Page 69 of Rivals

Reign’s eyes widen and he looks unsure, glancing around the space. “You know I never back down. What do you have in mind?”

I hold up my finger and grab my cell phone. Quickly, I add Emma, Sam, Leif and Carter to a video call.

“What hell is this?” Sam asks, examining the boxes to see who is all on. Reign and I wave at her.

“How did we all get here?” Carter quirks his eyebrow up. “Dude, you said you had a prom-posal to do. What happened?”

“Oh, he pulled it off,” I interrupt, smirking at Reign’s sheepish face. “But I decided to add a favor. And you know we need witnesses.”

Emma’s face turns confused. “Your prom-posal was a challenge?”

“What’s the terms of the favor?” Leif asks before he throws down the remote and stops playing his video game to really concentrate now.

I run my eyes over Reign, biting my bottom lip. His eyes darken, realizing what I’m asking. “It’s time for Reign to return the favor.”

“You want me to run down the hill in my briefs?” He chuckles and shakes his head. “When you had to do it, it was summer.”

“You were still mean to me when I was trying to be your friend again,” I remind him of the apology he just gave me.

“I didn’t want to be your friend. I wanted more than that, I just didn’t know how to say that after what happened when we were kids,” he argues.

I glance at my phone and see everyone’s rapt attention on us. “You could have lost the challenge.”

Reign grunts. “I would never. And you were the one who initiated the challenge.”

“And this time you did. I’m just amping the game up. And I never said in your briefs, baby. If I go to prom with you, then you have to run down that hill buck-ass-naked.”

Reign glances at the phone. Our group is going crazy. Carter and Leif are both complaining they aren’t here to see this in person. My girls are razzing him as well. He looks at me and then at our surroundings. “Fine,” he says between clenched teeth.

The crowd on the phone cheers and I catcall as he strips down to his briefs. “Strip.” With a haughty look on his face, he drops the briefs. I turn the phone and make sure it’s not aimed at his dick, because I don’t want anyone to see. My cheeks flush and then they all start teasing me.

“This is for you, Conrad,” Reign says, walking to the hill, his arms out wide.

“I LOVE RILEY CONRAD!” he yells, while running down the entire hill, naked.

Laughter bubbles in my chest and I end the phone call with our friends. Favor met. I laugh so hard my eyes fill with tears that I’m wiping away when Reign makes it back up to the top. He doesn’t reach for his clothes, just me. His hands cradle my face and he kisses me, deep, loving, with a promise in there to fix all our bad memories and create better ones.

“You’re insane,” I whisper between our lips, when he finally pulls away for air.

“I might be, when it comes to you.”

Riley

“Okay, this is getting harder and not easier,” I say, turning to the side and gazing at the mirror.

Emma and Sam step away from their own mirrors and walk over to mine. We’ve been dress shopping for two hours now and I still can’t make up my mind about what dress to wear. I went to prom last year with a group of friends, but it felt different. When I chose the purple dress I wore, it was more about fun. This time it’s about making sure I bring Reign Thorn to his knees.

“I like the red one,” Sam replies and points to the dress I previously tried.

Emma points to the black one. “You looked stunning in that one too. I see the problem.”

I laugh and side hug each one of my girls before taking a seat on the chair. “I think I’m over this for today. I need a coffee and a break from looking at colors.”

“Did Reign give you any ideas about what he wanted? I thought for sure with the way he is, he’d already have it planned.” Sam smirks and I give her my middle finger.

“He’s over the top in all things except my dress color apparently.” I shrug. “It would be more helpful if he was.”

Emma sits next to me, in her pastel pink chiffon dress. “It’s good to make your own choices too.”

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