Page 46 of Dangerous Play

I wrapped my arm around her, giving her a small kiss on her cheeks. “Good job, Blossom.”

She beamed, her cheeks where my lips touched her turning a shade of pink.

After the suffocating brunch, I decided to bring her back to our place and indulge her in some video games. I got beaten by both of them, which was why after the first round, I decided to just watch Ivy beat Dex over and over. It was great seeing him not thrive against someone. His ego needed that. Plus, pride filled my chest at how good Ivy was at these games.

That wasmygirl.

But it wasn’t.

Not really.

Maddox, Andrew, and Oliver gathered in the living room, talking but watching the Mario Kart competition unfolding.

“One more,” Dex said the same thing he was repeating the past couple of rounds.

Ivy laughed, and her carefree laughter wrapped around me like a warm hug. She needed this.

Glancing at my way, she silently asked for my permission, making me feel uncomfortable. “You can play as many rounds as you want,” I muttered, ignoring the fact that I needed to do homework and maybe even hit the gym after all the breakfast I consumed to make a point with Ander.

But I knew I made the right call when she picked up her little wheel of a controller and hit start.

“Let me show you how it’s done, Derek.”

Ivy winked at me. My chest felt tight despite the heartwarming scene unfolding in front of me. I should have been happy my girlfriend was getting on with my best friend. However, she was not my girlfriend. Yet the way Ander looked at her today made my blood boil. I got angry, and I wanted to show him how he should have treated her right.

I’ve never felt anger like that. It consumed me, and I was usually a very calm person, who kept all his emotions in check. I never lost my cool. Not on the field and not off the field. And especially not over a chick I was fake dating.

But I couldn’t deny that with every day spent with Ivy, she was slowly getting under my skin. Somehow, she got me, and that was a first.

We were both using each other, yet, it felt different.

I couldn’t explain what I was feeling. Not quite yet, but it wasn’t what I knew I was supposed to feel.

My phone vibrated and I stared at the name. Not who I wanted to talk to, but I knew I needed to get this conversation out of the way.

“I need to take this,” I informed no one in particular, and planting a small kiss on Ivy’s hand, I answered the call. “Hey, Coach McCarthy.”

“Max, you’re a hard player to track down.” His voice sounded cheerful yet sincere.

“Sorry about that. Didn’t mean to ditch your calls but school got busy and my weekend was packed,” I omitted the truth, and he hummed.

“I know, I didn’t have the university experience but I’m sure school didn’t really get in your way that much.” He was smilingbased on how his words seemed prolonged. “Rumor has it you found yourself a girlfriend.”

I swallowed hard. “Thought you are above rumors.”

“I like to entertain them every once in a while,” Sky said. “So, is it true.”

“Yes… kind of,” I muttered. It was embarrassing mentioning a girlfriend to my coach. Especially since it was all fake. “I mean… I know everyone is freaking out because of Thalia,” I addressed the reason behind his question. “But Ivy is different.”

“I’m sure she is, if you decided to jump into it,” he replied after a short pause. “I just wanted to make sure you are keeping your head in the game. And to talk about that wanna-be goal pass you made.”

I exhaled loudly. “Yeah, that was a bad judgment call.”

“We, midfielders, go through this. Learning to draw the line between scoring and passing it on. You learn by making mistakes, and next time, you will recognize the right decision sooner. I know you are unhappy with your decision, but I know in the long run, it leads you to make better decisions. You grow as a player from making mistakes. No one is perfect.”

Some of the weight from my chest lifted from his words, and I felt more at ease than at the start of the conversation. I needed to hear him say it. It wasn’t enough Coach Parker said it, or my teammates, or Ivy. I needed to hear it from Coach McCarthy.

“Thanks,” I muttered, swallowing the big lump in my throat. “I was upset over it.”

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