Page 14 of Dangerous Play

“I can give you a ride,” I agreed. “But I won’t go inside.”

Her smile grew wider. “You came all the way here just to go back?”

“Technically, it was a ten-minute drive. It wasn’t some grand gesture.”

“Depends on who you ask.” She winked. “Let’s go. The sooner you drop me off, the sooner you can pretend this never happened.”

It almost felt like Ander was the leader of some weird cult and not the soccer team. People were staring and pointing and even taking sneaky photos, and it was ridiculous.

No wonder Ivy felt pressured. Westpoint was clearly more intense than our school.

I opened the door for Kaia, before I rounded the car and dropped next to her.

“Your school is intense.”

“Soccer is a religion here,” she answered with a shrug. “Ivy got the worst of it.”

“Are you here to take her up on her offer?” she pushed on. “Please say yes!”

I chuckled and shook my head. “I was… but then… I don’t know anymore.”

“Talk to me and I’ll convince you.”

“No offense, but I’d rather talk to Ivy.” I offered her a curt smile as I drove toward the Westpoint athletic street. “This is between her and me, and I want her to be the one I talk to first. But I’m sure she will fill you in on all the juicy details.”

As I passed some of the houses, their sizes and designs were all the same, plain and simple, but the various flags showcased who lived in them. Some had team flags; the others had fraternity chapter flags. I slowed my speed, until it came to astop in front of a white house with a flag of a lion with a soccer ball.

“You look like you’re about to change your mind.” Kaia grabbed my arm that rested on top of the steering wheel.

“Just contemplating my life choices,” I half-joked.

She smiled. “Let’s go in, pretty boy.”

CHAPTER FOUR

IVY

Coming here was a mistake.

Memories flooded my mind as I walked through the house where I spent most part of my last two years. The music was already blasting and the walls around me bounced with the deep bass. The guys scattered around the house, some playing video games in the living room, others disappearing in the media room under false pretenses, while I walked from room to room, trying to keep my anxiety at bay. No one has spared me a glance since I entered. No one even talked to me. They acted as if I was invisible, and I preferred that over being called a traitor or any other names.

My fingers tightened around my red Solo cup, water swirling around from my never-ending walk.

Nothing changed in the house. It was still the same layout, the same furniture, the same bare, pictureless walls that got painted over the summer, covering up the scratches and dents.

“You came.”

Two words.

One impassive tone that made the skin crawl.

Thousands of feelings that came crashing back.

My heart lurched, but it wasn’t happiness that made it beat faster; it was fear that urged my body to move into fight or flight mode.

Instead, I turned away from the empty canvas of the wall and faced the dark brown eyes boring holes in the back of my head.

“I did,” I replied, hoping my voice didn’t come out as shaky as it felt. “Let’s get this over with…”

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