Page 5 of Their Cruel Play
“No fucking clue.”
But Luke does.
Which means he was with Harper last night. It shouldn’t surprise me. I’m not jealous, but we said we’d give our girl a break after the other night. She was brittle all day yesterday, like one word might cause her to shatter. Besides, I have my own plans for today.
Nico nods toward the flagpole. “When did he get released?”
“Early. Teacher. Can’t say I blame them. Dude was buck naked and smelled like piss.” I shrug. “Would have been irresponsible for the teacher to leave him like that.”
“Fucker deserved it.” Nico glances over his shoulder.
Some girls wander by and smile at us with their bestI’m availablelook.
I shake my head. “I swear the girls around here just don’t get it.”
Nico straightens. “What?”
“We need to do something, so they know this isn’t a game to us.” Fuck. “That we’re off the market this year.”
“We could go the whole girlfriend/boyfriends route.” Nico strokes his finger beside his lips. “It’s not like they don’t know we’re together.”
“It’s not how we typically operate.” I blow out a breath as Darius walks up the path toward us. He looks gorgeous dressed in slacks and a blue and silver polo for tonight’s game. His dark eyes find mine.
I don’t look away because I have nothing to be ashamed of. He’s the one who didn’t tell me he was the assistant coach at Sherman High before we fucked.
“Ready for tonight’s game, guys.” His eyes sweep to Nico. This will be Nico’s first game with us as a Mustang.
“Yes, sir.” Nico straightens like the good little soldier he is.
I nod but let my gaze focus out in the parking lot. Maybe our girl won’t get far without me needing a piece of her this morning.The others have all fucked Harper when she wore their jersey. Today is my turn.
“Jack.” Darius waits until my attention returns to him. “I’d like to see you in my office before the game tonight.”
I bet he would.
“For what?” I try not to sound belligerent, but what the fuck does he want to talk about, especially at school?
“I want to go over a couple of notes we made after practice last night. Just show up.” He heads into the school without a backwards glance.
Nico lifts his eyebrow, but I just shake my head. I don’t want to talk about it. It’s over. He’s the one who kept texting once we knew about our connection. I don’t need to have that kind of stain on my record, so I’m staying away. Besides, I’m fascinated with a different brunette at the moment.
“Where are they?” Caden strides over to us and looks around like I’m hiding Harper somewhere. That anger of his still hasn’t cooled off. Finding out Tanner has access to Harper and she kept it from us, after he told her about what Tanner did, made him irrational. He needs a target that he can do some damage to before he releases that fury on Harper instead. At least tonight’s game should burn off some of that rage.
“Not here yet.” Nico shrugs. She’s been cool to him since the dinner when his mom told us about her art partner and we found out Nico knew. For a hot second, I worried he’d steal her away for himself. Instead he told us about Tanner when she wanted it to remain a secret, especially from Caden. So he chose us over her.
But the whole us or her mentality is getting old. We shouldn’t be fighting against her. If this really is for the whole year, then it should just be us. All of us.
“I’m sure Luke will explain.” But what could have happened last night that Harper was worried about telling her mom?
“We need to set better boundaries and rules.” Eli steps up behind me, and his hand clasps my shoulder.
“You’re not wrong.” I turn, and there she is.
She has her brown hair pulled in a high pony with blue and silver ribbons. She wears jeans with my jersey. I kind of got it when the others went caveman on her in their jerseys, but I get it fully now.
She’s mine. My jersey claims her as mine. As she gets closer, she has on red lipstick and a hint of eyeliner and mascara highlighting her brown eyes. She’s gorgeous.
I step forward before anyone else can claim her and wrap my arm around her shoulders, drawing her into my side.
