Page 11 of Dangerous Play

Yet, I never walked away, and that was my fault.

“Okay, great.” Daisy nodded.

“But a piece of advice for you…” I stopped her as she started turning on her heels, eager to get away. “Don’t believe everything a guy tells you. It’s a lesson I had to learn on my own skin.”

“How’s that working out for you?” she muttered over her shoulder, not even looking me in the eye. “There’s a party on Friday at the soccer player’s house. You should come. Just to show you are supporting the right team.”

Even though he wasn’t there physically, he was still running the show in the background.

“I’ll be there.”

Daisy offered a small, fake smile and quickly slipped out the door, phone in her hand.

She was far more gone than I thought and somehow realizing that I needed to watch myself around my own sister, made me feel like I lost her all over again.

CHAPTER THREE

MAX

My head wasfull of Ivy and her pleading. No matter how hard I tried to focus on my psychology class, I didn’t hear a word. This type of behavior was exactly why I didn’t need a girl in my life.

It was a distraction.

Swinging my backpack on, I hurried out of the theater-styled classroom where hundreds of students sweated. Being an athlete, my main goal was to go pro, but once I retired or if life didn’t want me to end up going pro, I needed a plan B. Sport psychology was my plan B.

As I walked through the busy marble floor corridors, various students nodded at me or mumbled a greeting. I had no clue who most of them were, but I politely acknowledged them, before burying my face into my phone.

I pulled a baseball cap out from my backpack and pushed it on top of my head, covering my eyes. In movies, it worked as a disguise, but in reality, it ruined my hair.

“Max!” a voice shouted my name, making me stop as I was strolling across the street in between buildings. I turned to lookbehind me, the smell of sunshine and grass filling my nose. Fall was not something that happened in California, which was why playing outside all year round was possible.

My eyes landed on Thalia Henderson, trying to catch up with me. Leaning against the bench, I took in her cropped sweater and jeans mini skirt. Her chestnut hair was bouncing in happy curls around her face, and her makeup was on point. Compared to her, I must have looked like homeless in my faded jeans and Titans sweater.

“I was trying to grab your attention all this time,” she scolded me with a smile.

“Now you got it.” I flashed her my half smile, pushing my hands in my pockets.

Thalia’s eyes fell to my hands, and she moved in closer, expecting a hug.

“What’s up?” I asked, maintaining the distance between us.

“I just wanted to congratulate you on the win.” She batted her long eyelashes. I still remembered the taste of her lips, how I could taste a full mix of berries on those lush lips.

I hated berries ever since we broke up, and I even refused to put them in my smoothie. I was that petty.

“Thank you, but it was only a friendly game, and we all know the Lions are no match for us.”

“You lost against them last year,” Thalia mentioned it, reminding me of the only time we lost against them. Maddox and Dex were both out of the game because of a red card, and I was on a verge of an injury pushing myself to play both in NCAA Division I games and USA National Team. The only downside of wanting to do both was that I didn’t get paid, just had my costs covered.

“Yeah, that was a tough one.” I shrugged, my hands fisting in my pocket. “Anyway… if that’s all…”

“I just wanted to see if you wanted to catch up?”

Thalia was toxic, possessive and crazy. I didn’t know that freshman year, but since our breakup, I did. She wanted to rekindle our relationship, and I tried to balance the line of remaining polite, but not encouraging her.

“I’m a little bit busy with practice and stuff, but maybe over the weekend I can find some time,” I muttered, and even I could hear my voice growing uncertain. “Why don’t I text you?”

“You never texted me the last time you promised.”

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