Page 5 of The Playbook

Andy held his hand out and gave me a shit-eating grin. I shook his hand and glared back at him.

“What have you done?” Ryan sighed the moment our group broke apart.

“I’m sick of his shit.” I got another beer and downed it.

“You do realize it’s a bad idea, right? I mean, it’s Coach’s daughter. If he finds out—”

“I know, Ryan.” I sighed. “But it’s too late now.”

“You need to learn to check yourself, man. Just because Andy pushes you doesn’t mean you need to bring out your damn claws every time. He does it on purpose because he knows how to work you.”

“Yeah, well, it doesn’t matter because I’m taking his ass down.”

Ryan let out a sigh and shook his head for what seemed like the millionth time. “Whatever.”

We didn’t continue the conversation because Nikki approached and rubbed up against me. Normally, I would’ve taken her upstairs, but tonight I was too keyed up about Grace. So instead, I untangled myself from her and headed out to the patio so I could search for Grace on social media.

In seconds, her Facebook page greeted me. Her profile picture was of her and a turtle. A freaking turtle with a cape on its shell. Of course, I couldn’t see her face because she had her damn hoodie pulled low over her head.

Real cool, Grace.

If I thought her Instagram would be any different, I was wrong. Tons of animal pictures. Her with dogs. That damn turtle. Cats. Jesus. . . loads of cats. Her drum kit. That made me smile. I knew she was part of the marching band and came to our games. I’d never heard her play on her own though, but I knew how good our drumline was, so I was impressed for that reason alone.

There were images of books she’d read. So many damn books. A few photos of her with Lana, her hot, blonde friend, were posted randomly. None of the pictures looked exciting. Ice cream. Movies. A few random shots of them smiling. It looked like her life revolved around animals, drums, and books.

I sighed and gazed up at the sky.

I may have made a big mistake because Grace Matthews was not going to be easy or fun judging by her social media posts. But maybe I could change that.

CHAPTER3

Grace

Ichickened out.

Instead of wearing one of the cute outfits Lana had picked out for me, I’d gone with a plain, gray t-shirt beneath a dark hoodie, a pair of faded jeans, and my new pink and white chucks. I let my dark hair hang in my face per my usual and pulled my hood up.

“I thought you’d wear one of those cute skirts,” Mom said with a pout as I flopped down in my seat at the kitchen table and speared a waffle with my fork.

“Nope,” I said, dumping a generous amount of maple syrup on my waffle.

“She looks fine, Jess.” Dad shot me a wink, which I returned with a grin. He knew me well. Plus, he always looked like he was going to be sick whenever he saw me in a skirt.

“I just think she’d look so pretty in one. Ooh, you should ask out one of the boys—”

“Jess.” Dad placed his mug of coffee on the table and gave her a pointed look. “Grace needs to concentrate on her schoolwork. She’s going to Rayton, like we did. Boys will only ruin that. They only want one thing. . .”

He was off on his tangent, my mom rolling her eyes with every sentence he finished.

“John, you seem to forget thatyouwere one of those boys to me.” Mom winked at me as Dad shot her a smirk.

“And now look at you.” He grinned at her, grabbing her by the hand and tugging her onto his lap.

She let out a shriek of laughter as he gave her a tickle before his lips found hers and they started to kiss.

“Ugh. Gross. Get a room,” I hissed, pushing my plate away and getting to my feet.

It was no secret my parents were as much in love now as they were back in high school when they’d dated. I’d come along a few years after college, and the rest is history.

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