Love Me

“Naw, different spot,” he says, holding her gaze.

Then he shocks us both when he places it right above her heart.

“Now you’ll be lucky in love,” he says and walks away.

Maggie puts her hand over the tattoo and visibly melts.

But then she squints her eyes at me. “Why does he want me to be lucky in love? Does he want me with Jake?”

“Maybe he wants to be lucky in love with you.”

“That would take more than luck,” she says. “That would take a miracle.”

The big game.

7pm

There's excitement everywhere. Pompoms wave. People cheer as the team runs out of the locker room through a blowup cougar head.

Out of the corner of my eye, I notice Riley grab Ariela's hand and pull her out of line, but then more guys run by and I don’t see where they go.

The big game is held at a nearby college stadium and the place is packed.

All the escorts are waiting for the football players to come off the field from warm-ups.

I notice Ariela has a clover tattoo on her cheek.

“Did Riley give you that?”

She puts her hand up to her cheek and smiles. When she does, I see a flash of pink on her left hand.

“Ohmigawd, did he finally ask?” I jump up and down.

She beams but then grabs my hands and whispers, “Shhhh. I haven't told anyone yet.”

“What'd he say? When did he ask?” I whisper back, still sort of jumping in place because I'm so excited.

“Just before the game. He gave me the tattoo, asked me to be his lucky charm, and then asked me to be his girlfriend.”

I give her a big hug. I'm so excited.

Then she looks at me and says, “Wait. What do you mean, finally asked?”

“He showed me and Dallas the ring weeks ago. Was all shy and said you had a thing for Hello Kitty. Isn't it adorable?”

“You didn't help him pick it out?”

“Nope. He did it all by himself. And I'm pretty sure he had it for a while before he even showed us.”

“He told me he loves me,” she whispers breathlessly.

“Back off, Kiki, she's mine,” Riley says loudly, wrapping an arm around Ariela and planting a big kiss on her lips. “Officially.”

“It's about time,” I say to him

Big hands curl around the bare skin at my waist sending waves of electricity down my sides. I turn around and immediately get a spine-tingling kiss of my own.

“You look good as my number one,” Aiden says.

“I saw you warming up. The balls all have four-leaf clovers on them.”

“Yeah, Coach saw all of Logan's tattoos and asked us to put them on—since it worked before. Although it seemed to piss Dawson off.”

“Why?”

“Maybe because you have a clover on your hip?”

The game is exciting.

A back and forth battle.

Dawson still seems to be pissed at Aiden because he's only thrown one pass to him.

Although it might be the fact that Dawson’s been on the run most of the night. Our offensive line is having a hard time holding back their defense.

Right before the half, Dawson gets tackled and is slow to get up. Tyrese helps him limp off to the side.

The coach sends Riley in to replace him.

He lines up in the shotgun position and is still calling the play when one of the defensive players rushes across the line of scrimmage and tackles him flat on his back.

The crowd boos as the official throws a flag. Riley stands up quickly, wraps his hand into the guy’s jersey, and gets in his face. I'm not sure what he tells him but the guy quickly moves back to his side of the field.

Riley calls a timeout, runs over to the bench, and has an animated discussion with the coach. Riley takes the field with Logan and Aiden following him.

They all line up, the ball is snapped, and Aiden and Logan both sprint down the field in a crossing pattern. Logan's defender misses the read, so Aiden ends up double-teamed and Logan is wide open. Riley launches the ball to him for the score.

Maggie is standing next to me in the dance line.

Logan runs past us, looks at Maggie, and pats the spot above his heart.

She touches the clover tattoo and smiles at him. But her smile is tinged with sadness and regret.

I hope after the play tomorrow night that regret is turned to hope.

After wi

“How are you?” I ask Dawson.

“I’m fine, just took a shot to the ribs. Knocked the wind out of me.”

“He'll be fine. The girls we’re hanging out with tonight are pre-med.”

Dawson tries to pull me toward him but winces and stops.

“You're really hurt.”

“I’ll be okay,” he says, stepping away from everyone else.

“I saw your face when Cam said that about the girls. You looked sad.”

“This is hard, Dawson.”

“I think the transition back to friends might be a little rough.”

I nod.

“You looked really happy when you went out on the field with Aiden. You don’t look like that with me. Even Cam said so.”

“You deserve a girl that looks like that when she's with you.”

He gives me a sad smile. “I felt really jealous, but not in the way I expected. More like I want that someday.”

Real electricity.

1:20am

I go to Aiden’s room to party and find him waiting for me outside his door.

He looks at me with such dreamy eyes that I feel a bit tipsy even though I haven’t had a drop to drink. “Come in.”

I walk in his room and am confused. “Where is everyone?”

He grins big at me. “I cancelled the party.”

“But Katie went to a party.”

“They moved it to the Cave. I told them they couldn’t party in my room anymore.” He points toward the back of his room. “The keg is gone for good.”

“Was everyone pissed?”

“Very. But I don’t care. I think it was you who told me I should only worry about what the people I love think. What my real friends think.”

“What does Logan think?”

“He and Riley helped me get the keg down to the Cave.”

“I’m proud of you, Aiden. It’s hard to stand up to your friends. Do what’s right for you.”

“What can I say? You inspire me.”

“Me? I’m a mess.”

“You’re not as much of a mess as you think you are. Do you wa

“No.”

“Oh?” He looks perplexed. I think gods are not used to being told no. It’s like the word bewilders him.

“I’d rather kiss you.”

He smiles, flashing all that blinding, brilliant power at me. I touch his hand and lead him to his bed.

We sit on the edge of his bed, both of us staring at each other. I remember thinking it was just a line when he told me he could stare into my eyes all day, but now I think he really meant it.

When his lips touch mine, they shock me.

And not his normal electrical feel. I’m talking, he actually shocks me.

“Damn, I knew your kisses were powerful, but I didn’t realize they could produce real electricity.”

He laughs, then looks at me seriously. “My kisses are powerful?”

I swallow, breathe, and nod. I’m afraid to say anything else. He taps my lip with his finger to see if he’ll get shocked again. When there is no shock, he traces my bottom lip with his finger.

I kiss his finger. Then I close my eyes and slowly suck on it. I run my tongue up the side of it, across the tip, and then slide my mouth down most of his long finger.

He seems to like it because he’s rubbing his hands hard up and down my back and leaning toward me. He rubs my lower lip with his finger when I let it slide out of my mouth and hang there before taking it deep into my mouth.

He makes a deep, throaty noise. It’s thrilling to have this effect on him just by kissing a finger. I can’t even imagine what it will be like when I kiss something more personal.