Page 84 of Dangerous Play

“Less of a softie,” Alfie nodded.

“Maybe even a bit of a dick,” Dex added.

I sighed as I looked over all of them. “Can we get pizza or burgers?”

Everyone laughed at me, and I couldn’t even be bothered anymore. The pressure in my chest didn’t ease, and I honestly didn’t care about anything anymore. Winning felt great, but without Ivy there to share it with, it felt bittersweet.

I glanced at my phone; she had probably received thousands of notifications of me tagging her again in all the old pictures, and she could hopefully understand that was step number one for me to start winning her back.

But no message awaited me.

Frustrated, I opened up our text message chain and typed:

Sorry for the spam, but it was way overdue to unarchive our pics. I hope you don’t mind.

“Smooth, but no,” Nova muttered from behind me and took the phone from my hand, reading the message to everyone.

All my friends snickered.

“Missed you at the game today and wink emoji,” Dex offered.

“That sounds like I’m booty calling.”

“And her screaming your name sounded like you already bumped uglies, so don’t act all innocent and holier than thou.” Maddox rolled his eyes.

I almost gasped, but then I remembered I did make her come as loud as possible the day before the semi-finals, and there was not one ounce of regret within me for doing it.

“Fair point,” I nodded, glancing at my phone. “So, shall I write, ‘I’m sorry you missed the game’?”

“No, write, ‘I missed you at the game,’” Dex repeated himself. “Do you want me to type it?”

“You have crutches,” I scrunched my nose, looking at him.

Rosie slid the phone from my hand and threw it at Derek. “We will deal with this opening. You clearly suck at it. I hope you are better at flirting in real life.”

Was I? Probably not.

My face must have given me away as everyone laughed again.

I seriously needed to reconsider my choice of friends.

“Hey, Max!” someone called my name from the shadows, and I turned to glance at Eric McCarthy rushing toward me, his friend-shadow Zoya behind him. I never asked him what their relationship was, but clearly, I sucked at this whole romance thing, so it was better I didn’t meddle in other people’s business. “Great game! Congrats, guys!”

“Thanks, Eric.” The guys grinned at Coach McCarthy’s son, and I stepped to meet him.

“What’s up?”

“How’s your head?” Eric laughed, and I shrugged. “Seriously, that was insane. I don’t get why you got a red card when there was no intent to injure.”

“I think this referee was pissed off at me since the semi-finals and was looking for an excuse to send me off.” I lifted a shoulder as I pocketed my hands.

“Can I see the trophy?” he asked, glancing at Maddox behind me.

“Sure, go ahead,” I waved him off and stared at the shadow appearing behind him and turning into someone I had never seen live in my whole life. I felt a little starstruck as a legend stood in front of me. “Holy shit...” I whispered, staring at Aiden Hitchings. An American prodigy who played for the better part of his life for FC Barcelona and made the American National Team the best in history. His blonde hair still looked as messy as in all his team shots, and he was still as fit as if he came off the field just yesterday. He also happened to be married to Coach McCarthy’s mother, which kind of made him his stepdad.

“I’m Aiden Hitchings,” he introduced himself as he extended his hand to me.

“I know who you are.” I gaped at him like an idiot before grabbing his hand and shaking it. “Sorry, I’m Maximilian Aarons.”

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