Page 93 of Racing Heat

“But she’s not supposed to know that!” I exclaim. He laughs at me again and it irritates me. “I mean it, Jase. My best friend knows something. She knows I’ve been lying to her.”

“You could tell her.” He says it like it’s the most natural thing in the world and not like it could potentially end the both of us.

“But I thought I shouldn’t.” I swear I’m going to wear a path around my living room and into my kitchen at this rate.

“Well, that’s up to you. I can’t tell you what to do in that area. I can tell you what I’d like you to do, but notwhatto do. I do feel like if Danny knows, there’s only so much time before he tells her.”

“Do you think he already did?” I ask again.

“I have no idea. I’m not really sure about that dynamic of their relationship. You would have a better idea than I would.”

I sigh loudly into the phone, earning me more laughter from him.

“But he was nice about our conversation and not at all accusatory,” Jase continues. “If he did tell her, he did it nicely, like in a supportive way.”

“Maybe. I don’t know.”

“What are you worried about?” he asks.

“The lying. I hate lying to Mac, and I swear she knows there’s something that I’m not saying, which makes it even worse for me.”

“Relax. You just sound so frazzled and worried about this. If it bugs you that much, go tell her. Just ask her to please be discrete.”

“Aren’t you worried that telling her is a slippery slope to the whole team finding out?”

“Nope,” he tells me. “I don’t think Mac would do that to you.”

“How do you know? You barely know her.”

“Would she?”

“No.”

“See, it’ll be fine. But for the record, I think you’re just tired, slightly buzzed, and reading too much into this. But if it would make you feel better, I won’t go tonight. I’ll stay home and you can hang out with your friends. Throw her off our trail.”

I smile. “Thank you, but no. I wanna be with you tonight, and I want us to be able to hang out. I just don’t want our secret revealed.”

“It won’t be. You’ll see.”

“Thanks for talking me down. And thankssomuch for making fun of me the whole time.”

He chuckled. “You can punish me later.”

“I look forward to it,” I reply.

“Me too. See you in a few hours.”

“Bye.” I hang up the phone and collapse back into my couch. It still needs broken in a bit more. It’s still stiff, probably from me always hanging out at either Amelia’s or Mac’s or just using my bed to relax in and watch TV. I pat the cushions, as if that would help. “Guess I should shower and then get a nap in.”

I head back into my bedroom and begin discarding my clothes. It’ll be fine. Tonight, will be fun. Or so I hope.

Chapter Thirty-Three

~JASE~

Iwalk into the bar and find that Mac and Danny are the first to arrive. Danny waves me over and I sigh deeply, hoping this wasn’t done by design. They arrived first just so they could pounce, and Mac could ask me my intentions with Cassie. I smile thinking about how I would answer that, explaining all of the ways I would like to defile the center-back’s body—both before and after it gets us both fired.

I make my way over to the table. There’s a pitcher of a light-colored beer between them, with some extra glasses to the side. I know immediately that I’ll have to order my own. I prefer my beers a bit darker than they do.