mouth kicks up into a challenging grin. “Then don’t.”
I doubt she understands the fire she’s playing with right now. How could she? I barely understand what’s happening between us. But it’s time to find out. “Truth or Dare, Tiger?”
“Truth.” She whispers the word even though there’s no one close enough to hear.
I grip the back of her dress and pull her closer. “Could you ever date someone like me?”
But as soon as my fingers curl into the fabric of her formal and I utter the words, her eyes go a little wild, and a gasp slips from her lips.
“Tiger?”
The color slowly slips from her face. Her perfectly manicured hands push against my shoulders, trying to get away from me.
I release her immediately. Shit, I shouldn’t have asked that question. I should’ve kept my mouth shut. “What’s wrong?”
“I have to go.”
My head’s spinning at the abrupt change in her demeanor. “What?”
Tears swim against her lower lids, and her movements are frantic and uncoordinated. Clearly my question has freaked her out.
“I’m sorry.” I don’t know what else to say.
Her gaze lands on my face but only for a second. That’s long enough to see her panicked expression and it breaks something inside me. Before I can say anything else, she gathers her skirt in her hands and runs like the gym’s on fire.
Her message couldn’t be clearer.
She wouldn’t be caught dead dating someone like me.
I’m left alone, confused as hell, and looking like the lovesick idiot I am in front of the whole student body of Ryder High. Humiliating. The pain is worse than any hit I’ve ever received on the football field.
Someone slaps me on the shoulder and says, “Dude, she ghosted you.” I don’t know who said it because my team has gathered around me. They’re doing their job and protecting their quarterback.
“What’s her problem?” my buddy Donny Lewis asks.
I glance around at the faces of my friends, my teammates, the guys who most look up to me, and lie my ass off. The malicious untruth slides off my tongue like greased goose shit and tastes just as bad. It’s ugly, but what am I supposed to do, tell them the truth? No way in hell.
I’m sure I’ll regret it in the morning, but all I care about now is saving what’s left of my battered teenage pride.
One
Cash
I downshift the Bugatti as I enter the city limits of Ryder, Texas. The information sign on the side of the road indicates my small North Texas hometown has experienced a population explosion, from the 3,500 people who lived here when I was growing up to 8,500 current residents.
But it’s not the population marker that has me pulling to the side of the road. It’s the black and gold sign behind it.
Ryder, Texas
Home of the Fighting Lions
Birthplace of Cash “The Bullet” King
Four-Time All-American, Nine-Time Pro Bowl Quarterback, and Super Bowl MVP
I stare at the words, and the low-level panic I’ve lived with for the last couple of months crawls up my vertebrae and spreads through my chest. The heavy exhalations of my too-fast breathing are the only sound in the car. I reach up and wipe my sweaty brow with my right hand and pain cuts into my shoulder. “Son of a bitch, that hurts.”
It shouldn’t still be this painful. It should be better by now. I close my eyes and breathe through the discomfort. It eventually subsides, but it’s not a gentle easing of agony like a rolling sea after a storm. No, it rips and pulls on tendons and muscles like the waters of a retreating tidal wave, leaving a path of destruction. Like my career if I’m not able to rehab this bum shoulder back to NFL standards.
But I will.
I’ve overcome every other injury I’ve had to get back to playing football. There’ve been too many to count, and each one has sucked a little more joy from the game. Before I can spiral too far down the black hole of my endless ailments, a gigantic billboard behind the one touting my accomplishments catches my eye.
It features Miss Texas 2010, Tiger Lyons. The beauty queen’s stunning face and open-mouth smile is on full display. Her perfectly straight, white teeth shimmer and shine in the early morning sun, and I swear, they can probably see it from the space station. It’s that big.
She’s also sporting a black mustache drawn above her full top lip. It sort of pisses me off that even with painted on facial hair, she’s still gorgeous.