Page 102 of Rule Breaker

“What if you two have a fight and the tension bleeds into the game? What then?” he asked.

“It’s not gonna happen,” I argued.

“Everyone says that, and then—bam—it happens,” Jace countered. “Trust me. You think you know someone because you’re fucking them and then they turn around and stab you in the back.”

What? I wanted to ask Jace about his comment, since it sounded like he’d had a really bad personal experience. Unfortunately, Maddie arrived at that exact moment to deliver our breakfast. She quickly dropped off the plates and left us alone again.

“That’s not going to happen. And worrying that maybe, sometime down the line, there might be a problem?” I scoffed. “Come on.”

“At least tell Coach. Better you do it than he finds out from someone else,” Jace replied.

“I’ve already suggested that,” Dane added.

I was getting anxious, a knot forming where my stomach usually was. Maddox reached underneath the table and squeezed my thigh. Turning to him, I was about to ask the question when I already recognized his answer.

“We should tell him,” Maddox announced. “Let’s do it.”

“Are you serious?”

“Absolutely.”

“What if he suspends us? Or worse?” I asked.

“For fucking? There’s nothing in the rule book that says what we’re doing is wrong. We’re not violating any code of conduct,” Maddox turned to Dane. “That I know of.”

Dane shrugged.

“And even if thereisa rule, it’s too late. We’ve already broken it,” Maddox added. “And you know how I feel about other people’s rules.”

“Just Coach?” I asked.

Maddox nodded.

I paused, thinking about it. Could I be as fearless as Mad? I hesitated. Not because I was afraid of Coach’s backlash, but because I wanted to protect Maddox. Thinking about everything he’d told me this morning, everything he’d been through with his dad, it made me want to shield him from all the bad stuff. Would Coach go ballistic? I had no way of knowing. Then again, maybe this was the best plan. Coach hadn’t freaked out on Dane.

I glanced at Maddox again, and I knew what I wanted to do.

“Okay, I’m in. We’ll do it tomorrow,” I replied. “After we crush Langston.”

Maddox nodded. “Now that that’s sorted, can we eat our freaking breakfast? After all, we’ve got a game to prepare for.”

Damn right, we did.

CHAPTER 36

MADDOX

After scarfing down breakfast and then taking a walk around town, the five of us headed off to the gym to burn off our calories. And our tension. There was a shitload of that. Most of it went unsaid. What else was there to talk about?

I honestly had no idea how Coach Banning was gonna react to the news that me and Kayden were fucking. Okay, dating. I reminded myself not to swear in front of Coach, but it wouldn’t be easy. And if Banning so much as suggested he’d pull Kayden off the team, or punish him in any way for what was going on between us, I would protest, and protest hard.

We couldn’t have been the first teammates to fuck around. No way.

Still, it’s not like we were both out. Or that we were gonna shove our relationship in anyone’s face. It was all under control. Nothing was going to change. We’d still play our asses off, we’d still win games, we’d still be ourselves.

I sounded confident, but who the fuck knows?

Dane and Jackson left the gym first, then Jace. Me and Kayden stayed behind and worked on the weight machines. The only problem was, I was getting turned on watching him. And Iwasn’t the only one who was staring. I saw plenty of students, girls and guys, checking Kayden out. No wonder. He was built like a Viking—tall, ripped, hot as fuck. And who could miss that bouncy ass? Odd thing was, Kayden didn’t even notice the attention, or if he did, he didn’t care. But I did. I wanted to tell all of them to get lost. Stop staring at what’s mine.

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