Summer Breeze Kisses - Addison Moore Page 0,242

take you wherever you want to go.”

Where do I want to go? I’ve lost my right to sleep at Kappa G, I can’t go back to Knox’s place, which I stupidly thought was our place, and dorm admissions are closed for the night.

“Follow Harley.” I point over to the Tahoe leaving the curb. “Take me home, Lucky.” Sometimes a girl just needs her family to make her feel better, even if she doesn’t plan on getting out of bed for the rest of the summer.

A hard knock comes over the passenger’s window, and I look up to see Knox with a frantic expression—his miniature little hussy just three feet behind him.

“Harper, wait. We need to talk!”

“Drive!” I scream at the top of my lungs, and Lucky does just that.

Lucky spends the night with me in my childhood bed while I deflect having a single conversation with my mother, my sister, my sweet overly concerned brother, Lucky, or even Knox himself. I tossed my phone into the deep end of my closet as soon as we got in and haven’t fished it out yet. Suddenly, I’m not so keen on communication.

The next morning, I call student relations and am swiftly informed that the dorms don’t open up officially for another three weeks, so there’s that. It looks as if I’m home for the rest of the summer just like I predicted.

Screw the internship.

Screw Knox Toberman—just the same way he screwed me.

Knox

Harper doesn’t pick up my calls, return my texts, or show up for our internship. I’ve driven out to Hollow Meadows on three separate occasions, and each time that intimidating front gate remains as closed as her heart. I’ve pissed her off. Hell, I’ve more than pissed her off—I’ve hurt her deeply, maybe even wounded her without meaning to. Grant and Lawson have all but shaken me down for answers, but I’m slow to give them. The truth is, I don’t like this new reality that’s been flung my way. I’m petrified, out of my mind afraid, so much so that I keep getting pummeled during practice. One of my teammates clocks me with his helmet right in the gut, and had I been paying attention, I would have zigged when he zagged and not be lying supine staring at the blinding sun that sprays its death rays down over me. It’s blazing hot today. Two hundred degrees at least, and this dogfight on the field is the last place I want to be.

Rex comes up, sweat beading down his temples, his brows, his upper lip, and he kneels beside me, shading me with his body.

“What’s going on? You hung over?” He sticks his fingers over my neck as if to check my pulse.

“I’m alive.” I get up onto my elbows, and the coach calls for a break. “I think I’m done for the day.” I sling my head between my knees, and Rex coaxes me to my feet.

“Let’s get you some water.” Rex leads me off the field and motions to the stands that are miraculously in the shade. It’s hot and humid as hell, but the shade is still a welcome reprieve from the fire raining down from the sky. He sits across from me and kicks my foot out. “What’s going on? Your head hasn’t been in it the last few days. Is football still your thing?”

I jerk back as if he slapped me. “Are you nuts? Hell yes, it’s still my thing. I’ve just got a ton of other things on my mind.”

“Let’s see. Football, food, or girls—the three basic principles of your life right now, and seeing that you’re well fed, it’s not football—that leaves just one thing. Girls. How are things with Harper? You two still playing the part to mess with the masses?”

“Nope.” I wince over at the boys on the field, running around, doing their thing while I sit here with my thumb up my ass feeling sorry for myself. “Harper and I were together. It was real.”

“Was? Is that the operative word?” Rex lets out a heavy sigh. “Crap. What happened?”

“What didn’t happen? Everything was going right until it wasn’t. You know, about six months ago I had a nagging feeling in my gut that Jen and I weren’t going to work, but I denied it. And you want to know why? Because of Mom and Dad. They ate a crap sandwich and so did we because of it. I wanted them to last. And then when things fell apart, I wanted