Page 28 of Reckless

I had lost interest in football before I graduated from high school, but I liked everything I gained from it, so I kept playing.

“Hey, do you know what’s the rush with the wedding? Is she pregnant?” The cousin asked at some point.

“No idea,” Chase said.

I wondered if that was true. If he really didn’t know, or if he was just protecting Lucas and Clem’s privacy.

“I hope they have hot bridesmaids.”

“I don’t know about the bridesmaids, but the maid of honor is pretty hot. We made out once in high school.”

That caught me by surprise. I couldn’t believe Hannah would fall for that idiot.

“Is she single?” The cousin asked.

“No. But I heard her boyfriend was pretty busy. So if he’s not at the wedding, she is single enough for me.” Chase said and they both laughed.

A phone rang and interrupted the conversation. Lucas’s colleague called to tell us they were hungry, so about an hour after we left, we stopped at a diner. If we were going to stop every hour, this would turn into the longest car drive of my life.

We sat around a table, and I scrolled down Chloe’s messages from yesterday. Everything was okay back home. Liam fell and scratched his knees. He wanted her to show them to me. I looked at the picture of his blooded knees and wondered what the hell was I doing in California? I had responsibilities in Boston.

I squeezed the bridge of my nose between my thumb and my index finger and closed my eyes, hoping Madison won’t put me through some shit like that when she decides to get married. If she managed to find a guy willing to tie himself to her.

“Yo, Hartley.” I lifted my gaze up to find Chase staring at me. “I heard you stopped playing when you went to college.”

“I did,” I confirmed without offering any additional information.

“Why?”

“I didn’t like it anymore.”

“But you were good at it.”

“I was.”

Not that I cared enough to tell him, but I was probably better right now than he was in high school. I had never watched him play, but I knew my jersey was still hanging in the school hallway. As far as I knew, his was not.

“I have a ball in the trunk,” he provoked me. “We should play. Try to redo some of your moves.”

“No.” I accompanied the word with a death glare, that usually made people uncomfortable. That was not the case with Chase.

“Scared to ruin your reputation?”

I grinned as if I wasn’t pissed off. This guy and I would definitely have a problem. Lucas sensed the tension building between us two and changed the subject.

When we finally left the diner, I was the last one to approach the cars. My hands were in my pockets, so when a football hit my chest, I didn’t even have the chance to catch it.

I glanced up and I saw Chase looking at me, the ball lying on the ground right where it fell after bouncing off my body. Approaching him slowly, I stopped when my face was just inches away from his. He didn’t flinch. He was probably used to people getting in his face, giving the fact he was looking for trouble with his cocky attitude.

“That’s enough,” Lucas tried to step between us, but we didn’t move. He pushed Chase back. “Let’s just get in the cars. Tyler, move your stuff to my car.”

“I’ll pass.”

“You’re not riding in his car,” Lucas pointed at Chase. “I need a best man and I’m sure Clem would like to still have a brother by the time we get married.”

“Good point, Cole,” I moved my gaze to him and slapped him on the shoulder. Then I rounded them both, opened Chase’s trunk and got my shit out. But instead of moving them to the other car, I started walking back to the diner.

I glanced at my phone. It was almost nine o’clock already. Not too early to make a phone call.

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