Page 39 of The Quarterback Sneak

“Well, you were treating it like it was a joke.”

“I was a carrot, babe.” Babe? The nickname coming out of his mouth sounds wrong and makes me pine for Zach and his stupid sense of humor. “No one except you took that play seriously.”

I shake my head, because I’m always the only one who takes things seriously. “I gotta go,” I say hastily, ready to leave.

Brett grasps my hand, stopping me. “Before you go. I know you’ve confirmed that you and Zach are together, but I wanted to throw my hat in the ring.”

“Didn’t we already discuss this at the bonfire?”

Lifting a shoulder, he grins. “Yeah, we did, but I think you thought I was joking.”

“You’re only interested in dating me to tick Jamie off.”

“Nah, that’s not true. I’ve been interested in you for a long time and wanted to finally get my chance with you. I just didn’t expect Zach would be onto you so quickly.” He looks sincere, and maybe if I didn’t know about the bet, I’d believe him. Still doesn’t mean I’d give him a chance.

“Good to know, but just to be clear, I’m not interested in anyone but Zach.” The words feel so tragic as they fall out of my mouth because as much as I don’t want to admit it, they’re kind of true.

Brett’s lips curve up. “For now.”

I roll my eyes, not bothering to respond. Brett has no chance of winning that bet, but I’m not about to correct him. Walking out the door, I look around the hallway for a specific streak of blond hair that apparently makes my panties a little damp these days, but he’s not around.

“Honey,” Olivia sings, saddling up beside me. “Do you want to do lunch today?”

“Can’t. I need to find my boyfriend,” I say but not entirely sure why. I don’t need to see him, but I want to.

Olivia laughs. “Boyfriend? Surely since Saturday, he’s earned the title of future husband?” I glare at her because shedoesn’t know anything about my inappropriate thoughts about Zach. I’ve kept them to myself, too embarrassed about the implications behind them. “At least this time you’re trending on social media for a good reason.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You don’t know?”

“Clearly not.”

Widening her eyes, she pulls out her phone and focuses on that. “I knew you were taking a break from the internet, but I didn’t realize you were completely blacked out.”

She lifts the phone, and my heart stops because I expect to feel the same shame and devastation I felt the last time I watched a video on my phone. “I mean, the way he’s touching you… Wow.”

I blush when I see myself making out with Zach, clutching him the way Jamie held McKenna. “How many people have seen this?”

“Well, this is the third angle I’ve seen, and it’s had two thousand views. The comments—”

“Please.” I raise my hand, stopping her before she can continue. “I don’t want to know about the comments.”

“Okay, but they’re way more positive than before.”

“I don’t care about the comments. I don’t want to know.” I was only doing this for one reason: to get back at Jamie, but the more I watch this video, the more confused I get. We both look into each other in it, which is exactly what we want everyone to believe, but that look on Zach’s face has me feeling things I know I shouldn’t.

“Oookay,” Olivia drawls out, turning off the video and leaving me to picture it in my mind. “On the bright side, all those people who were skeptical, believe you and Zach are a thing now.”

“Everyone except the football team. Brett just tried to feel me out for a date again.”

“Again? Brett?” she says with a curled lip. “Geez, doesn’t his dad own like half of the burger joints in the state? You’d think he was desperate for the money or something.”

“No, it’s not the money. It’s that he doesn’t want to lose to Zach.”

Olivia smiles. “They will all have a rude awakening when you show up with Zach to prom.”

“I hope so.” I can’t think about prom just yet because that’s still two and a half months away, and I don’t know how I will survive until then.

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