Page 151 of The Game You Play (Rixon Raiders 2)

I’d really like to go to Winter Formal with you?

Stifling a giggle, I said, “Fess up. Asher wrote this, didn’t he?”

“He may have helped a little.”

Turning in Jason’s arms, I leaned up, touching my forehead to his. “I’m glad the two of you are okay.”

“You really think I want to talk about Ash right now?”

“What else did you have in mind?” I asked, coyly.

“First.” he dipped his head, kissing my collarbone, sucking the sensitive skin between his teeth. A shiver rolled through me, my eyes fluttering closed. “I want your answer.”

“Yes,” I breathed, desire humming through me.

“Good.” Jason spun me so that my ass hit the edge of his car. “Now I’m going to make love to you on the hood of my car and then we can cuddle talk about the final thing on your list before we fall to sleep under the stars, sound good?”

Looping my arms around his neck, I smiled. “It sounds perfect.”

Four weeks later

* * *

Felicity

“My god, I can’t watch,” I buried my face into Hailee’s arm as we watched from our preferential seats. Mya was with us, as well as Jason’s dad and Hailee’s mom, and Cameron’s parents. Asher was on the outs with his parents since the suspension, so they hadn’t made the trip.

A collective ‘oooh’ roared through the crowd as the Bulldog’s defensive end took down Cam for the third time.

“Is it always this tense?” Mya asked, to which me and Hailee both answered, “No.”

“Sorry I asked.” She held up her hands, grabbing another hand of popcorn.

“Seriously?” I gawked at her.

“What,” she shrugged, “I’m hungry.”

I couldn’t eat. I was too nervous. My heart had been in my mouth for most of the game. I knew how much this meant to Jason. He’d played it down a lot around Asher; trying to smooth the cracks that had appeared between them ever since Asher took the fall about the Thatcher ordeal. But when it was just the two of us, when I was lying in his arms, nothing between us, I felt his fear. Fear of failure, of letting his team down, his coach, the entire town.

But most of all, of letting himself down.

He’d worked so hard for this, they all had, but no one wanted it more than Jason. It wasn’t just some high school accolade; it was his legacy. His way of proving himself. So watching him and the rest of the team get their asses handed to them, was almost too much to bear.

“Run,” Hailee yelled, “Run.”

We both held our breath, waiting for the moment our offense reached the end zone, but a Bulldog defensive player came out of nowhere and slammed into Grady, knocking him clean off his feet.

“Dammit.”

“At least he almost got there that time,” Mya remarked.

I levelled her with an incredulous look. “Just because your guy isn’t out there on the field doesn’t mean you can’t at least pretend to be interested.”

“I’m interested.” She sat a little straighter. “And what do you mean, my guy?”

“You know exactly what I mean.” She and Asher had gotten closer since I got with Jason but they were both still pleading the fifth on whether it was more than friendship.

“We’re just friends.”