Chapter 37

The crowd is slow to die down. I’m one of them. At one point, my voice is so raspy I wonder why I haven’t lost it yet. The whole time, I’m darting my gaze back and forth between Beau and Archer.

Watching them interact with people is odd. They don’t treat the members of their team like subordinates. They all joke with the twins. Gently punching the boys in the shoulder or ruffling the boys’ hair. It’s odd to me. They’re reduced down to the boys they are and not the alpha’s in training they want to be.

Mia and I wave goodbye to Debbie sometime later. We walk back down and meet Steven and Neil at the same place we separated before the game. Both are wearing smiles and seem just as elated as the rest of the team and school. Steven waves enthusiastically at me.

“Some game, huh?” he says.

“I’ll say,” I take Mia out of the carrier and set her on the ground. She immediately grabs onto my leg for support. I chuckle. “I’ve never seen a sport be played like that.”

“What?” Neil smirks. “Well?”

“Har har,” I fake laugh. “But actually, yes. They’re really good.”

“Top in the territory,” comes a voice. I turn around and see Beau smiling down at me.

His hair is slick with sweat, cheeks rosy from exertion. He’s changed out of his uniform and has one the travel kit the rest of the team is wearing as well. The headband sweeping his fringe off his forehead is gone but it’s still pushed off his face. His eyes are so blue and so wide, holding this mischievous glint in them.

My stomach stirs uneasily. The pit in my stomach is becoming an endless hole. I swallow and try and smile back at Beau. It must come off funny because he laughs at me.

“Where’s Arch?” Neil asks.

Beau squats down in front of Mia and gives her a chaste kiss on the cheek. She giggles and falls back against my leg. “Talking to Coach,” Beau says. “You know him. We could get a shut out and there’d still be things we could do better.”

Steven hums in agreement. “I was gonna wait for him, but congrats.”

“Yeah,” Neil says. “Congrats. Great game. Fun to watch.”

Beau stands and rolls his eyes. “You sound like some middle aged man, Neil,” he drawls.

“What? I can’t be proud?” Neil throws his hands out.

“You could be more proud if we fixed our formation,”

Archer.

I whip around at the sound of his voice. He looks as similarly disheveled as Beau. He’s dressed in the same kit. Just like Beau, his eyes are transfixed on me. Archer’s eyes, however, have this lick of desire in them. There’s an innate hold of “mine.”

I swallow thickly and shift in my spot. Immediately, I feel the pool of wetness between my thighs. My eyes go wide and I freeze. Archer eyes me like he’s about to pounce on me. I feel my jaw fall. Luckily, Neil cuts in to save me.

“Good game, Arch,” he says.

“Yeah, uh, good game,” Steven stutters.

He seems to sense the oddness between Archer and I and keeps flicking his eyes back and forth between us. I try and clear my throat before I speak. My voice comes out squeaky and unsure.

“Good job.”

Beau snorts a laugh. Archer simply scoops Mia up into his arms. She claps in his face and lets out a giggle. Archer presses his lips to her nose. She squeals and presses her hand to his face.

It’s too much for me to handle. My hormones are working in overdrive. I’m half convinced I leaked through my pants and everyone can see the wetness blooming from within me. I shuffle I bit again. The rubbing only increases my desire.

“You’re going to be a big rugby player one day too, huh?” Beau says. He lets Mia wrap her hand around his index finger. She squeals. I almost faint.

“Oh,” Neil looks up from his phone. “Driver said he’s out front. I think that’s our cue.”

He goes to pick Mia out of Archer’s hands but Archer leans back. Neil gives him a weird look. He looks to me.

“Why don’t they come back with me?” He says. “I have a car seat.”

Neil raises an eyebrow and looks at me. “Do you care?”

Of course I care. I’m practically feral for the man right now. Being trapped in a car with his scent is not going to help. But I want it. I want his musk to wrap me up and bury me within his chest.

I say none of that, however. I look back at Archer. He nods once and I turn back to Neil. I smile as normally as I can muster. “Fine with me.”

“Okay,” Neil says. He slaps a hand on Steven’s shoulder. “We’ll see you at home then.”

The two brothers walk away and leave me with the twins. Before I can even ask Beau where he’s going, a girl appears. She weasels her way into Beau’s arm and the two walk off in a flurry of hushed whispers and giggles.

I turn back to Archer and blink at him. The sky behind him is rapidly turning dark. He seems to notice this and shifts Mia on his shoulder. He jerks his head towards the parking lot.

“Come on,” he says. “Looks like it’s gonna rain and I don’t want her getting sick.”

Turns out, it is going to rain. Though rain is not the term I’d use.

It pours.

The rain comes at the car like bullets and pounds into the wind shield of Archer’s Jeep. It takes us an hour to even get out of the town. The whole time, Archer is silent. His grip is white on the steering wheel. His eyes are so focused on the road, trying to focus past the rain and on the yellow line.

The rain begins to pound harder at one point and the view through the wind shield is nonexistent. The car skids slightly on the road and we narrowly avoid having another pair of headlights crashing into us.

Archer curses and the car screeches as he puts us back on the road. Mia is starting to get fussy. She was supposed to be fed immediately when we got home. Now, it’s half an hour later.

“Pull over,” I bark at Archer.

“What?” he says with a half glance towards me.

“This rain is going to kill us,” I say. “We can’t go any further. Pull over.”

Archer says nothing as he gently rolls the car off the road and into a gas station. The overhang gives us some reprieve from the rain but it’s still a mad house out there. Both Archer and I let out giant sighs. As soon as we do, Mia erupts into wailing sobs.