Ex-Factor (Diamond Girls) (24 page)

My mouth went dry, and I suddenly felt the overwhelming urge to pee.
Oh, God!
My palms began to sweat and my pulse skyrocketed. I was totally going to pee myself on the mat in front of a packed arena. Why hadn’t I gone to the bathroom again? Why did I drink all that water?

Adrenaline thrumming through my system, I stepped into formation and smiled at the sound of excited X-Factor parents shouting our gym’s chant.

X-Factor Cheer, a cut above the rest. We get it done, the best of the best!

An overwhelming sense of peace settled over me when I stole a glance at the crowd gathered in front of the far left corner of the stage and saw Bodie grinning up at me. He’d made it after all! I eyed the blue mat, the tension in my neck easing, the ugliness of the scene with Eli fading into the background. My team needed me to pull it together and kick ass. I could do this. We, the entire team, could do this.

The music blared and I jumped off the mat in time with my teammates in a whirlwind of motion.

***

“Oh, my God!”

“We did it!”

The entire team rushed off the mat in a flurry of happy tears, flailing arms and whoops of joy. The feeling was like nothing I’d ever experienced before. Gymnastics was a solitary sport. When I’d performed well at a meet, I’d had no one to celebrate with other than myself, my coach, and my mother. Celebrating a first place routine with nineteen other girls was infinitely better in almost every way. Almost. My only wish was that my mom and dad could have been there to see us perform so well.

We’d been a sight to behold. Full squad standing tucks opened the routine, and the crowd roared when every single one of those tucks landed perfectly. The opening full up elites were timed with the music, each of the five groups hitting their count at the exact right moment, each flyer making the skill look easy. Our jumps were off the hook, our kick full tosses higher than the previous team’s, and when Claire did her flyover during the pyramid, the entire arena burst into applause.

We crowded around the side of the stage after awards and jumped up and down as we took turns hugging each other. Livvie had just released me from a death grip and jumped into someone else’s arms when Erin and I turned toward each other and froze. I lifted my arm and opened my mouth to say something, but she turned and walked away before I could get the words out.

It felt like someone had kicked me in the gut. Our perfect performance wasn’t nearly as special to me if I couldn’t share it with my best friend.

I didn’t have long to dwell on our failing friendship because in the next moment a pair of monstrous arms snaked around my middle and lifted me off the floor. Bodie’s delicious scent wrapped around me like a blanket and I smiled in spite of the grief I felt. I spun around with a giggle and wrapped my arms around his neck. “You’re here. You made it. How? Who brought you?”

Bodie cracked a glorious smile and jabbed a thumb over his shoulder. “One of my buddies from the ranch drove me here. Has a cousin with a daughter on another team. Gotta say, Doll Face, that tumbling pass you threw out there was pretty damn impressive.” His warm breath tickled my ear.

“Thank you,” I managed to say, still somewhat out of breath. “God, I was so nervous. I completely tanked it in warm-ups.” I glanced down at the angry red welts on my stomach and grimaced. “But it was weird. Once I stepped out onto the competition mat, all the nervousness, all the fear, it just fell away. I knew I would land my pass. I knew we’d nail the routine.”

With a smile, he swept me up into his arms and kissed me hungrily. “God, woman. I love it when you’re confident. It’s fucking hot.”

I blushed scarlet and nuzzled his neck, suddenly wishing we were back home at our place on the hill.

With another small kiss, he set me on my feet and grinned down at me as though he were wishing the same thing. There was nothing I wanted more than to snuggle up in his arms and let him kiss me into tomorrow, but I needed to tell him about Eli first. I fisted handfuls of the black hoodie he wore and peered up into his eyes. “I need to talk to you about Eli, Bodie.”

The grin he wore vanished almost instantly.

I swallowed hard. “He’s here. And before we went to warm-ups he…” I hesitated, a little frightened by the murderous look in Bodie’s eyes. “He kinda forced himself on me, and kissed me.”

Bodie’s entire frame went rigid, the muscles in his neck and arms rippling with unleashed aggression. “I’ll fucking kill him,” he growled. “Pound his ass into the ground.” His eyes narrowed and the bulging vein in his forehead looked as though it might burst. Eyes burning with anger, he scanned the raucous crowd surrounding us, no doubt looking for Eli. He growled when he came up short.

“Bodie?” I searched his dark eyes, worried that some of the anger radiating from them might be directed at me.

He must have realized my concern, because his expression instantly softened, and he drew me into his arms. “It’s okay, Doll Face. I’m not mad at you.” He pulled back and cupped my cheeks. “And I’m glad it was you that told me. Would’ve sucked bad hearing it from someone else.” He shook his head before pulling me against his chest. “Real men don’t force themselves on women. His ass is going to pay for what he did.”

“You skeezy ho!” Callie’s voice pounded through my skull like a jackhammer. I shifted in Bodie’s arms to see her glaring at me with her hands on her hips.

She raised a brow and scowled. “I see you’re spreading the love around. One guy’s not enough for you, Nev?” She ripped her gaze from mine and focused in on Bodie. “Just so you know, I caught your nasty-ass girlfriend with her tongue down Eli Walker’s throat minutes before we took the mat. She’s playing you, just like she played Erin.”

She zeroed in on me again, venom dripping from her pores. “I knew you were a loser, but I didn’t take you for a whore.”

A loud gasp blew past my lips, and I struggled and subsequently failed to break free from Bodie’s iron grasp. He hefted me off my feet and whirled me in the opposite direction, lips pressed to my ear.

“Don’t forget where you are right now, Doll Face.”

I froze in his arms and eyed the massive crowd surrounding us. All eyes were on the team currently performing, but would shift in a nanosecond should I break into a fight with Callie. I refused to embarrass my team or my coaches with that type of behavior. No matter how badly Callie deserved a beating.

“Callie is doing what Callie does best. She’s stirring up shit and tryin’ to cause trouble.” His deep voice soothed me, and the heat crawling up my neck and face slowly receded. He pressed his lips to my cheek, then buried his face in my hair. “Stay away from Callie, Nev. I’m gonna settle this shit tonight.”

I spun around in his arms and looked up at him, eyes narrowed in confusion. “Tonight?”

He nodded once, eyes resolute. “At Meg Crewson’s birthday party. Eli never misses a chance to throw back free beer. He’ll show up, and when he does, I’ll make sure he never steps within ten feet of you again.”

I swallowed thickly and buried my face against Bodie’s chest. I didn’t want Bodie to fight Eli and risk getting into trouble. He’d had enough drama over the past year to last him a lifetime, and didn’t need to add the possibility of incarceration to the mix. That being said, I wasn’t sure anything other than the threat of a sound beating would stop Eli from pursuing me.

I thought about my dad as I closed my eyes. He would have known exactly what to do in this situation. My chest ached and the hollow feeling that had been noticeably absent over the past couple of weeks swelled inside my chest cavity like it had never left.
God, Daddy. I miss you.
 

Chapter Sixteen

Status update:
Determined…

Public displays of affection had never been my thing. Knowing people watched me while I performed a gymnastics routine was one thing. I trained hard and wasn’t embarrassed carrying out the different tricks in front of an audience. Knowing people were gagging and silently wishing my guy and I would get a room while we shoved our tongues down one another’s throats was another. I avoided that type of attention at all cost. And besides, Aunt Trish was always telling Livvie and me that PDA led to gonorrhea.

A nurse at Indigo Falls General, she saw a crap-ton of nasty business on a daily basis and tried to scare us into making good decisions whenever she could. I knew, of course, I wouldn’t catch an STD from kissing Bodie in front of his coworker
,
but I kept my lips to myself anyway. I wasn’t about to disrespect the nice man who drove my boy out to watch me perform. Even when every cell in my body wanted to jump into Bodie’s lap and lick him from head to toe.

The sexy jackass had strategically placed my warm-up jacket over my lap in a way that allowed him to ghost the tips of his fingers up and down the inside of my thigh. It didn’t help matters that my uniform skirt was the width of a piece of dental floss, or that I didn’t have the sense or control to swat his hand away. I liked Bodie’s hands on me. He made me feel alive, which was a welcome emotion after having walked around in a state of perpetual numbness for so long. Still, I was fairly certain Aunt Trish wouldn’t have agreed to let me ride home with Bodie had she known he’d be goin’ for a feelskie.

Skin tingly and on fire, I brushed Bodie’s hand away as I bent forward to retrieve my phone out of my bag. I needed to set things right with Erin, and I needed to do it now. The way she’d looked at me in the warm-up room, that look of cool indifference, it made my heart ache. She was my best friend—the first
real
friend I’d ever made—and I wasn’t about to let slimy Eli Walker come between us. Chicks before… well, you know.

The call rolled into voicemail twice.
Dammit.
“C’mon, Erin. Talk to me.” I sent her a quick text, in which I pretty much begged her to call me, and then chucked my phone back into my cheer bag. “She hates me,” I said with a weighted sigh.

Bodie slid his arm around my back and gave my shoulder a squeeze. “She doesn’t hate you, Doll Face.”

I raised a brow and gave him a pointed “oh, really” stare.

He rolled his eyes and chuckled. “Okay, okay. There’s a solid chance she wants to rip your hair out and perform some type of voodoo curse with it, but her anger will pass—eventually.”

I leaned forward and plucked my bag off the floor as the truck pulled to a stop in front of my house. Aunt Trish’s SUV rolled up the driveway and disappeared into the garage. Lips pressed into a frown, I beamed Bodie with a pointed stare. “If you’re trying to make me feel better, it’s not working. Thanks for the ride.” I flashed a polite wave to Bodie’s work buddy before hopping out of the cab.

Bodie jumped out of the truck behind me and slid his hand around mine, lacing our fingers together. We stopped in front of the small porch, the sweet scent of Aunt Trish’s roses whirling around us with the gentle afternoon breeze.

“I know things seem pretty bad right now, but it will get better.” He traced a finger back and forth over my collarbone, and then trailed his hand down the length of my arm. Bending down so that his eyes were level with mine, he gripped me by the shoulders and beamed me with a heated stare. “Erin will come around. I promise. I’m gonna fix this thing with Eli tonight.”

I didn’t share his confidence, but kept my opinion to myself. “I’m coming with you to the party. You know that, right?” This thing with Erin and Eli was my mess, and I needed to be involved in the cleanup.

Pretending as though he didn’t hear my last comment, Bodie reached up and flicked my cheer bow before sweeping a piece of hair off my shoulder and rolling the ends between his fingers. “Your hair, it’s so soft and shiny.”

Seriously?
I raised a brow and eyeballed him in mock irritation. “C’mon, Bodie. Knock it off. Don’t pretend like you didn’t hear what I said. I’m coming with you to Meg’s party.”

He dropped his arms to his sides. The angles of his face grew hard and he shook his head. “No.”

I leaned back on my hip and placed my hands on my waist, no longer feigning anything. I was irritated, and I was pretty sure he knew it. “No? What do you mean, no?” Did he really think he could tell me what to do? Did he really think I would just fall in line?

He blew out a ragged breath and scrubbed at the back of his head in frustration. “It’s exactly what it sounds like, Doll Face. I don’t want you anywhere near that party. You seem to have forgotten I used to hang with these people. They’re a bunch of hardcore boozehounds when they get going. Is that really the type of environment you want to place yourself in? Especially after everything that’s happened?”

I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came out.

Bodie widened his stance and crossed his arms over his chest, his aura screaming, “I’m right, you’re wrong, and I’m gonna prove it to you.” He lifted his chin toward me. “Tell me, Doll Face, have you even been to a party since the night your father died?”

Okay, that was a low blow. I stepped back with a frustrated gasp, the vicious comeback I wanted to hurl at him clinging to my tongue like baking soda-flavored toothpaste. He was right, and I hated the fact I couldn’t argue with him about it. I slammed my jaw closed and stared at my feet.

“I didn’t think so.” He stepped forward, placed a finger beneath my chin, and forced me to look at him. The cocky expression he wore just moments before had faded into one of care and concern. “I’m not tryin’ to argue with you, Doll Face. I care about you, and I don’t want to see you get hurt. C’mere,” he said, and pulled me into a bone-crushing hug. His warm breath fanned across my ear and neck, warming me from the outside in. “Going to parties, being around people when they’re shitfaced and out of it, it’s not easy, Nev. People don’t get it. They don’t know what we know, that the few hours of invincibility they feel, the ‘I’m just having fun, I’m not hurtin’ anyone’ attitude isn’t worth the risk. They’re blind to the truth, and it’s frustrating as all hell.”

He was right, of course. The mere thought of going to Meg’s birthday bash made my lungs burn and my heart ache. After my dad died, I’d promised myself I’d never set foot in a party again. But that was before my boyfriend had declared a war with Eli. I wouldn’t let Bodie get in trouble because of me. I couldn’t let my mess with Eli get any bigger than it already was.