Page 185 of The Wrong Play

Parker leaned forward, intrigued. “Ooo, underground fight club. Could be fun, though.”

Matty turned his glare on him. “Not helping.”

Parker shrugged. “I’m just saying. If she kidnapped you, at least you’d have a cool story.”

Matty turned back to me. “You tracked me down, Jace. During my date. And do you know what you did?”

I grabbed the remote, pretending to be super into the game. “Of course, I know what I did.Iwas the one doing it.”

“I don’t know what he did,” Parker offered.

Okay, that was kind of funny. I gave him a high five just because. “I rescued you from a potentially dangerous situation. You’re welcome, by the way.”

Matty clenched his jaw. “You sat down. At our table.”

I nodded. “I did.”

“You ordered a drink.”

“Thirsty work, tracking people.”

“And nachos.”

Parker laughed so hard he nearly fell off the couch. “Sorry…just making sure I have this straight. You crashed Matty’s date and sat down at the table?”

“There was a picture of nachos on the menu. I couldn’t resist,” I said, completely unapologetic.

Matty groaned, dragging his hands down his face.

I pointed at Matty with my cheese-dusted fingers. “I told her I was his brother so she wouldn’t be weirded out.”

Matty actually howled in frustration, throwing himself onto the couch beside us like he was being pushed down by the crushing weight of this best friendship. “Before that, she asked if we were dating—and then asked if she could watch!”

“What can I say? We’re a good-looking pair, Matty. Who wouldn’t want to watch us is the actual question. Although, let me be clear, it was offensive that she thought I would ever settle being a side-piece.”

Parker raised his hand, a smirk on his lips. “I would like the record to reflect thatIwould not want to watch you.”

Matty sighed, closing his eyes dramatically like the world was ending. “You’re a menace. A psycho menace. And you need to stop tracking me.”

I leaned back, popping another cheese puff into my mouth. “No can do, Matty-kins.”

Matty groaned again. “Courtney probably thinks I’m freaky now.”

Parker snickered. “I mean, that’s probably not far off since you’re a guy whose male ‘companion’ showed up at your date and ordered nachos.”

Matty sat up suddenly, jabbing a finger at me. “You owe me.”

I nodded solemnly. “I’ll get you some nachos next time.”

He gritted his teeth. “Notwhat I meant.”

Parker threw an arm around Matty’s shoulders. “Matty, you really should’ve just texted him back.”

“Yeah, look what happened the last time I didn’t textyouback,” I told him, a grin spreading on my face because…Darla.

Matty groaned and sank deeper into the couch. “Point taken.”

I offered him the bag of cheese puffs.

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