Savage Little Lies by Eden O’Neill

Chapter Thirty-Four

Sloane

Bru came with me to Friday’s game, and I was surprised. Though he was technically still on the Windsor Prep football team, he wasn’t allowed to play. He’d spoken to the head coach about possibly reversing his thoughts on the rest of the season, but his coach held firm on the decision. There was too much risk that the players’ workouts would be too strenuous for him, and Bru was too far behind in his academics anyway to play at all. At least for this year’s season.

This bummed my brother enough where he hadn’t wanted to talk about football at all, but perhaps, he came to simply see if Dorian Prinze would make good on his promise tonight to play all home games in a dress.

He like the rest of the stadium.

Windsor Prep football fans always turned out, but this was even unusual for them. There was barely any bench space and even the opposing side had jam-packed bleachers. My brother and I came in right before the national anthem, and I wished we had arrived early. Gratefully, I ended up spotting the little rabbit at the top of the stands. She waved her arms, guiding us to come to her.

Bow had her spirit paint on and held a sign with the academy’s giant-ass mascot on it. Known as simply the king, the ape growled with a furious bite, and that was partly why I made Bow out so quickly. Her sign was huge, the gorilla large.

“Sloane!” Bow called, a flush in her cheeks. I wasn’t surprised since I was shivering myself down to my jeans. Maywood Heights’s weather was about to take a turn for the worst toward the end of the fall season. My jacket was barely enough for today. Bow moved her hoodie off the bleachers when we got there. “Saved us some seats.”

She seemed like the type to plan ahead, and I grinned, my brother and I taking them. Bow had a blanket too, and I took full advantage of it next to her. I offered it to my brother, but of course, like a dude,he said no.

I gave it to him anyway, putting it over his legs. “We don’t need another reason for you to get sick.”

His eyes lifted to the sky, and Bow frowned.

“Heard about that. You okay now?” she asked him.

“Doing fine. Though you’d never know judging by my sister.” He elbowed at my hands. I was still arranging his part of the blanket. He growled. “If you’re going to make me wear it, at least let me fucking do it.”

“Then do it,” I growled now, shaking my head and noticed right away we had an audience. Half the people in our section of the stands were looking at me, not us. I waved a hand. “You all want to take a picture? No? Then move along. The show will be over there.”

I wasn’t stupid. I knew everyoneknew that I was at the center of what had happened at school, but I wasn’t happy about it. Dorian was trying to prove a point here today, and I really didn’t want to show up, but I’d already told Bow.

“Sloane,” Bow and my brother said together. Bow chuckled. “Why are you so combative?”

“Right. People are just curious. Curious about you?” My brother cocked his head. “You going to take him back if he actually does this?”

I scoffed then, pulled out my cell phone. “I’m just here to capture him doing this crazy shit,” I said, actually telling myself that. It was the only reason I could justify being here tonight.

“Sure.” Bru exchanged a glance with Bow, and my eyes nearly rolled to the back of my head. They could think what they wanted. I was here to see Dorian Prinze make an ass of himself, point-blank. I was pretty sure this whole thing was just a ploy to get me out here anyway and more of his mind games.

Odds were, he wouldn’t even put on the dress, and he better hope for his sake he did. I was already pissed off at him enough.

“Hey. It’s about to start.” Bow stood up. Everyone else did as well as when the announcer got everything going for tonight’s game. They started with the anthem and everything, the school’s pep band playing. After that, they announced the opposing team, but it wasn’t until the king came out that everyone started freaking out.

The academy’s mascot flipped down the field. I was sure that was a nice little feat since he was a big-ass gorilla.

“Here they come.” Bow waved her sign, chanting, and though I looked around, I couldn’t see anything.

Mostly because the stands exploded.

Everyone was hooting, hollering, and pumping their fists. Bru was pumping his too, but since he was taller than me, he got a better vantage point. People were even standing on the bleachers, and it wasn’t until Bow and I joined them that I could see our team dancing down the field.

Our football team was a bunch of arrogant fuckers, the lot of them shaking their hips and dancing. They liked to intimidate the other team this way, but I had to say, I couldn’t find Dorian and the Legacy boys in the bunch.

“There. There. Look.” Bow pointed, and I should have known they’d all be last. Dorian and his crew always made up the rear.

They were the stars of the show.

Ares came roaring out. He actually roared at full volume, his namesake “Wolf” on the back of his jersey. I didn’t know how he’d gotten away with that, but Thatcher and Wells weren’t far behind.

Thatcher threw his hands up, saying, “Let’s go!” while Wells threw himself on top of him, chanting the same. The academy’s quarterback came out last, and I think it was to everyone’s surprise to find Dorian dressed the same way as his teammates. His huge thighs were housed in his regular uniform pants, the gear underneath his jersey making him big and bulky. He appeared the same as he normally would except he held his helmet instead of wore it.

Tucked under his arm, Dorian waved to the crowd with a gloved hand. He scanned the area, our bleachers.

The air horn sound came out of nowhere.

I literally almost fell off the back of the bleachers when Bow tooted a loud-ass horn. It was just like the one my dad kept in the back of the Chevelle and freaked everyone else the fuck out. They all covered their ears, and the sound definitely had the entire arena looking in this direction.

It had Dorian looking in this direction.

His hand lowered when he so obviously heard it. Smirking, he pointed in our direction, and that’s when I realized what Bow was holding. She’d flipped that dang sign over, and on the other side wasn’t the school’s mascot.

She’s here! the sign said in glittery orange paint. She even outlined it with navy to emphasize it. I grabbed her arm. “What the fuck, Bow?”

She shrugged. As if she wasn’t completely guilty for whatever the fuck this was. The crowd started laughing, and that was when I shot my gaze forward. Dorian was no longer staring at the bleachers.

He was in the middle of field, stripping. He’d tossed his helmet off to the side, jerking off his uniform top.

“Holy fuck. He’s actually wearing it,” Bru chanted, punching at the air. Dorian had discarded all his gear, his broad chest covered in dark silk. It sparkled and shined.

He wore a dress, an A line. He pulled the skirt out of his pants, and when it hung all wrinkled and fucked up around his hips, I roared in laughter.

“No fucking way.” I was losing my shit, epically. One of the biggest boys and thickest boys I’d ever seen was wearing a sleeveless dress in the middle of the football field. It even had a plunging neckline.

And he wore the shit out of it.

Dorian danced in the field, completely making an ass out of himself, and when I tell you, this boy had hype men. Wells, Thatcher, and Ares backed him up, and even though they weren’t wearing dresses, they supported him. The clique gathered around him in a semicircle, shouting and amping him up. All the while, Dorian flexed his biceps in his little black dress, and I thought I was going to throw up I was laughing so hard.

I honestly thought their coaches might have something to say about all this, but they stood off to the side. Their arms crossed, they simply shook their heads at the antics before waving the boys in.

They did come, eventually. They slapped hands before sprinting back to the team. Dorian brought up the rear, and though he put his uniform back on, he left the skirt out. He got to the sidelines, and after he put his helmet on, he whirled around and pointed in the stands.

The fact that it was at me was obvious, and of course, I was mortified. Shaking my head, I covered my face, and Bru nudged me.

“Well, it seems he was serious,” he said, grinning.

Yeah, I guess he was.

I returned to my seat with everyone else, and once the crowd calmed down, the game started. I got to witness who was easily the most popular boy in school wear a black dress the entire game.

And I recorded every minute of it.

*

Windsor Prep won against the Valley Creek Panthers in a clean sweep. This wasn’t surprising. Our team won all their games, but the talk of the evening was definitely the quarterback. He played in a skirt that whole time, and it hadn’t phased him once. He wore the dress like he played in it every game.

He even wore it after.

I hadn’t waited for Dorian on purpose. Really, waiting outside the locker room with the rest of the team’s groupies had only been for Bow’s benefit. The last time I’d seen her left to her own devices at a game, she’d nearly gotten assaulted. The pair of us waited while my brother pulled the car around for me.

The dark prince had nice legs.

They were thick and chiseled just like the rest of him. His gym bag strapped across his front, Dorian strode out from the locker room with that black dress hugging his muscled frame, and he even sported his combat boots with it.

This guy was something else.

He hadn’t even noticed me at first, nor the other guys. The four came out to their legions of fans, and I was the last person they’d take notice of since I was hiding. Bow and I had decided to take our real estate far away from their thirsty groupies, and it was her to nudge me that the guys came out.

Dorian broke away from his friends when she did, and though he got more than a few catcalls (from both guys and girls) on the way over to Bow and me, he ignored them all. The dark prince sauntered my way with nothing but confidence in his step, that black number bursting at the seams with his bulky frame.

Bow nudged me. “I’ll see you at school on Monday.”

A snicker in her voice, she skipped off in the direction of her brother. Basically, she ditched me, the traitor.

And here I thought I was being nice by waiting with her.

She sprinted past Dorian, a knowing look between them both. I could have strangled that little rabbit for her sign tonight. The two had obviously planned that.

It felt like all of Legacy had a place in Dorian’s spectacle because, despite their legion of fans, Wells, Thatcher, and Ares had their attention on Dorian’s strides toward me. Ares in particular stood out because he had two girls under his arms.

He watched on and was more than obvious about it. This thing with Dorian he kept pushing, and if I knew anything about them all, I knew why. If Ares would take a bullet for the dark prince, getting Dorian back in a girl’s good graces would be nothing for him.

“I’m sure you witnessed tonight’s festivities.” He smelled strongly of heat, boy. Angling in, Dorian presented himself. His hair was wet and so obviously freshly showered. He grinned. “But in case you didn’t, I wanted to make sure you saw up close and personal.”

I definitely saw him, but didn’t put off like that meant anything. My butt touched the wall. “Hard to miss.”

He had better legs than I did, chuckling when he pressed an arm against the wall. This brought him way too close, and the only thing keeping my head right was the fact the most popular boy in school had me against the wall while he spit game… in a dress.

But damn if a familiar heat didn’t ghost my cheeks. I was rocked where I stood, but I wasn’t going to let him see that. I tipped my chin. “I didn’t ask you to do that. Or for your notes.”

“And yet, you got them.” He managed to get closer, but kept his hands to himself. He crowded me. “And now that I got your attention, what day and time can I pick you up?”

I never said I’d actually go out with him after he made a fool of himself. I smirked. “See, your first mistake was thinking I’d go out with you after you did that. I said I might think about going out with you. Might.”

His smile was slow. “Okay.”

I angled from underneath him, his laughter gravelly. I left him standing there.

“Noa…”

“Still thinking,” I called, and ready to do more. He said he’d play every home game like this, and honestly, I wanted to see how long he’d hold out. I wanted to see if he thought it was worth it.

I didn’t know why, but I ignored any thoughts that he wouldn’t.

“I’m not giving up,” he said behind me. He laughed again. “I mean it, Sloane. You made this the best challenge for me.”

I didn’t want to be his challenge or conquest. I didn’t want to be his anything. Truth be told, I wanted nothing to do with him, but each moment of every passing day showed my defeat more and more. I mean, I came to the game tonight wantinghim to wear that dress. I wanted to see him try. I wanted him to want me, but that wasn’t the scariest thing. What was truly scary was what I wanted in addition, and that was way harder than getting me to go out with him. I wanted all his gestures to mean something.

I wasn’t a fool enough to wonder about what that something was, walking away.

My brother had pulled up our dad’s Chevelle outside the stadium when I spotted him. Standing next to it, he was chatting with a couple guys, and when I realized who they were, my brow twitched.

When Wells Ambrose and Thatcher Reed had left their pack, I didn’t know, but I’d spoken with Dorian long enough for them to leave. They had Bow with them, and the guys tipped their chin at my brother before striding away. It wasn’t until I got closer that Bru noticed me, and he got in the car like nothing had happened.

“Uh, what was that?” I strapped myself in.

“What?”

I rolled my eyes, waving toward the outside. “Wells and Thatcher? You were talking to them.”

I was aware of Wells and Thatcher’s position after everything with Dorian. I mean, Bow had told me about them giving me space, and though that shouldn’t have anything to do with my brother, they were obviously keeping their distance.

My brother’s shrug was subtle. “We were just talking about the game. They were walking to the parking lot, and I was standing here. They mentioned Coach wanted to see me back out on the field.”

“And…”

“And what?”

“You guys cool or…”

“I was standing here, and we talked.” His eyes lifted. He started the car. “You want to talk to me about if you’re going out with Dorian?” He chuckled. “According to the guys, Coach nearly had a coronary. Dorian didn’t tell him, or the assistant coaches he was going to do that.”

He’d obviously gotten away with it, though, and I noticed my brother evaded what I’d asked.

I started to ask him again, but I didn’t want to be asked about Dorian.

I couldn’t give him answers I didn’t have.