Page 3 of The First Play

“Teah’s great.” I lift my chin toward Grady. “You’re a lucky guy. But girls like that are few and far between. I prefer to play it safe and just keep things light. A casual hookup every now and then is enough for me.”

He points at me. “You say that now, but just wait until you fall in love.”

My stomach clenches and I sniff, hoping no one notices. I arrived at Nolan U my sophomore year and left my past as far behind me as I could. I haven’t told these guys shit about my fuckup of a college freshman year… or how things ended with my high school sweetheart.

Carson groans, whipping off his shades and squinting into the light. His hazel gaze is intense. “Love is bullshit, Grady. Those feelings don’t last. Not for both of you, anyway. Someone always fucks it up.” He turns to Wily and winces. “Remember last year… the serenader who wouldn’t let go?”

Wily runs a hand through his hair, his blue eyes popping wide. “Oh shit, yeah! Damn, that was awkward.”

I can’t help a laugh. “If she’d been able to sing on key, it wouldn’t have been so painful.”

“She ruined ‘I Will Always Love You’ for me,” Tyrell mutters, and then we all crack up and start hassling him for being obsessed with Whitney Houston.

“Laugh all you want, you cheese dicks. Whitney was the best damn singer this world has ever known.” He plunks down onto the couch and mumbles under his breath, “Now that is a woman I’d never break up with.”

“Yeah, I’m sure if she was still alive, she’d be all over your, dude.” Grady smirks.

Tyrell tips his head back, nestling it into the cushions with a groan. “Breakups fucking suck.”

“Whether you’re the dumper or the dumpee, it’s always shit,” Wily agrees.

Tyrell sighs. “I’ve been both, and that’s why I was trying to be so nice about it with Donita, but she flipped out. Went full-blown psycho on my ass.” He clicks his tongue and sits back up. “Women ain’t worth it.” Giving Carson a light slap on the arm, he bobs his head. “I’m going your way, bro. Casual hookups only from now on.”

I nod. “It definitely makes it easier.”

Grady’s shaking his head, disagreeing with me as he no doubt thinks about his hot sorority girl and how great she is.

Yeah, well, it’s not like that for all of us.

A scorching memory burns through the back of my brain, but I shake it off. I can’t go there.

“I’m here to play football,” I grit out, begging images of Sienna not to devour me. “I’m not gonna waste my time on romantic bullshit.”

My nostrils flare, my knee starting to bob as I remind myself how brutal romance can be. I’m not gonna put myself through that again. I’ve only ever loved one girl, and she broke my heart with a fucking sledgehammer.

FOUR YEARS AGO…

“WE MET”

CHAPTER 2

ZANDER

My senior year of high school starts next week, and I am pumped. Scouts from a few different colleges came to our games last year, and I caught their attention. If I can have the season of my life, then I’ll have offers coming in from all over the place. Brighton College seems interested, which is the closest to home. Mom’s got her fingers crossed for that one—I’ll only be thirty minutes out of town. Dad and I also sent highlight videos to a college in Texas, one in Colorado, and hemade mesend one to his alma mater—Kelsey University. I’m not totally opposed to going there, I guess. I just want to follow my own path, not be trailing in my father’s wake, but it’s not like I can say that to him.

At the end of the day, I just wanna play football, and I don’t really care where I do that…as long as I get plenty of time on the field. If I can shine at college, my ultimate dream of playing for the NFL could become a reality.

And that… would be fucking awesome.

I’m pretty fired up over that idea right now, which is why I nearly didn’t come to this party tonight.

But Noah wouldn’t shut up about it, so I agreed.

He had some good points, one of them being that Olivia Monroe’s the richest girl in school and her house is palatial. I went to a few parties last year at her old house and thought that was grand, but her family upgraded over the summer, and you don’t pass up a chance to see what luxury living looks like.

They even have rose-shaped soaps in the bathroom. Apparently. I haven’t gone yet, but that was one of the first things Noah did when he got here. Who knows what other rooms he checked out at the same time, but he came back looking all triumphant.

“What?” I asked him, but he just shook his head with sparkling eyes.

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