Clusterpuck (Vegas Crush #9)

6. I Do Care

6 /

i do care

Tripp

Lila walks away, both hands balled in fists at her sides, her strides confident and wide. Long chestnut hair hangs straight down her back, which is bare thanks to the summer dress of pink flowers she wears over a matching bathing suit. I find her both annoying and beautiful at the same moment. It turns me on in a way that makes me really fucking uncomfortable.

Needing something to calm my brain and my body, I grab the first book I see from Max’s bookshelf and flop down on the couch, flipping through the pages of a big hardcover about Ireland, where every photo was taken on a single day in 1985. It’s a cool book, but not doing at all what I’d hoped it would.

Getting Lila Marchmont-Terry out of my head?

Denied.

The sight of that rookie laying his hands on her? Nope. Not gonna happen on my watch. And I could have tossed him through the wall and out into the pool, but I thought I controlled myself. I kept myself calm. Didn’t raise my voice. No bodily harm done.

Only to get a feminism blast in my face instead of a simple “Thanks for that, Tripp.” But now I’m confused. Why would sending that kid on his way make her mad? The simple truth is that I’m at a total loss with Lila. I do not understand my reactions when I’m around her, nor her reactions toward me. For which “hostile” would be a fitting description.

Is it just me, or is it all men?

A few minutes later, I hear her coming back into the room, but I don’t look up. I just focus on the damn book while feeling her presence hovering along with the heavy tension hanging between us in some very loud silence.

Lila is first to break it, so it feels like a small victory. “Tripp, you’re sitting in here being a hermit. Imagine that.”

“And I’ll say, Lila, you’ve known me long enough to know that events like this wear me down,” I say calmly before closing the book and setting it back on the shelf where it was. I get up from my place on the couch and finally look at her.

“And you don’t like people all that much.” She smiles like she finds her comment amusing or clever. It’s not. I’ve heard that one many, many times. I owned that realization about myself long ago.

“That, too. I know I’m not into stroking other people’s egos while charming them with stories about how awesome my life is or bringing up the latest PC trend with someone who only wants my public support in order to check off the boxes about me.” I point a finger at her and shake it side to side. “I don’t roll like that. It’s not me, and it never will be. These kinds of gatherings are a waste of my time.”

“Why even come at all, then?” She’s challenging me to answer with her hands on her hips and her dark chocolate eyes shooting metaphorical sparks in my direction. Looking sexy as fuck doing it, I might add.

“Why to see you, of course, Liles .” I grin slowly.

Lila just shakes her head and responds with a dramatic eye roll.

She’s cute doing it, though, and it makes me chuckle. “No, I came to show my respect for Max. I wanted one more year in the league. I wanted to experience something different, and I like what this team has done. He didn’t have to make this contract happen, but he did. I suspect it’s because he’s known me forever, which is fine. I’m not going to shit in his face by not showing up.”

“Shit in his face?” Lila puts her finger in her mouth to mime gagging. “You’re so crass. I give up.”

“I am who I am, Liles.”

She makes a noise of disgust and turns, heading into the kitchen. Curious, I follow her, finding her digging into the back of the fridge. She pulls out an orange Vitamin Water. “Private stash since this is my home for the season,” she says unapologetically.

“Why are you drinking that instead of out there having a fruity-tooty drink with the other women?”

“Dude, seriously.”

“What? Why aren’t you out by the pool with your friends drinking that blueberry mojito crap set up at the bar?”

“What is with you, Tripp, my God!”

“I can’t say any damn thing without you acting like I’m the most offensive person on the planet.”

Lila’s face scrunches up as she scratches at the back of her neck. “You’re not the most offensive person. You just need to think about your words before you let them out of your mouth.”

“Why? Life’s too short to always be politically correct. Sometimes, the truth just needs to be spoken out loud.”

“Because people don’t like it when you say sexist stuff. I don’t like it, not that you’d ever care what I think.”

I do care. Those are the first words that come into my head, and I think about them before letting them out. In fact, I don’t let them out at all.

See? I can learn.

Instead of telling her that I probably care too much about what she thinks, I pull my shirt over my head and allow myself a smug moment to take in the way her brown eyes darken to almost black as she looks me up and down.

“You okay there, Liles?” I wink once just to rub it in a little more.

Her cheeks flush deeply, and she looks away. “I’m fine.”

“Hey, it’s okay to admit it when someone looks good. I’ll let you look again. Go ahead. I’ll even flex for you if you want.”

She grins but refuses to look at me again, the flush now creeping to her neck and chest. Boy, oh boy, would I like to see just how far it goes.

“Nope,” she says with her head turned. “Go away. You’re gross.”

I saunter off, happy to have affected her in that way. “Tell me about fitness and nutrition,” I mutter to myself as I step out into the sun.