Page 78 of Play Maker

The second I pushed through the door, Blue launched herself at me. “I’m so proud of you. And turned on. You need to sing more at home.”

Shaw snorted. “He sings all the time.”

“Not like that, he doesn’t,” muttered RJ.

I hefted Blue a little higher with my good hand on her ass, fighting the urge to flatten her against the wall right there in the lobby. “I’ll sing every day for you, Sunshine. You are the best girlfriend in the history of girlfriends.”

“Hey—” RJ mumbled the rest of her sentence behind Shaw’s hand.

I sent her an arched look. “You know our love could never be. My heart belongs to another.”

RJ glared at Shaw until he shrugged and removed his hand. “Just trying to help.”

Eva approached twirling her key fob around one finger. “My work here is done. I hope you get everything you want, Mac.”

My arm tightened around Blue, who took the opportunity to plant her feet on the floor again. “I hope you find someone to make you happy, Eva.”

She smiled. “Can’t find what you’re not looking for. I need to go relieve Chloe from duck-sitting.”

“Yeah, me too,” mumbled Noah.

I looked around at my ride or die crew—Shaw holding RJ, Eva holding herself, Noah holding his handmade sign—and felt something click into place inside me. “Let’s get tacos.”

“Shotgun,” Noah said quietly, then took off out the door.

Eva pointed at Shaw as they followed. “No nookie in the backseat.”

RJ laughed at Shaw’s pouty face, but stopped when he sent her a sly look behind Eva’s back. I shook my head. Even I didn’t test Eva when it came to her car. The X7 was her baby. I decided on the spot to stay over at Blue’s for the foreseeable future until Eva got her revenge on Shaw and RJ.

After the others left, Alex, Blue, and I made our way to the parking lot. We’d barely reached his car when Alex started making choking sounds. I spun around, and he was staring at his phone with his mouth open.

“You okay, man?”

He held the screen out to me, and I saw the wordCongratulations!!in big letters. Everything in me stilled, and I met his eyes.

“We won?” I knew we’d kicked ass, but the possibility hadn’t seemed real until just now. We’d only been gone fifteen minutes.

“We won.” Alex started bouncing up and down. “We won. We won. We won.”

I pulled Blue into a hug, and she squeezed me tight.

“I love you,” she whispered, officially making it the best night of my life.

“I love you too, Sunshine.” I cupped her head and kissed her for all I was worth.

The next few months would be hard with school, the internship, and football, but I couldn’t wait to get started. With Blue, I had everything I wanted.

EPILOGUE

Three weeks later…

“You are utterly failing in your job to teach me to be a hottie.” I pulled the mess of my hair away from my face and pretended to glare at my boyfriend.

“Who told you to say that?” Adam lay sprawled across my lap after waking me up with his tongue between my legs.

“Chloe. Though technically she said I wasalreadya hottie and didn’t need your help.”

“She’s not wrong.” He nuzzled between my breasts, the action muffling his words. “How am I failing again?”

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