All Things Pretty (Pretty #3)(33)
Author: M. Leighton

“Language,” Tommi chastises gently.

“It’s fine, Tommi. I doubt he’s in the mood to have his ass handed to him anyway.”

If he’s got a shred of teenage testosterone flowing through those veins, that’ll get him quicker than two hours of pleading and cajoling.

“What?” he snaps, his hateful eyes meeting mine in the mirror.

“I’ve got a football and a muddy field lined up as an excuse for me to whip your ass. But if you’re not man enough to handle it…”

“I’m stronger than you think, dickhole.”

“Oh yeah? Care to prove it on the field?”

“Fine,” he says begrudgingly.

In my peripheral vision, I see Tommi turn to face forward, her chest rising and falling with a silent sigh. Probably of relief. “You can just wear your gym clothes, okay?”

Travis shrugs.

As I’m taking them to a place that my brothers and I used to go to play touch football as kids, my eyes fall on Travis’s backpack again. I’m absolutely sure the zippers were green this morning. I watched him play with one of them. But a few days ago, I saw them as blue. Plus, why get so defensive? And why doesn’t he let it out of his sight, like Tommi says?

My gut instincts, my internal antennae twitch with suspicion. What if the teacher is involved? What if Travis is involved? That might explain why Tommi stays with Tonin. And that would explain why it’s so hard to find out how Tonin moves a bulk that we can’t find. Maybe he’s not holding it.

My mind puts possible pieces of a plausible puzzle together. Plausible yes, but plausible doesn’t matter if it can’t be proven.

As soon as we arrive at the field, I cut the engine and turn to Tommi. “The ball’s in the back. I’m gonna text Barber real quick. Let him know you’re sleeping so he can pass that along to Tonin.”

She nods and gets out, letting Travis out before closing the door and heading around to the back of the truck. I eye the backpack again, wondering if there’s anything in it besides books and shit right now. Not that it matters. I can’t look without getting busted, but what I can do is text in to the department for a background check and maybe a tail on the teacher. So that’s exactly what I do.

********

Tommi and Travis wait by the front of the truck until I get out. I snatch the ball from her hands and nod to Travis. “You can change in the truck if you wanna.” I look to Tommi. “You did say he has gym clothes, right?”

She nods and Travis turns back to the truck, totally unenthusiastic.

“This’ll be good for him,” I tell Tommi, tossing the ball in the air with a spin and catching it again.

“How is this even going to work? With three of us?”

“You two against me.”

“That’s hardly fair.”

“You’re a girl. And he’s a kid.”

“And?”

“And I’m me.”

“Oh god!” she says with a roll of her eyes.

I laugh, doing my best to keep the mood light. “Admit it, you just want an excuse to tackle me.”

“I most certainly do not.”

“Well, damn. ‘Cause that’s half the reason I’m doing this.”

“Sorry to disappoint.”

I smile down into her eyes, wishing I could kiss her right here, right now, and then carry her over into the mud and strip her clothes off. Pound her down into the wet dirt. Streak her body with my fingerprints. Mark her in a way that I can see. Shit!

Of course, her brother’s here. That’s a downer.

When he mopes back to us, dressed in shorts that hang past his knees and a shirt nearly that long, I throw the ball at his stomach. He fumbles to catch it.

“Not off to a very good start, but I’m willing to give you a chance,” I tease. “So, who’s played touch football?” Both of them just stare. “This ought to be interesting.”

I go over the basics, explaining how it will work and we head to the field. The drainage here sucks and the rain from last week left this place just the right amount of nasty. The grass is gone from years of kids playing here and the top inch or so of dirt is wet and soggy. Perfect surface for a game of mud touch football.

We face off on the field and Tommi takes off running around one side of me while Travis backs up to try and throw her the ball. I race toward him, giving his stomach a slap as I pass. “You’re sacked, quarterback,” I tell him.

“This game is stupid. And why the hell are we playing in mud?”

I reach down and grab a fistful of the gunk, smearing it on his face. “Is that answer enough?”

“What the hell did you do that for?” He wipes at his face.

“You’ll see soon enough, grouchy.”

A kid that doesn’t like to get dirty? I didn’t think such a creature existed. What the hell?

They run the exact same play the next two times. Tommi misses the catch both times. “My turn,” I yell.

I take the ball from Travis and walk back to my side, bending down and eyeing my two opponents. “Think either one of you can catch me?” I ask.

Tommi and Travis look at each other and I take off running around Travis, scoring easily.

“No fair!” cries Tommi.

“How was that not fair? It’s two against one.”

“But I didn’t know exactly what I was doing. Give me that ball.”

I toss it to her. “Take it. It’s your turn anyway. Seven-zero.”

Travis takes the ball again and he whispers something to Tommi before they get into position. They’re both grinning, the same devilish look in their identical green eyes. Maybe they’re finally getting into the spirit of the game.

Suddenly, Tommi takes off around me and Travis falls back to throw to her again. But then, before I can turn around, Tommi is jumping on my back, screaming, “Run, Travis! Run!”

Travis takes off flying and I run after him, Tommi clinging to my back like a damn monkey. I could dive after him and take him down by the legs, but I’m afraid I’ll hurt Tommi, so I let him go.

He scores, throwing the ball between his legs like some of the pros do. At least he’s seen a football game before.

“That was dirty,” I tell him as he gloats by me, throwing the ball into my stomach this time.

“I thought that was the point,” Tommi says from my back. I turn my head to look at her, her mouth level with mine. Her lips part, like she knows what I’m thinking, and somehow I resist kissing her. Instead, I sink my teeth into her chin.