Page 31 of Risky Play

“What happened?” I asked.

“Was dating a guy last year. I told him I was still a virgin, and he said he wanted to work up to sex. We did a lot of oral and sexted, so I felt like we were almost there…then I went to a party and found his tongue down another girl’s throat.”

“Oh, Maddie, that guy was a douche.”

The pain in her voice made me want to find the guy and punch him.

“That’s not the worst part. I broke up with him, and next thing I knew, I was getting DMs from literally every douche-canoe on the men’s hockey team. Apparently, my private photos to him got blasted out to everyone.”

White-hot rage bubbled up inside me. Because what the actual fuck? That guy did her dirty, and she got the worst of it. If anyone did that to my sister, I’d probably be protective like Noah.

“Maddie, that guy was an asshole, and you didn’t deserve that.”

“I know that, and I’m not ashamed that I sent nudes to my boyfriend!”

I held up a hand. “I’m not judging you. At all.”

She looked down at her feet. “Noah does. The first thing he asked was why I didn’t cut my face out of the photos.”

“He was just looking out for you.”

“Judging me,” she argued in a harsh whisper.

I wasn’t sure I believed that. Noah was such a great guy. If he hadn’t taken me under his wing last year and mentored me, who knew if I’d even be in the league. He didn’t strike me as the kind of guy who judged anyone for what they did. Although, he did say Maddie didn’t make the best choices. Maybe this was what he meant.

“He wants to protect you. That never should have happened to you. You know it’s not your fault, right?”

She nodded. “It sucked because I felt like the girls on the hockey team judged me too. I wanted to drop out, but Mom told me I needed to hold my head high and move on. Since then, Noah’s gotten worse about being overprotective. That’s why I don’t want to move in with them.”

“They want you to move in?”

She rolled her eyes. “Noah does. D said it’s my choice, but she’ll gladly have me.” She yawned and checked her watch. “Anyway, thanks for coming with me. Let’s do it again.”

“Maybe not another house party?” I offered.

“Where else am I supposed to meet a guy who wants to fuck me and never talk to me again?”

Literally anywhere. The guy who just passed us on the street would fuck her if she asked. I really didn’t understand why she needed my help to be her wingman.

“Maddie…”

“You promised to help me.”

I held up my hand. “Okay, okay. I did. Let me look at my schedule, and I’ll wingman for you again. I’ll help you find someone decent.”

She beamed, but the thought of someone else being with her left a sour taste in my mouth. I had no right to be jealous, but it didn’t help my feelings raging inside me.

Chapter Nine

MADDIE

I frowned at a text from Matt that only depicted the puke emoji and nothing more. That was odd.

We had been texting back and forth for the past couple of weeks. He went out with me last weekend but shot down every single guy I pretended to be interested in. Here was the thing: I was picking douchebags I had no interest in on purpose because I wanted to make him jealous. I hoped Matt would see that he was the man for the job, but so far, he was resisting hard.

I set my phone down and went back to working on the paper I needed to complete for my communications class. This class was easy for me since it was a prerequisite I already did back home, but Franklin didn’t accept my credits, so I was taking it again. I thought it was great to hone my writing skills, but the class was cake compared to my major classes.

My phone vibrated again, but I ignored it as I tried to finish this last thought. It kept buzzing, and when I flipped it over, I saw Matt was trying to video call me.