Page 61 of Snap

"Huh?" He frowned at me. "What on God's green Earth are you talking about?"

"The Down Under Bowl," I said, "she bet that we'd lose."

"She's gonna lose that bet," Chase said. Judging by his tidy hair, Brianna attacked him too. "Who are we talking about?"

"Rubie Thomas," Bam said.

Chase looked puzzled. "Why would she bet that we'd lose? She of all people knows how badass we are."

"It's not that she thought we would lose," I said. I sucked in a breath before I added, "It's because she wanted us to."

"Come again?" Bam asked. "Well, not with her I guess." He smiled wryly.

"I must be missing something," Chase said. "Because I don't understand why she would want us to lose."

I let out my breath and explained. When I was finished, I expected them to be angry. Instead, they both laughed.

"I mean, that's a pretty weird thing to bet, especially when there's no way she could win it," Chase said.

Bam chuckled and spoke at the same time. "I can't say I blame her, who would want to own our asses?"

I gave them both funny looks. I thought they would be furious. Apparently they both thought it was hilarious.

"You're not even a little bit pissed off that someone close to the team wants to be, I don't know, not close to the team?"

"Maybe she's worried that dating you will be seen as, what do you call it, nepotism," Chase pointed out. "Other people might assume you get special treatment. Not me of course, I wouldn't think that about you."

I wasn't sure if he was joking or not. He had a point though.

"I don't know," I said slowly. "If she was worried about something like that, wouldn't she have said so?"

"You tell us," Bam said, "she's your girlfriend."

Was she? I wasn't so sure about that. "I suppose she might have thought she'd scare me away."

"Exactly." Chase peered into a nearby mirror and ran a hand over his hair.

"It doesn't matter what you do," Bam told him, "you're never gonna be as good-looking as me." He grinned.

"I don't need to be," Chase said over his shoulder. "I have brains and personality instead."

Bam laughed. "Okay, dude. You keep telling yourself that."

"Oh, I will," Chase said. "Ashley likes what she sees. And no, she doesn't need glasses," he added before Bam could say another word.

"There's no accounting for taste," I teased.

"Hey, what is this? Everyone pile on Chase day?" He straightened up and pretended to look offended.

"No, that's every day." Bam chuckled.

He and I fist bumped.

"Assholes," Chase said playfully.

"That's us," Bam said. "We're bad to the bone, aren't we Ollie?"

"Yeah, one hundred percent." Here I was, wearing the outfit my mother chose for me this morning. I couldn't be badder.

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