, they didn’t kiss. They didn’t even talk about meeting the next morning at soccer training. All they said was “Goodnight,” and Cloey added, “Sleep tight, Anthony.”

Tony waited for me when she was gone and, together, we climbed the steps to the boys’ dorm. I didn’t touch on the topic, and neither did he.

Chapter 2

CLOEY SUMMERS WAS the female equivalent to me. Heading from one fling into the next, enjoying uncomplicated relationships that lasted about two to three weeks maximum and left us free of any ties. I was perfectly aware of the term womanizer or school hottie that most of the girls used in combination with my name, but while
I
didn’t want to be bound to anyone because the girl I wanted walked clueless in front of me every day, totally unaware of how I felt, I didn’t understand what kept Cloey from having a deep and meaningful relationship.