Lunatics {Book 1 ✔️}

Chapter 16

At his statement, I scoffed. "By dabbled, do you mean starting varsity quarterback all four years and all-state?"

His grin got even bigger and my fingers twitched.

"How'd you know?"

"It's not hard to Google somebody, Tucker Joy."

I may have imagined it, but as he crouched down in front of me his gaze almost seemed flirtatious.

"You googled me, huh?"

I rolled my eyes in response and waited for Elias to snap the ball back to Ben. As soon as the snap came, I cut into Tucker and then flitted full speed away out of his reach, down the field. I watched as Ben sent the ball barreling toward me.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Tucker quickly approaching. By the time he'd reached my spot, it was too late. The ball was in my hands and I had taken off again.

He caught me a few feet away from the end-zone. With all of his weight barreling into me, I closed my eyes and braced myself for a painful impact but it never came. When I opened my eyes again, I realized he had wrapped his arms around me and yanked me down to the ground. But I hadn't hit the ground, he'd broken my fall.

I looked down at him and grinned, slightly out of breath. My skin was alight from where he'd touched me, I did my best to ignore it.

"You're faster than you look, Sunshine."

The sound of my nickname coming from his lips was foreign, but not at all unwelcome.

"I may or may not have dabbled with Varsity track."

His grin grew wider.

"Dabbled?"

I laughed and pushed myself off of the ground, offering him a hand as I did so. When he took it, I was hit with the full force of his emotions. It wasn't an unpleasant experience. It was only warmth that filled me.

He seemed to notice what had transpired and ran a hand through his dark hair awkwardly.

"First down!" Came Elias' excited shout from behind us as the rest of the teams ran up.

Tucker instinctively stepped backward, away from me. I didn't fail to notice it, and I don't think Rose did either.

She kept a close eye on me during the game. Tucker had brushed off our interaction and was back to normal but I couldn't shake it. I never could, not with him.

"Next touchdown wins?" Tilly suggested after an hour of playing.

Half of us were exhausted, muddy, and ready to go home. The other half had superhuman wolf powers and looked like they could run a marathon.

The Joy boys pouted a little bit but the rest of us quickly agreed before they could say anything. We lined up and I faced Tucker again. Elias snapped the ball back to Ben and I was running.

And running.

And running.

My legs worked and pumped hard through the field and even past the touchdown zone. I kept running. I couldn't stop them from moving. It was as if somebody had pushed me down a hill and I dare not stop running unless I wanted to tumble down it.

Concerned voices calling names and saying words I couldn't hear sounded muffled like they were spoken through water. My legs carried me to the woods where my feet hit vines and branches, not stopping or swerving around bushes. I ran through them, not feeling anything.

Some part of me wondered what the hell I was doing, but the rest of me seemed to know. My body was carrying me somewhere. Somewhere important.