Page 75 of Siren's Game

"This match has exceeded all donation goals by twice the amount," one of the announcers shouts into his microphone and Millie punches the air, then does a little dance.

I grin, satisfied. at least this whole thing has a good outcome. That’s all that matters. "Now the only question remaining is, who will get to pick the charity?"

"Team Friendship is ahead by two points. Team Hollywood has one chance to take the win, will they take it?" another voice adds, and the stadium becomes quiet. Eerily quiet as the players get into their last maneuver and then suddenly, chaos erupts.

"And the win goes to Team Friendship!" the announcer shouts and I take Millie's hand. People on the stands are shouting, dancing and laughing as they celebrate the win. Even Team Hollywood’s fans don’t seem too disappointed. It’s an amazing atmosphere in here.

One of the event staff members motions for us to go over to the players and I pull Millie after me, maneuvering the two of us through the crowd of happy coaches, staff members, players and families who ran onto the field.

As soon as she sees Luca, Millie lets go of my hand and runs the remaining steps to her boyfriend.

I stop and watch them. She deserves the wide smile he has on his face, the way he leans down to kiss her.

A pang of disappointment hits me. Until Luca turned up, Millie was my person. My bestie, my confidante, the one person who was always there for me.

Things will change with Luca in the picture. Hell, they have already changed.

And that scares the crap out of me. Is this where I lose her too?

I try to push those thoughts away and stand aside with a forced smile on my face as I watch the chaos on the field unfold. The players are shouting and jumping at each other, clapping hands, even with their opponents, and I see a few exploding champagne bottles all around, ducking when a foamy stream shoots right past me.

Trying to keep out of any champagne sprays, I attempt to find Asher. We’ll give the cameras what they asked for and then I’ll slowly disappear and drive home.

Home. Where it’s quiet and I can recharge my social battery.

When I finally find him, he’s in a huddle of men, all laughing and congratulating each other.

"Hi, Kayla." A strange voice suddenly appears beside me, and I startle when I realize his mom is next to me and linking her arm with mine.

"Hi, Mrs. McDaniels," I say softly and smile at her.

"Please. It's Jade.” She pats my arm, her eyes scanning the crowd for her son. “Ah, there he is."

She raises her arm to wave at Asher before she turns to me. "You did amazing in the half time. I've never seen such a professional set. You and your friend were wonderful to watch on that stage." She shoots me a warm smile and I gulp.

"Thank you so much, Jade," I press out.

When I look up, Asher is in front of us, leaning down to accept a kiss on the cheek from his mom and letting her congratulate him before he turns to me.

He raises his eyebrow in question, and I can only assume that even though we fucked right afterwards, he actually remembers what a sensitive topic parents are. I give him a slight nod.

"I'm stealing my girlfriend from you, Mom," he says, a mischievous twinkle in his eyes as he takes my hand and pulls my arm out of her grasp.

I'm not sure where he's leading me, but he throws his arm over my shoulder, pressing his lips against my temple as we walk, evading the ton of players and cameramen who have flooded the field.

"You were great!" I tell him and lean my head against his shoulder as he navigates us past people. "Sorry for ambushing you down here. Naroa wants a good, final shot for this game."

"Well, then how about we give her just that?" He chuckles and then I squeal when the whole world suddenly turns and I lose my balance. Asher is tipping me over, holding me in his strong arms as he leans down and kisses me, the players around us cheering.

Asher

WestumbleintoKayla'sflat, lips locked and tongues fighting, ragged breaths on each other's skin, and hands trying to touch wherever they can reach. Both of our emotions are running high; it's a wonder we managed to keep our hands off each other after that kiss.

The way she looked at me when I pulled her up again could have lit the stadium on fire, but in the end, it only managed to set me aflame.

I was so close to just grabbing her, throwing her over my shoulder, and running off with her, but I managed to stay, my arm trembling around her shoulders. The time Adam took to announce the charity our team picked for all of the donations to go to and that we’d be giving half to the other team as well took for-fucking-ever.

Since we got twice as much in donations as hoped, sharing seemed fair, as we determined during the halftime break, right before Luca and I sprinted back to the field to watch our girlfriends perform.

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