The Devastation You Reap by Tracy Lorraine
Macie
Ilove Monday nights. It's my favorite part of my week getting to spend time with a group of kids who more than deserve a little one-on-one attention and someone who'll listen to whatever they've got to say. I always leave with a massive smile on my face knowing that I made even the tiniest bit of difference to a young person's life.
And on top of that, I get to stop in the sandwich shop that I found down the street which has the best meatball sub and homemade cookies in the entire state.
My stomach is growling long before I even approach the shop just knowing what's going to be waiting for me.
"Macie," Paulo says the second I step into the shop. "You're late tonight, darling."
"I know, I had to let one of the boys beat me at pool."
He smiles at me and shakes his head.
I don’t have any grandparents. I met the ones on my dad’s side as a baby apparently but I was too young to remember. Hell, I barely even remember having parents. But I like to think that my Monday night visits to Paulo, no matter how short, is something akin to spending time with a grandfather.
"You're a good girl, Macie," he says, reaching for a pair of gloves so he can prepare my sandwich for me. "The usual?"
"Of course."
"One of these days, you're going to come in here and demand something else."
"Never," I say with a laugh as I watch him make my order without having to ask me a single question about my preferences. It's a certain sign that I eat too many of Paulo's meatball subs, but I really don't care. We're all allowed a couple of vices in life, right?
Charlie's is sex. Jace's is vodka. Nathan's is basketball, and mine is… sandwiches.
Maybe Charlie has a point about my boring life.
"Well, would you look at that," Paulo says, dragging me from the depressing thoughts. "I've got two cookies left tonight."
"Ah, must be my lucky day," I joke as he places them into a bag for me.
After tapping my cell to pay for my dinner, I wish Paulo a good night before spinning on my heels and heading for the door, only I don't get that far because before I look where I'm going, I slam into what feels like a brick wall.
Warm hands land on my upper arms sending warmth surging through my body as his manly scent fills my nose.
I know that smell. I remember it from… I lift my head and lock onto a familiar set of eyes.
Holy shit.
I swallow nervously as the green twinkles with amusement.
"Hi," I squeak, feeling like a tiny mouse right in the fox's path.
My heart thunders in my chest as the skin of my neck burns, remembering his fingers wrapped around it last night.
Oh God.
But then something unexpected happens.
His lips twitch at one side of his mouth before it curls into a smile. It’s not just any smile, but one that would knock most women on their asses with how beautiful it is.
My stomach somersaults and my chest burns red hot.
"I-I-I'm s-sorry," I stutter like an imbecile. "I-I wasn't l-look—"
"It's okay, Red." His eyes drop from mine momentarily in favor of my lips and I suck in a shocked, sharp breath. "Entirely my fault. I wasn't paying attention."
"Uh…"
He stands there staring down at me, blocking my exit, waiting for me to do… I've got no idea.
"C-can I buy you a sandwich to apologize?" I ask, knowing that it's entirely unnecessary because we both know it was an accident, but the awkward, polite girl inside me screams to do something to make this better.
"I can buy my own. How about you eat it with me though," he suggests, making my stomach damn near drop into my feet.
"Y-you want to eat your sandwich… w-with me?"
"Yeah," he confirms, staring at me like I'm some magical creature he can't figure out.
"Why?"
He shrugs. "I feel like it."
"But you're a football player."
"Ah, someone's been doing their homework. I'm glad I made an impression on you last night."
"N-no, I didn't—"
"Turkey sub, please," he says, interrupting me and turning to look at Paulo who I now discover is watching this weird exchange with an amused smile on his face.
"Of course. Sorry about your last season. Must have been tough."
"Yeah, well. Can't win them all, eh?"
"Better luck next season. I see that Jake Thorn is joining the team. Your brother is going to have his work cut out for him."
I stand there watching them chat about football with alarm bells ringing in my head.
I shouldn’t have agreed to eat with him. I know it's only a sandwich, but still. He's a football player and I should run as fast as I can in the opposite direction. Not to mention that I saw his ass last night before he almost screwed Charlie.
Hoping that they're distracted by the topic of the upcoming season and the new players who will be joining the Panthers, I take a step around Leon in the hope of bolting from the shop and hiding in the park around the corner.
But just as I'm about to pass him, his arm shoots out, stopping my progress.
"No running, Red," he growls so quietly that Paulo won't have heard it.
Leon's eyes hold mine, the emerald green darkening the longer our connection holds.
"Here you go, superstar," Paulo says, but even still, Leon doesn't look away from me.
I can't help feeling like he's trying to tell me something, but I have no clue what it might be.
"Thank you." He shifts, I assume to pay until Paulo assures him that it's on the house. "I appreciate that, sir. Thank you very much."
"Anytime. Good luck with practice and all that."
Finally, Leon rips his eyes from mine and smiles at Paulo.
"Have a great night."
"Good night, Macie," Paulo says. "Don’t do anything I wouldn't do." He winks at me before shooting Leon a look and my cheeks once again heat up as I pray that the ground will open up and swallow me whole.
"You don't need to worry about me, Paulo. Football player's charms don't work on me." I smile at him, ignoring Leon's amused stare that's burning into the top of my head and march from the shop.
"You're quite the opposite of your roommate, huh?" he mutters, catching up with me in a second with his long-ass legs.
"If by that you mean I didn't immediately roll on my back and spread my legs for you, then yes, we're polar opposites."
"Ah, well. If I remember correctly, she wasn't actually on her back."
"Oh my God," I mutter, embarrassment blooming within me as he drags the memory up I don't want in my head once more.
I continue walking, hoping that at some point he might realize that I'm not the kind of girl he's interested in and disappear.
"What is it you wanted?" I snap when we come to the park entrance.
"I just want to eat." He admits, a knee-weakening smile pulling at his lips once more.
Damn him, he really is a little bit too pretty for a dude.
"And that involves me, how exactly?" I cringe the second the words are out of my mouth. This is why I should never talk to guys.
"Well, as good as I'm sure you'd taste," he says, blatantly running his eyes down the length of my body. My skin tingles with every inch he looks at me, making me wish I was wearing more than my jersey dress, leggings and denim jacket. "I was thinking about just sitting on a bench and eating this. But if you have another suggestion, I'm all ears."
"I'm sure you are." I can't help but roll my eyes at him. "A bench is fine."
Spinning on my heels, I march toward the one I usually sit at and drop down at the farthest end in the hope of keeping some distance between us.
I love it here. We're up on a hill that showcases all of Maddison County beyond.
Until I came to look around the campus the summer before my senior year, I'd never been here before. But the second I arrived, I just knew it was the right choice.
I came here because of Mom's legacy, but I never expected to immediately feel like it was my home. Where I belonged. All I knew up until that point was that Miami with my uncle was not my home and the school he shipped me off to, that place was almost as hellish.
Maddison County was my first experience of belonging, of that comfort that wraps around you when you're in a place you feel safe. I was too young to remember a time when I might have felt that before.
The sun has long set, leaving us with the silvery light from the moon and the glow from the lights before us where life continues like normal while I sit here with my head spinning and Leon's manly scent filling my nose, mixing with that from the sandwiches. I tell myself that it's the latter that makes my stomach growl and my mouth water, but I fear a part of that might just be a lie.
He lowers himself down beside me. He's entirely too close, seeing as I left him almost all of the bench to sit on, and yet, when he rests back, I can feel his burning heat down the entire right side of my body.
I've no idea what game he's playing, but it needs to stop. And not just because I fear it might be working.
We sit in silence and I can't help but stare as he lifts his sandwich and unwraps it.
His hands are huge, I guess that's necessary when you spend your life throwing and catching a ball, but it's not so much the size that catches my eye as the healing skin on his knuckles. Apparently, Leon Dunn doesn't just use his hands for football. I can't imagine his coach would be too thrilled if he knew.
A thought hits me and it immediately sends a shiver of fear down my spine. My eyes fly up to his and I study him, mindlessly.
"What?" he asks, a cocky smirk curling at his lips.
Damn him. He knows he's good-looking, and hell if he doesn't know how to use it.
"Your coach know you've been beating the crap out of someone?" I ask exactly what I was thinking with little thought.
His eyes narrow on mine for a beat before he cockily says, "who says it was a someone?"
"Because hitting a wall makes it so much better," I deadpan with a roll of my eyes.
His eyes hold mine as his smirk gets wider.
"It's nice that you're concerned, Red. I'll remember that."
"N-no, I'm not… I was just…" I let out a frustrated sigh and lean back against the bench.
He chuckles but doesn't say anymore as I rip my sandwich open and take a massive bite. I usually try to savor it, but my need to shut myself up means I take the biggest bite I'm capable of.
I might be seen as the quiet one, the shy one, but when I'm nervous, all sorts of crap can fall from my mouth. It even got me in trouble a time or two in school, and the last thing I need to do while with Leon Dunn is to let my thoughts fall out of my mouth. He really doesn't need to hear that I think he's hot. An asshole, but hot all the same.
As if he heard me, his eyes turn toward me, making my cheeks burn.
"Just eat," I demand around a mouthful of food.
To my surprise, he does what I say and takes another huge bite of his turkey sub.
Closing my eyes, I force myself to take a breath and will the butterflies that are fluttering in my belly to abate.
So what if he's hot, and apparently wants to sit here with me. He's also a football player.
"What's your name?"
I have to give him a double-take but I guess it was stupid to assume that just because everyone on campus knows who he is that he'd have any clue about me.
"Macie S-Smith."
He studies me, his eyes taking in every inch of my face as my heart pounds so fast my head starts to swim as I wait for him to call me out on my lie.
He doesn't know who you are, Macie. No one knows who you are.
"Huh," he finally says after what feels like the longest silence of my life. "It suits you."
"Um… t-thanks, I think."
"So what are you doing out here on a Monday night then, Macie Smith?"
"Just some volunteer work. What about you?" I ask quickly, needing to turn the conversation away from me.
"Nothing much."
Crumpling up the paper that was around his sandwich he turns his whole attention to me.
My skin pricks with goose bumps and my blood heats.
"I make that shot, and you've got to go out with me again."
He looks away from me and nods toward the trash can on the other side of the path.
"N-no, I'm not—" My words falter as the ball of paper bounces on the edge before it falls right in.
Looking back at him, I find a shit-eating grin splitting his face.
"I'm not going out with you."
Wrapping my barely eaten sandwich, I shove it back in the bag along with the cookies.
"You lost, Red."
"To a bet I didn't agree to," I argue.
"Still a bet though." The skin around his eyes crinkles with his amusement as if he already knows he's won.
To be fair, he probably has. I'm not naïve enough to think that Leon Dunn doesn't always get what he wants.
"I don't date football players."
He laughs, shaking his head as if it's an excuse he's heard a million times.
Resting his arm along the back of the bench, he slides a little closer, his already unignorable scent only getting stronger as the heat of his thigh burns mine.
"Oh yeah, and why's that?"
"Because you're all arrogant, conceited assholes."
"Whoa, Macie Smith, tell me how you really feel," he says, faking his hurt as he covers his heart with his palm.
"You all think you're God's gift to the world and expect everyone to do exactly as you say."
"Huh." He nods as if he's thinking about my words. "So how about you go out with me again and I'll prove you wrong."
"Why? Why do you want to go out with me? I'm the one who stopped you from getting laid last night. You should hate me for cockblocking you."
Something flashes in the green depths but it's gone too quickly to be able to decipher it.
"I think you did me a favor actually," he admits, his hand lifting toward my back.
Leaning as far forward as I can, I glower at him.
"See," I say, glancing at his still outstretched hand. "You think you can do exactly what you want and can get away with it."
His eyes hold mine, the intensity in them rendering me useless and allowing him to continue with what he wanted to do.
Sweeping a lock of hair off my cheek, he tucks it gently behind my ear before letting his knuckles lightly brush down my neck.
I gasp at the sensation that races through my body at his simple touch and his eyes flash with heat.
"As I was saying, I think you did me a favor. Your roommate wasn't really my type."
"Easy isn't your type?" I blurt out, instantly kicking myself for the comment.
"Good friends, huh?"
"W-we're just very different people."
"I'm starting to see that," he murmurs, sucking his bottom lip into his mouth as his eyes flick down to mine.
Uncomfortable with the feelings he's causing within me, I hop up and take a huge step away from the bench.
Not willing to let me go though, he stands and runs his hand through his dark hair, pushing the loose strands back from his brow as his eyes run down the length of my body.
"I-I don't think this is a good idea. I need to leave."
"Because I'm a football player?"
"And because I caught you in bed with my roommate last night. I'm not that kind of girl, Leon."
"I know. That's why I'm here right now and not with your roommate. It's the reason why I walked away from your roommate."
"Ah I see, I thought that was because you couldn't get it up." My eyes widen as I hear the words fall from my lips.
Holy crap, you did not just say that.
Much to my surprise, his only reaction is to laugh. Surely any other guy would be offended that I just accused his manhood of not working.
"Like I said, Red," he says, once again closing the space between us. "She wasn't my type. But I think we both know that I didn't have any issues in that department, don't we?"
He steps so close to me that I've no choice but to look up to keep eye contact with him.
The air around us crackles with electricity.
Time seems to stop as we stand there in the moonlight lost in each other.
I startle when his hand lifts and he once again tucks some hair behind my ear.
My breath catches when he leans in a little, the move is so slight that it's probably not even intentional but I see it and it makes my heart jump into my throat.
"Let me walk you to your car, Red."
"I— uh…" I swallow, licking my dry lips as I try to remember how to talk once more. "I don't have a c-car."
"Okay, then I'll drive you back to your dorm."
Thankfully, he takes a step back and I'm able to drag in a lungful of air and try to regain some kind of control of myself.
"N-no it's okay, I like to walk."
"It's dark. I'm not letting you walk back alone."
"I do it every other week. No one's attacked me yet," I say, wincing the second the words are out.
"Maybe not, but if tonight was the night then I'd never forgive myself."
"Huh…" I bite down on my bottom lip as I stare at him, wondering for the first time if I’m just a judgmental asshole when it comes to football players.
"Come on, I promise to show you a good time."
Aaand there it is.
Nope. He's just like every other football player I've ever met.
Full of big promises and even bigger egos.
"That's not what Charlie said."
"I'm never going to live that down, am I?"
I glance over at him as we fall into step, side by side to make our way out of the park.
"It wasn't your finest moment. But don't worry, I'm sure you've got a whole harem of girls willing to take her place."
"What if I don't want a harem?"
I shrug. "None of my business who's ass you're slapping next."
My cheeks burn so hot that I swear they must glow like a freaking beacon.
"That's funny because something tells me that you want it to be very much your business," he mutters, almost as if I'm not meant to hear, which is exactly what I pretend to do.
We walk side by side in silence, the atmosphere still so thick with tension between us that it's hard to breathe but I figure all I've got to do is suffer the journey home and then someone will inevitably distract him from whatever this is and we can go on about our lives as if this weird little non-date in the park never happened.
"This is me," he says when we approach a sleek black BMW.
"Wow, no wonder you're not a fan of walking places."
