The Fighter and His Tiger (Unexpected Love #1)

12. Saturday Week Four

12. Saturday Week Four

To say I was exhausted, would be an understatement; I was shattered.

Noah dropped me home at around 12:30 but even after I was tucked up in my duvet, my thoughts kept drifting to a certain beat up Boxer Boy. Worry and anxiety were pounding away in my mind.

Was he ok? Did I clean him up well enough? What injuries did he sustain that I didn't see? Did he need to go to the hospital? Had he fallen off of the sofa? Is he awake? Is he alive? Did his mum find him like that, all beat up? What if one of the twins find him like that?

The questions all floated around my head relentlessly and frustration clawed at me due to my lack of answers. I didn't want to message him on the chance that he was asleep and I woke him up. The turbulent emotions meant that I didn't find sleep until 3 am and now I was doing the stupid morning shift at the diner. And everyone was pissing me the fuck off.

To make matters worse, a group of football players from school came stumbling into the diner at around 1 pm; the peak of my moodiness because this is the time I should be waking up.

My heart nearly jumped out of my chest when Sarah clasped my shoulder, "Want me to take them?" She asked, looking in the direction of the boys and sensing my rising anxiety.

My eyes briefly scanned over them and I shook my head, my heart calming when I didn't see him there, "no, I'm good, I got this."

I took a deep breath in and out and then made my way over to the boy's table, stopping just beside it causing them to look up at me, I opened my mouth to talk but someone beat me to it.

"Rei-bear! Holy shit! It's been a while."

My blood boiled in my veins and my skin crawled at the nickname he had given me, it had been a while since I heard it. Coming from the mouth of Caleb Hall, our school's tight-end, I knew it was harmless, but it still cut through me like a knife.

"Don't call me that!" I snapped.

He held his hands up in mock surrender and gave me his cheeky smile, "my bad. I forgot only M-"

"So! What can I get you, boys?" I interrupted in an overly chipper voice before he could say his name. I did not need to hear his name.

Before any of them could give me their order though, Caleb decided to continue talking to me; he always was an annoying prick.

"Where've you been? We never see you at parties anymore?" There is a reason for that Caleb.

I shrugged at him and pulled my pad and pen out, hoping he got the hint, "guess they're just not my scene anymore."

"Hmm, I guess not. How's Noah doing?"

"I don't know Caleb, I'm not his keeper. You're on the team with him, ask him yourself." Annoyance rose through me, we weren't friends and in all honesty, we had never been friends even when I was forced to be around him, so what was with this being nice shit.

"Oh, my bad. I just thought that he couldn't take a piss without your permission."

He and the boys all laughed at this but I didn't find it funny. My hands fell to my sides to hide my clenching fists as I took a step closer to their table, my anger mounted to a whole other level.

"You got something you wanna say?" I provoked him through gritted teeth.

Caleb sat up straighter in his chair and his easy-going smile dropped off his face as he met my glare head-on, "I think you know exactly what I want to say Reillyn."