Page 39 of The Bad Boy Rule

“It was apleasureto meet you both. I’m sure we’ll be seeing each other again soon,” he drawls lazily.

I feel his arm slip around my waist, and I lean into him slightly as I offer my parents a smile. “I’ll check in sometime this week?”

A beat passes, the silence strained and tense as Mom nods. “Yes, that sounds good. I’ll call you about the upcoming fundraising gala.” Her eyes flick toward Saint, nostrils flaring beneath a brittle smile that’s so thin and forced I’m sure even he sees through it. “It was… lovely to meet you, Saint.”

He says nothing, just smirks, and it feels like a taunt more than anything.

I know that it’s probably terrible of me to feel this way, but seeing the hard look on both of their faces is worth every single second of stress orchestrating this has cost me.

Hopefully, my father gets the picture. That I’m not going to be with Chandler.Everagain.

Without another word, Saint pulls me away from the table and my parents toward the exit.

“Oh God, that was…” I breathe when we walk outside of the restaurant, the hot, humid September air sticking to every inch of my skin. “Incredible.Did you see their faces? They totally believed it.”

Saint chuckles roughly from beside me. He’s got his hands shoved into his pants pockets, and the jacket he took off the second we walked outside is thrown over one arm, the sleeves of his button-down rolled up his elbows, showcasing the dark ink bled onto his skin.

I’ve never seen it this close up before, and the art is actually really beautiful. It’s black and white, classically timeless. The large rose covering his hand has wilted petals, falling away fromthe flower like it’s dying, and I want to ask him more about them, but if I did, he’d probably give me a bullshit answer.

“And the motorcycle part? That was the nail in the coffin. I thought he was going to flip the table.” I laugh, admittedly having a slight pep in my step.

Take that, Chandler, and your stupid, lying, cheating dick.

I actually haven’t told Saint about that part of this yet, but we’re still on a strictly need-to-know basis.

Hence me not asking personal questions about his art and what it means.

“Good job, Golden Girl. You’re slightly less of a kiss-ass than I thought you were.”

I halt mid-step, whipping to look at him. “I amnota kiss-ass. That’s rude.”

“I call it like I see it, and you are absolutely a kiss-ass. Tell me one thing you’ve ever done that wasn’t something someone else told you to do.”

Easy. “Skating.”

Saint shakes his head. “Nah, besides that.”

I chew the inside of my lip as I think, but ultimately, whathaveI ever done that was just for me?

I hate that he’s so easily honed in on it without even trying, uncovering one of my insecurities.

Rolling my eyes, I continue walking toward the rideshare parking lot. “I’m not having this conversation with you.”

His laugh sounds behind me. “Yeah, because you can’t even answer that. Life would be so much more freeing if you stopped giving a shit what people thought, Golden Girl. It’s great not having to answer to anyone but yourself. You should try it.”

Yeah, well, not everyone has that luxury.

NINETEEN

SAINT

“This is it. Our last practice before opening night. You’ve worked your asses off the last couple of months, and I’m a hundred percent confident that you’re ready to play the best season of your lives. For a lot of you, they’ll have scouts in the stands, assessing you, watching you work independently and how you work as ateam.This is when you show them the type of player that you are,” Coach Taylor says, glancing around the locker room at all of his players.

He’s a damn good coach, and I’m lucky to have had him as mine for the last two, almost three seasons. He’s the type of guy that leads by example, and because of that, we respect the shit out of him.

Not to mention, he’s a retired goalie for the Blackhawks and is one of the best coaches in the NCAA.

“Our first game is against Shreveport, and you all know how important this game is. It’s going to set the precedent for the entire season, so let’s show up and show them exactly who the hellcats are.”

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