Crushing (5 page)

The next day Dom was at my house early to pick me up for school. I found him in the kitchen, poaching breakfast from my mom. Didn’t they feed him at home? I finally got him away from the food and into his truck.

Besides being upset about Lindsay, I was a little nervous about Dom taking me to school—or rather, us arriving together. Every. Day. People were going to talk. Sigh.

When we arrived in the parking lot, I was going to make a run for it. I wanted to avoid any and all questions and drama. As if I could be so lucky. We pulled into Dom’s regular spot, and there was a beautiful classic Camaro parked right next to us. In Holden’s regular spot. Oh boy. That was Gage’s car—the car he was driving the day he pulled me and Bailee out of the storm drain. Gage was standing by the driver’s side looking gorgeous. My heart did a bounce in my chest. A bunch of the seniors and juniors were standing around drooling over his car.

I looked over at Dom and he had his mouth set in a frown. I had seen that grim look on Dom’s face more in the last three days, I thought, than I had in all the years I had known him. Dammit. I suck.

I got out as quickly as I could. I needed to find the girls.

“Rory, I’ll walk you to class,” Dom insisted.

“I think I’m pretty safe here, Dom.”

“Uh-huh.” He wasn’t really paying attention. He was glaring at Gage over the hood of his truck. Gage just gave him the upward head nod. Good grief. Was that some kind of guy code? I swear I wanted to be done with them all. I had entirely too many men in my life, and they were all annoying. Well, maybe not Jackson. He hadn’t done anything to make me mad lately.

I started to walk away determined to go find the girls.

“Aurora,” Gage called out.

I froze. Did he not remember that I hated when people used my full name? I looked back and he was strolling over to me, completely ignoring Dominic, whose whole body stiffened up. I widened my eyes at Gage as he made his way over, but he didn’t even check his stride. He grinned at me. I knew that look. He remembered all right.

“Gage,” I said through my teeth. I had reached the end of my tolerance of overbearing males.

“Are you trying out for the golf team today after school?”

Him? On the golf team? This could be an issue. Holden, Dom, and I played on the team every year. Not good. “I was planning on it.”

“We both are. Why do you care?” Dom had stepped up to stand next to me, his tone belligerent.

Gage did not even look at him.

“I spoke to the coach Friday and signed up, so I guess I’ll see you over there.”

Dom huffed.

Gage took a step toward Dom. “Problem?”

“With you. Yeah. Stay away from her. She’s not even supposed to talk to you. So find some other girl to bother,” he said through gritted teeth.

“Dom!” I gasped.

Gage shifted his gaze to me. “Really?” He turned back and took another step toward Dom. “I think Rory can decide for herself. I’m pretty sure she doesn’t need a babysitter either—especially not some meathead jacked up on steroids.”

“Right, because hanging out with a screwup like you is better, and man, I don’t need steroids to finish what we started the other night.” Dom moved forward, and they were chest to chest having a stare down. People were starting to gather. It didn’t take long when boys got a whiff of a fight.

I stepped forward ready to wiggle into the middle of them, when the bell rang. The realization of where and when they were must have broken the spell. They stared at each other for another beat, then they both stepped back. I took a breath. That was close.

Gage turned to me. “See you later.” He winked and walked away.

Why was nothing ever simple?

Dom grabbed my arm and practically pulled me across the street to the school.

“Dom, let go.” I pulled back. I did not want Gage to see him pulling me. I wasn’t sure how that would end up. I knew Dom wasn’t thinking, but there had already been enough drama. Manhandling a girl was obviously a hot button for Gage.

“Oh. Sorry.” He let go. “I told you he is after you. Have you talked to him?” Dom looked hurt and accusatory. We were standing on the steps to the school.

“Yes, I have talked to him. Why are you acting like this?”

“Your parents don’t want you hanging around him. Everyone says he’s trouble.” He looked angry.

“That’s it.” I was done with this. “I’m going to class.” I just walked away. Holy cow, these boys were unbelievable. I needed to talk to Veronica and Laken when I got to class. This went way beyond IGIT. This called for a high-level summit meeting. They would at least understand what I was going through. Testosterone overload was a dangerous condition.

#

By the end of the day I was completely uptight. I was nauseated and scared after hearing about Lindsay all day. Who would do something to her? She wasn’t the type to hang out with the wrong crowd or do something risky. She was a sweet girl. There were posters up everywhere at school, and people were talking about it nonstop.

I didn’t even want to go to tryouts. It seemed so unimportant in the scheme of things. And after this morning’s little drama, it was even more unappealing. Unfortunately, though, I was committed. My parents insisted I play a sport, and golf was the only team sport I wanted to play. There was no rowing team, or I might have thought about that.

Also, practice was at the course I lived on, so it was the easiest situation possible. I loved to play, and I wasn’t bad, since I had been playing practically since I could walk. I just didn’t want to add any personal drama to my life right now, and I would rather be doing something meaningful, like searching for Lindsay or putting up posters or something. I decided to talk to the girls about it tonight. We would come up with a plan on how we could help out.

Of course Dom drove me home before practice so I could get my clubs. I didn’t feel too bad about him having to suffer my bad mood.

“Dom, seriously—the course is two minutes away. I can drive myself,” I said as I was getting out of the truck.

“No way. I’m not gettin’ on your dad’s and the Js’ bad side. Not even for you.” He shook his head and went to open the tailgate.

I stomped into the garage to grab my bag. “I’m not a child.”

He chuckled as I stomped my way to the back of his truck.

“Whatever you say.” I could tell he was trying not to laugh.

I glared at him and considered pitching a fit, but there wasn’t time. At least
his
mood had improved. Must be nice to have such a naturally sunny disposition.

When we arrived in the parking lot of the course, everyone was waiting out front except Coach Cliff. He was late. As usual.

He was this eccentric old golf pro who forgot things like tee times and match locations. Everything except the rules to golf. Break a rule on the course and he would recite it to you from the USGA Rules of Golf from memory. He was also a scratch golfer. Everyone loved him, and he was the big draw to playing on the team.

I noticed Gage standing off the side while everyone seemed to make a big show of ignoring him. Well, wasn’t that just showing Southern hospitality? They didn’t even know him, and they had already prejudged him based on the rumors they heard from their parents and friends. I loved living here, but there were some serious downsides to small-town living.

Coach Cliff came careening into the parking lot in his old tank of a Caddy. Half the kids had to jump out of the way to not get hit. I was surprised he hadn’t had his license taken away.

He parked the car in the middle of two spots and jumped out with the energy of a sixteen-year-old, arms flung wide and a big smile.

“My fellow golf enthusiasts, I am so glad you’re here!”

We all cracked up. He hadn’t changed at all.

“Mr. Rossi, would you be so good as to go inside and tell the gents in the pro shop we are here and ready to take the course by storm?”

“Sure, Coach.” He jogged off to the pro shop after a quick look at me.

The coach wandered over to where Gage was standing.

“Mr. Maddox, good to see you again! I am looking forward to seeing you play today.” They shook hands. “I spoke to your coach at Bramwell, and he was very disappointed you wouldn’t be playing for him this year.”

“Thank you, sir. I’m happy to be trying out.” Gage smiled.

There was some mumbling by the rest of the team. I stood to the back of the crowd trying to be unobtrusive. When I counted how many of us there were, I realized someone wasn’t going to make it onto the team. Coach Cliff was only allowed ten on the team and there were eleven of us counting Dom, who was making his way back with the pro. This would be interesting.

As the coach started to break us up into groups of two, I worried that he would put Gage with Dom unknowingly, and there might be a scene.

“Miss Atherton, would you please fill Mr. Maddox in on how we do things? The two of you can take the spot at the end there.” He pointed to the last tee of the driving range.

I saw Dom frown, but I didn’t have time to worry about it now.

Gage and I took our bags to the end tee and got set up. I was nervous, but I wasn’t sure why. Of course, just being near him made my heart pound and the squirrels start the Cha Cha Slide.

I wondered how good a golfer Gage was. I was fairly certain I would make the team. First of all, I was a senior and had played for coach for three years. Second, I was the token girl. Coach liked that a girl was willing to play. Most of these kids had been playing their whole lives, so it would be interesting to see what happened.

“Coach usually just wants to see if you can hit it straight and how far at this point. He’s really cool,” I said, reassuring him.

“Yeah, he seemed like it.” He took a couple of practice swings and then proceeded to hit the ball a country mile. Straight. No hook. No shank. Wow.

“Well, you’re in. I’d better watch my back,” I said in awe.

“Don’t be too impressed—you haven’t seen my short game,” he said, still looking at where the ball went. He had amazing form. He was built like a golfer. Tall, lean, with nice arms. I loved watching good golfers. All smoothness and grace. It’s funny—when you have been playing a long time, you know exactly what you’re supposed to do when you swing, but getting your body to do it is so difficult. He made it look effortless.

“Did you golf a lot in Florida?” I asked.

He grimaced. “It’s what old people there do. So yeah.”

“Oh my gosh, that’s why you’re so good now? Did you play all the time there?” I was trying hard not to giggle. I didn’t remember how good he had been at golf when we were kids. I remembered him playing with his grandpa a lot.

“Well, I’m not that good, but yeah. My grandpa took me to a lot of courses all over Florida. It made him happy when I did well, so I just kind of kept at it. Then I started to like it.”

“He must miss playing with you now.”

He looked a little uncomfortable.

“Uhh, well, he doesn’t play as much as he used to, so not really.”

He went back to hitting the ball, and I shut up. There was definitely a story there. I knew he had lived with his grandparents since his mom died when he was little, but I had no idea what happened to her, and nobody, including Gage, had ever talked about it. I was really starting to get curious.

I took my turn and shanked it out of nerves. Then I could barely hit it seventy-five yards after I got warmed up. He was so not helping my game.

After the driving range, we all moved on to the putting green in our groups. I didn’t know what Gage was talking about because his putting was amazing too. We laughed a lot, and I relaxed a little. The squirrels had mellowed out and were slow dancing now to “My Heart Will Go On.”

We finally got onto the course in two foursomes and a group of three. Thankfully Gage and I weren’t in a foursome with Dom or Holden. I couldn’t have handled any more pressure today.

The coach drove back and forth in his cart checking our progress and watching our swings. He didn’t comment much. I could tell he was evaluating. Even though I had been through it a few times, it still made me self-conscious.

It was obvious that Gage was the best golfer out here. He beat Holden’s score, who was probably the next best golfer. When Holden heard, I could tell he was really angry. I heard him cursing as he went into the men’s locker room.

After practice I was waiting for Dom, when I saw Mr. Cosgrove march up to Holden and get in his face. He looked furious. Uh-oh. This never ended well. He was so critical and mean.

Unfortunately I was stuck where I was. I was hidden by a fake tree, but I couldn’t walk away without them seeing me. I tried to blend into the wall behind me.

“What were you doing? I talked to Coach Cliff, and he told me that Maddox boy beat you by five strokes.” Mr. Cosgrove glared at Holden and spoke through his teeth.

“It was one round. No big deal, Dad.”

Mr. Cosgrove grabbed him by the arm. “It is a very big deal if you think a drug dealer beating you for a spot on the team is no big deal. You better get your priorities straight, or we are going to have a much bigger problem.”

Holden yanked his arm away. “Whatever.” He turned and headed toward the parking lot. Mr. Cosgrove walked by, but I didn’t think he saw me. I was glad. I didn’t want to be polite after I saw that.

“I can’t say I feel sorry for him, but his dad is an ass,” Gage said from right next to me.

“Well, now you see where he gets it from.” I sighed. “It’s part of why we cut him slack. It would suck to have a parent like that.”

“Having bad parents doesn’t give anyone an excuse to behave badly, Rory. Trust me. Come on. I’ll walk you out.”

We were making our way out through the clubhouse, when Nathan, Gage’s uncle, and another man were coming in. I remembered his uncle a little bit from when we were younger. I remember always being annoyed when he showed up because he used to take Gage away on trips on weekends and in the summer.

“Gage, I was just going to text you. I thought we’d eat here tonight. I’m sure you’re getting tired of microwave dinners.”

“It’s been fine, Uncle Nate. Really. But dinner sounds good.”