Page 38 of The Playboy’s Playbook

Chapter Thirty-Three

MATT

W ho knew all it took for me to have Laila’s soft lips against mine would be to get into a fight in her honor? If I had known that, I would’ve tried harder to punch the shit out of Jason last year after the whole incident at Brody’s.

Even without my hands running up and down her body, I’m hard as a brick as she runs her hands through my hair as our lips mold together perfectly.

It’s like we didn’t miss a beat.

I fucking love Laila’s kisses. She’s soft and sweet, but when she tugs at my bottom lip, it drives me fucking crazy. She drives me fucking crazy. I love it.

I love her.

We’re still making out against her car when a throat clears behind us. We pull apart and turn and see Isaac and Erica standing a few steps away. Erica has a scowl on her face as she glares at me, but Isaac looks indifferent.

Erica marches over and hands Laila her purse she left behind in her mad dash away from the pavilion.

“Come on, Laila. You’ve had enough excitement for today,” Erica says to Laila before she cuts her eyes to me. “Plus, I think you have some explaining to do, Foster.”

Laila closes her eyes and steps around Erica, walking to Isaac. “Isaac,” she says softly. He smiles softly at Laila and places a small kiss on her forehead.

“I promise I won’t punch him. Hard,” Isaac says, half serious, half joking.

Laila looks back at me with worry in her eyes. I nod, letting her know that I’ll be okay. Whatever lashing Isaac has out for me can’t be worse than how I’ve been feeling for the last year.

Laila walks over to me, places her hand on my chest, and opens her mouth as if she’s about to say something.

Before she can, I cut her off with a small kiss on her lips.

If the kiss she gave me earlier was just a fluke or a spur-of-the-moment impulse, I’m going to take full advantage of this opportunity and kiss her as much as I can before she remembers she’s mad at me.

“I’ll call you, okay?” I reassure her.

She nods and heads to the passenger side of the car. Once she’s settled, Erica turns over the engine and pulls out of the parking lot, leaving Isaac and I alone. Isaac walks up beside me and puts his hand on my shoulder.

“Walk with me, Matty. You’ve got some explaining to do.”

I nod and we walk the length of the nature trail. “So, where do you want me to start?”

I tell Isaac everything. From the time Laila and I first got together to the day she found out about my arrest. I gave him the entire rundown of our summer fling, sans our intimate moments. Those are for Laila and me.

“Do you love her?” Isaac asks once we circle back to the pavilion, which has since been cleared and emptied of our classmates.

“With my whole heart. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, man. I know you two are close, but I just…”

“Wanted to enjoy having her for yourself,” Isaac finishes for me.

I nod. “Yeah. We were in this bubble and we were good. Happy. In love. Well, at least I was. She hasn’t said anything about that.

But being with her, she made life so easy and worth it.

I wanted to be the best version of myself for her.

She gave me something worth fighting for, but then I fucked it. ”

Isaac shakes his head. “You didn’t fuck it. I know my little cousin and I can see that she is all in for you. I can see that you are head over heels for her. Now, had you not been my best friend, I probably would’ve had you lookin’ like Jason right about now for breaking her heart.”

We both chuckle and sit in silence for a beat longer. The air stills around us as the sun begins to set in the late afternoon.

“You only get to experience people once in your life. You are one of the rare, fortunate souls who have gotten to experience Laila. If she truly didn’t give a rat’s ass about you anymore, I don’t think she would’ve kissed you like you were the oxygen she needs to breathe,” Isaac says, glancing back over in my direction.

“More like she’s the oxygen I need,” I lament.

“How long have you been sober?” Isaac asks.

“A year.”

“Well, I’m proud of you, Matty. And I’m confident that one way or another, you and Laila will find your way back to one another,” Isaac says as he stands from the table.

I follow suit and we walk to our trucks. I’m about to climb into mine and head home to shower and freshen up before I go pick up Clay and Jen from their uncle’s house when Issac stops me. “Matty.”

“Yeah?”

“You hurt Laila again, I’ll have no choice but to beat your pretty boy face in,” Isaac says, half joking, half serious.

I shake my head and smile softly. “I wouldn’t dream of it.”

Once I picked the boys up, they were out like a light and slept the whole way back to Luke’s house. I carried both of them inside because the last thing I want to do is wake them up and have to deal with them fully energized.

Making the transfers to their beds is the hardest part, but somehow I did it without waking them up. I made sure they were tucked in and left their night light on and finally retreated to my room.

I know I told Laila that I’d call her later, but I can’t help the self-doubt that creeps in.

What if she actually doesn’t want me to call her? What if I need to let her go? Hell, what if she changed her number and I’m about to speak to some poor old woman about her Internet connection.

“God, Matty, stop being a baby,” I say to myself, reaching for my phone just as it starts ringing. Laila’s name and picture pops up on the screen and I immediately answer.

“Laila,” I breathe, not fully believing that she’s called me on her own free will.

“Isaac didn’t kill you. Good,” she chuckles.

“No, he was very kind. You’d be proud of him.” I smile, wishing I could see her in person.

“I didn’t say thank you,” Laila says, her voice low.

I furrow my brows in confusion. “Why do you need to thank me?”

“For punching Jason. I know I yelled at you for it at the park, but thank you.”

I shift in the chair and place the phone on speaker. “You don’t need to thank me, Laila. Jason has a punchable face.”

We both laugh at that statement and then sit in silence. We’re sitting for so long, I have to tap my phone’s screen to make sure she didn’t hang up.

“Luke will be home for a few days and is gonna spend time with the boys. If you’re free, we could go to the rodeo tomorrow,” I offer, praying she accepts.

“Matthew…” I can hear the hesitation in her voice and it makes me uneasy. She’s second guessing things, so she’s probably second guessing the kiss from earlier.

“I’ll respect your decision and completely understand if you don’t want to go.”

“I didn’t say I didn’t want to go.”

“Then say yes, Laila. Please,” I beg. I sound like a lovestruck boy, but I can’t help it when it comes to her.

“Okay,” she says after a long pause.

“I’ll come by and get you once Luke’s made it in, which should be around five.” I stand up and begin pacing the room, my nerves getting the best of me.

“Don’t be late, Matthew,” Laila says sternly.

“I wouldn’t dream of it.”

“Okay. See you tomorrow. Good night, Matthew.”

“Good night, Laila.”

As soon as the line goes dead, I fall onto my bed. I can’t believe I have a date with Laila. I didn’t think this would ever happen again, but here we are. I don’t know how tomorrow night is going to go, but I know one thing for sure.

I’ve been given another chance and this time, I won’t fuck it up.