Page 83 of Running
“Okay, okay, I’m sorry. I’m pushing.” She ratchets down her tone. “It’s him, though? Johnson.”
I pull my head out of my hands. “It is. It’s a secret, Jessica. You have to keep it to yourself.”
“I will, girl, don’t worry.” She brings her hand to my shoulder, but then her face crinkles up. “Well, I don’t keep secrets from Carter. I don’t think I can skip telling him. He would die for Johnson, though.”
This is going from bad to worse. “Okay, I understand.”
“I’ll tell him no BJs for six months if he squeals.” Her voice carries a determined tone. “He’ll keep it quiet. Why are you guys hiding it, exactly?”
“Landon.” I whip through an explanation of the dynamics with my brother and why we can’t tell him right now.
“I have so many questions.” Her hand drops off my shoulder. “But we better get out there before we miss more of the match and the guys start hunting us down. You owe me another mimosa lunch. Maybe on a day we both have classes again?”
“Sure.” It might be nice to have someone to talk to about Johnson, I realize.
We head back out to the living room, where Carter has rejoined Johnson, bringing the food with him.
“There they are. Come grab some snacks before J and I eat it all.”
Johnson sneaks a look at me when I sit down, as if he’s seeking his own reassurance about what Jessica might have seen. I shake my head at him, trying to project the message “we’ll talk after.”
The second set is well underway at this point, but I’m distracted from the tennis. What will Johnson want to do nowthat our secret has started to get out? Especially if Carter knows as a member of the team?
As we head back out to our cars to leave after the match, there’s no chance to talk to Johnson because Carter is watching from his doorstep, waving goodbye. Instead, he sends me a text as soon as he’s in his car to confirm our plans.
JOHNSON: Still coming to my place?
I reply yes, and he sends me a smile through our windows before starting his car and heading out. I follow suit, nervous the whole drive about how Johnson’s going to react.
It turns out, not that badly. After a brief grimace, Johnson’s cool as a cucumber when I finish describing my conversation with Jessica. We’re standing in his kitchen, where we grabbed some Flash Fuel from his fridge.
“She’s right,” he says stoically. “Carter’s not going to say a word. I’ll talk to him too.”
I let out a visible sigh of relief, and I’m certain my expression has made plain that I’ve been stressing over this development.
“Goldie, don’t worry. You’re not getting away from me that easily,” he teases lightly.
“I was scared that you wouldn’t want to keep seeing each other,” I respond. Immediately I realize how telling that statement is about how I feel about him.Too much too soon?
He brings his arms around me in a hug, his eyes warm. Apparently itwasn’ttoo much.
“As long as you and I are good, we’re going to figure the rest out.”
I lean my head against his chest and start to laugh, able to appreciate how ridiculous it was that our secret got out on our first outing with other people.
“I can’t believe we’ve blown our cover already.”
CHAPTER 26
Johnson
After I soothed her worries, we make our way to the TV room and finish the movie from last night. I’m about to ask whether she wants to watch something else when she takes the reins for the evening.
“Are we doing more on the list today?” she asks, her head lying against my shoulder.
Whoa, that was a quick change of topic. But needless to say, I’m down.
“I have zero objection to that. I picked last time, though. Do you want to choose now?”
