Page 128 of The Wrong Play

I smirked, leaning in and brushing a kiss against her lips before I set down the tray in her lap. “You’ve finally given me what I want, and surprise—there are major rewards.”

She scoffed and grabbed her fork, stabbing a big bite of eggs. “I slept so good last night,” she said as she slipped it into her mouth…looking appropriately impressed with my kitchen skills.

I fought back another smirk, knowing exactlywhyshe’d sleptso good. I made a mental note—next time, no sleeping pill. I had better ways to make sure she slept soundly, ones that involved more orgasms, which were always better than drugs.

She took a sip of her coffee and shook her head in disbelief. “A girl could get used to this, Thatcher.”

“That’s the goal,” I murmured, watching with satisfaction as her jaw dropped, and a slow blush crept up her cheeks.

Good. Let her start getting used to the idea. Because she wasn’t going anywhere.

CHAPTER 23

JACE

Practice wasn’t supposed to be easy. It was supposed to push us until our lungs burned, our legs screamed, and our heads pounded like we’d been smacked with a brick.

And for the most part, it did.

But that didn’t mean we weren’t gonna talk shit the whole way through it.

“Being a dick won’t make yours bigger, Matty,” I told him as I lined up wide, rolling my shoulders as Parker barked out a new play. Matty was next to me, cracking his knuckles like we were about to throw hands instead of running drills. He scowled at the reminder of his missing quarter inch.

“All right, listen,” I called as Parker took his stance. “If you’re gonna risk your life for a secret society, you should at least get something out of it. I don’t feel like I’m getting the proper respect from these people.”

I caught the ball from the jugs machine and turned upfield, shaking my head. “And why do I feel like my life isn’t worth as much as Parkie-Poo’s? Do they not even realize how awesome I am?”

“I mean they haven’t given me much.” Parker grinned. “A mysterious envelope with pictures I happened to need to securemy future wasn’t much of a gift considering they made me dig up a fucking body.”

Parker rifled a pass straight at Matty’s chest—hard enough that he staggered back a step when he caught it.

“I would like to point out that I helped dig up that body too,” Matty said, his eyes doing that bugging out thing again. “And what have I received? Nothing.”

“Did you help, though,Matthew? All I can picture from that night is you all pale and shaky, while Parker and I dug up a corpse.”

“Do you hear yourself right now? You just dropped the wordcorpselike it’s the same thing as walking a dog,” Matty griped.

“Corpse is just another word fordead broad—which meanswomanfor all you non-big brained people out there.” I caught another ball from the jug machine, making it look easy as usual. “And I happen to be very good with women.”

“This is a really weird conversation,” Manning, one of our freshman wide receivers, commented from a few feet away.

“That’s why it’s rude to eavesdrop,” Matty said, all of a sudden getting all growly and scary looking. I could see it when he did that, how it was possible for him to get the ladies.

Not to mention having a dedicated stalker.

All I’d had stalk me so far was the three-nippled girl.

A wonder of the world when you thought about it. Must be those baby blues Matty had going on. They must be stalker-worthy to some people…who obviously hadn’t seen me yet.

“I’m just saying,” I said, jogging past him. “Two near-death experiences and a fun new fear of blindfolds.”

“And absolutely no snacks,” I muttered as an afterthought.

Matty snorted. “Maybe your third trial will be easy.”

“Wouldn’t that be nice.” I reached for my helmet, flipping up the visor. “What’s the ROI on getting shoved off a building,though? Parker, you got anything in that big brain on that subject?”

Parker flicked the ball at me, shaking his head. “It seems like they help out when you least expect it.”

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