Page 49 of The Playbook

“Hey.” His eyes slid between me and Grace.

“Logan, this is Garrett.”

“You and Grace are friends?” I asked.

“Uh, yeah. We hang out from time to time,” Garrett replied, grinning at Grace. “Hazard of knowing each other since kindergarten I guess.”

I scowled as Grace returned his smile with an easy one of her own.

“Grace tells me you’re coming to hang out with us tonight,” Garrett said.

“I didn’t realize you’d be there, Gary,” I said, knowing damn well I was being a dick.

“It’s Garrett, and yeah, I’ll be there. Grace invited me.” He eyed me, challenging me to say something.

The guy had balls, I’d give him that. But he wasn’t me. I let out a soft laugh, tugging Grace closer to me. I was being an alpha asshole. I knew it, but I wanted her and needed Gary to know she was mine, as barbaric as it sounded.

“Did she?” I cast her a quick look and wished I hadn’t.

She was livid. The scarlet painted on her porcelain cheeks now had nothing to do with embarrassment. It was anger. I withdrew a little, suddenly not feeling so good about my actions.

“Sounds cool.”

“I’ll see you tonight, Garrett,” Grace said, a forced smile on her face.

He bid us goodbye with a wave and a quick look between us. The moment he was gone, she shoved me away from her and tugged her snare drum off. I backed away quickly, worried she was going to heave it at me. Instead, she peeled my jersey off and threw that at me, leaving her in a white t-shirt.

“Take your stupid ass jersey, you dick. And you’re officiallyuninvitedtonight.”

“Grace, wait.” I was desperate for her to stop as she turned on her heel, her snare back across her chest. “I’m sorry. I was out of line—”

“You don’t fucking own me, Logan. You’re lucky I even talk to you,” she snarled, whipping back around to face me.

I was glad the snare was between us because I was certain if it weren’t, Grace might have smacked me.

“How dare you treat my friends like that—”

“Grace, I’m sorry.” I glanced around and saw we’d drawn several curious stares as students filtered around us to leave for the day.

She glared at me, her mouth pursed. “Why’d you do it?”

I opened and closed my mouth a few times, not sure how to answer her.Why had I done it?Iknewwhy but didn’t want to admit it out loud. It would make this too real. And it might scare her away. Hell, it scared the shit out of me too. I swallowed instead.

“Whatever. When you figure it out, let me know.” Her voice was sour, her glare fierce. “And don’t even think about showing up tonight. I meant what I said. You’re not invited.”

She didn’t wait for me to answer. She spun and left me standing there feeling like the biggest dickhead in the world.

CHAPTER27

Grace

All through the game, I silently fumed. I couldn’t even stand to watch the field with Logan on it. We won against Acadia Prep though. They were one of the toughest teams in our conference. As soon as the game was over, I followed my bandmates off the field and back to the band room.

“You know what we haven’t done in ages?” Noah asked as we sauntered to the parking lot after we’d unloaded and got out of our band uniforms.

“What?” I asked.

“Strip poker.”

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