Chapter 187
Tamara POV
As soon as other girls saw him, I could hear the girls whispering behind me, clearly gossiping about Matt.
I was so frustrated I could barely focus on anything else. My mind kept replaying the image of Matt standing there, his bare chest glistening, with his hand on the doorframe, like he was some kind of God. Like he owned the place. Commanded the air and demanded the attention of one and all. And now he was here?
He came to sit on the benches nearby, kept his bag on the side, and sat back to watch us. I mouthed him, ‘what are you doing here?‘ He raised an eyebrow and shrugged. He mouthed back, ‘Watching you.’
I pursed my lips as I turned away, feeling heat rising to my cheeks. He was watching me so possessively that my heart hammered in my chest.
“Come on!” Coach Dana hollered us, ciapping her hands. “We don’t have all day with us. The match with the Dolphins is tomorrow!” Dolphins? Blood drained from my face. The Dolphins were the best team, not just in the county, but in our state. Why would we have a match with them? And why wasn’t I told before? Like was it a joke?
Seeing me, Coach Dana grunted. Other girls chuckled.
“She’ll be on the benches soon,” one of them snickered.
At the beachball practice, I was immediately bombarded by the team again. The same girls who had been all over Matt were now pushing their way around me. They swarmed around me, their eyes glinting with disdain. They made no effort to hide how much they were enjoying seeing me struggle.
One of them, Sarah, tossed the ball straight at me with a little too much force. “Tamara,” she said with a sneered with a challenge in her voice. The ball came hurtling towards me–too fast, too hard. I barely managed to get a hand up, but it bounced off, landing out of bounds.
Laughter rang out from a few of the other girls, and Sarah smirked. “Nice try,” she mocked. “Maybe you should stick to running away from your problems, huh?”
The others giggled as the sting of her words rattled me. Before I could gather myself, another ball was passed my way–only this time, it was a deliberate shot aimed straight at me, coming at me like a speeding bullet. I tried to dodge, but my foot caught on the sand, and I tripped, landing hard on the ground.
“What a mess,” one of them muttered, just loud enough for me to hear. “Guess she’s just clumsy, huh?”
I pushed myself up, my palms stinging from the sand. My face burned with embarrassment as my eyes went to Matt, who had narrowed his eyes on us.
Coach Dana’s voice cut through the noise. “Tamara! Focus!” she snapped in a harsh voice. “Stop making excuses. This is a game, not a place for you to sulk. If you can’t handle it, maybe you shouldn’t be on this team.”
I flinched at her words. The next play came, and I was ready for it, or so I thought. Lexi passed the ball directly to me again. I went to catch it, but it was too high, and the ball slammed into
my face.
“Oops, sorry,” Lexi said sarcastically, giggling quietly with others.
Coach Dana’s eyes narrowed as she walked toward me. “Are you even trying, Tamara? This is embarrassing. You’re making us all look bad. We are going to lose because of you?”
I felt a rush of anger and humiliation.
“Focus, Tamara!” Coach Dana shouted again. “You’re wasting time. If you can’t get it together, you’ll be benched for the competition.”
I swallowed the lump in my throat, trying to control tears inside me. I tried to push forward. But the snide remarks from the team kept coming.
“She’s such a joke.”
“What is Matt seeing her?”
She can’t even catch a ball. Are you sure she has his balls in her hands?”
1/3
“If we lose, it will be because of her.”
The laughter from the other girls was like a slap.
I wanted to scream at them. I looked at Matt and his face had a hard expression. Was he also hating the way I was playing?
“Tamara,” Coach Dana’s voice snapped me back into reality. “I don’t know what’s going on with you today, but get it together. This is supposed to be a team sport, not a circus act. Focus!”
I nodded, biting the inside of my cheek to keep from breaking down right there on the court.
Once the practice was over, Coach Dana announced that we would be going for the match to another college at 7AM tomorrow.
As I picked up my bag, I noticed how Sarah and Lexi rushed to Matt and surrounded him.
“Matt, how come you’re here?” Lexi asked, practically batting her eyelashes. She leaned toward him, showing her cleavage, swaying suggestively.
I clenched my jaw, trying not to roll my eyes.
“I’m here for Tamara,” he said in a clipped voice as he stood up.
Lexi’s face scrunched up. “Oh,” she groused. “Really?”
I couldn’t help myself and walked to where they were.
Lexi didn’t know that I had heard her. I was a werewolf and had a sharp sense of hearing. She immediately changed her stance. “Oh, Tamara, you’re so lucky to have a guy like him around!” Lexi teased, glancing at Matt, who came to stand with me, completely oblivious to the tension he was causing.
I was jealous. And I hated that I was jealous. Matt wasn’t mine. He never had been. And yet, here I was trying to stake my claim on him.
“I mean-” Lexi scorned. “With that faulty game of yours, you
I watched in silence as Matt clenched his teeth. But just as he was about to answer, I felt my heart twist, the jealousy bubbling up inside
- me.
I need to pump–up
your
game. I’m sure Matt could teach you a few tricks.”
Matt smiled and shook his head. “I’m not interested, sorry,” he said, before turning back to me. And I knew what he meant. He rejected Lexi and Sarah even before they began. My spirits immediately lifted, and I felt confident.
Sarah and Lexi walked away. Lexi shouted at others, “We’ve got a competition coming up in two days. I expect everyone to focus on the game and stop worrying about your love lives.” She shot me a look as if saying that she was going to make my life hell.
Matt caught my wrist and said, “Let’s get out of here. I know you’re hungry.”
I sighed because I was so hungry that I could eat a boar like Obelix. All of it. And then maybe carve some menhirs, just to relax my raging emotions.
As he tugged me to the hostel mess, I allowed to just drift with it. The feeling that settled over me was like a calm after a storm. His touch was calming, and I felt like purring. When we reached there, we sat in a quiet corner. He went to grab breakfast trays for both of
- us.
“You did good, Tamara,” he said as he sat beside me.
“Really?” My chest tightened. I didn’t want him to see me like this, but there was no avoiding him now.
“You okay?” he asked, his voice soft, but with an edge of concern.
I forced a smile, trying to mask how badly I was feeling. “Yeah, just… just some bad practice.”
“That didn’t look like ‘bad practice,” he said, his jaw tightening slightly as he tucked a strand of my hair behind my ear. “You did great.”
I picked up a steak and sandwich and gobbled it. Why the hell was I so hungry these days? He just watched me eating with satisfaction on his face. “Youshouldalsoeeet,” I said through my stuffed face.
He chuckled, and wiped the grease from my chin. Then he picked up his burger and ate it. “Stop worrying about the match. Coach Dana knows that our team doesn’t have a chance against the Dolphins. Even Sarah and Lexi know about it.”
“But it seems like they will lose because of me,” I said, feeling sad.
2/3
Matt kept his burger back. He wiped his hands, turned to me and cupped my cheeks. “No, they won’t lose because of you. They will lose because they are no match against the Dolphins.” He leaned over and kissed the corner of my lips, licking me as he backed.
The moment his lips brushed against mine, my entire body froze. A jolt of heat ran through me, as if a switch had been flipped. The kiss was quick, but it lingered on my lips, reverberating in my chest.
When he pulled away, he was still cupping my cheeks. Lightly, he brushed my cheeks, and winked. My throat turned dry, and I swallowed. I didn’t have the strength in me to stop him.
“So stop blaming yourself,” he added, backing away.
I somehow reined my wild heart and together we walked to the herbology class. Our fingers brushed each other’s as we walked, and I didn’t realize when Matt held my hand in his large ones. It felt so natural. I couldn’t help smiling despite all my resolution to reject him. Well, I won’t reject him today at least. I deserved this happiness for the day.
When we arrived in the herbology class, we entered hand–in–hand. Tulip was there, staring at our joined hands. If glares could kill, I would have been dead a thousand times by the time I reached my seat. Just to show her more that I wasn’t affected by her, I pulled Matt to a seat in the end. And when we settled, I moved closer to him. Then I looked at her smugly.
Tulip’s face crumpled. Did she cry all night?
she
She shouted across the class at Matt, “Where’s your assignment, Matt Erikson?”
Matt replied softly, “I emailed it to you, yesterday night, Professor Tulip. Haven’t you seen it?”
