Page 46 of The Surprise Play (Nolan U Football #3)

ELIZABETH

Wily’s plans involved a whole heap of everything I wanted to do that day… including two epic sexy sessions that will keep me floating for eternity.

On Sunday night, he dropped me back at my dorm room and ended up staying with me. I couldn’t believe it. He stayed! Didn’t even think it was that big of a deal just to slip into my twin XL and get cozy.

It was squishy, and I barely slept. He lightly snored behind me while I lay awake, staring across my darkened room and lightly pinching myself to remind me that yes, this is all real.

I finally drifted off at some point in the early hours of the morning, and I’m feeling a little worse for wear as I get ready for the day.

And I realize why when I go to the bathroom and see that I have my period. Rubbing my aching head, I stare at my stained underwear before talking myself off the toilet and into action mode.

I rinse my soiled clothes while I’m taking a shower, then pop a few pain meds to get me through the day. I’ve learned to preempt these things, and it definitely eases the discomfort.

My knee is still a little tender, so I choose my softest dress and make sure I’m aiming for maximum comfort before heading out the door for my morning walk and coffee.

Wily left for his gym workout about an hour ago, and I’m not sure when I’ll see him today… until I find him waiting for me outside Java Jeans.

“Hey, beautiful.” He greets me with a grin, and my heart turns to putty.

How can it not?

He’s smiling at me like I’m the best part of his day, and I still can’t quite believe that he’s my boyfriend.

Lining up beside him, we order our coffees to go and amble around the campus, sipping and laughing as he tells me about his intense workout and how the Scouting Combine is only two weeks away.

I can tell he’s nervous-excited about it as he tries to lighten his anticipation with jokes about football.

Seeing right through them all, I give him a tender smile and tell him, “You’re gonna be great. You can do anything, Wily.”

“Thanks, baby,” he murmurs, smiling down at me and leaning in for a kiss.

I’m a microsecond away from reaching up and kissing him back when I spot something out of the corner of my eye that makes me flinch and step away from him.

He frowns at me, then gives me a dry look, shaking his head. “Still not into the PDA, huh? ”

I give him a tight smile and bob my head, because that’s a great excuse. Yep. Let’s go with that.

My heart kicks out of place, then starts thundering when I notice the cause of my angst walking toward us.

Shit, shit, shit!

“Man, I hope you get over that soon, Satchy babe, because I really want to kiss you right now in front of anyone who might be watching.” He winks down at me. “You’re my girl, and?—”

“Hey, Wily.” Jade’s got her sweet voice on, and my skin immediately starts to itch and burn the second she’s within range.

She smells like vanilla and lilacs, her intense perfume assaulting my senses as she steps between me and my boyfriend.

It’s like I’m not even here the way she creates a quick barrier between us and smiles up at him.

I stare at the side of her face, wishing I could glare at her, tell her to fuck off and leave us the hell alone!

But my insides are frozen solid, and I can’t utter a word, because I know she’s livid with me. She’s hiding it like the queen actress that she is, but I am going to pay big for going against her wishes and hanging out with Wily anyway.

Oh shit, did she see him leaning down to kiss me?

My insides flood with hot terror as I imagine what she’d say if she knew we’d slept together.

“How are you?” Jade runs her hand down Wily’s arm.

He darts his gaze to me, then gives her his friendly smile. It’s not his flirty one, just his standard friendly one that he uses with strangers. “I’m great. ”

“I haven’t seen you around as much.” She pouts. “I’ve been looking out for you, though.”

Tipping her head, she runs her fingers through her hair and goes into full flirt mode.

I take another step away from them. I really don’t need to see this, and I want nothing more than to get away from her.

“I’ve been a busy boy.” Wily grins at her. “I’ve got myself a girlfriend now, and that’s taking up all my spare time.”

“Oh, really?” Jade laughs, slapping his arm playfully. “I can’t believe you’ve been taken off the market. I missed my chance.”

Wily forces out a laugh and inches around her. “Let me introduce you guys.”

I stiffen. No! No, no, no. I don’t want ? —

“This is my girl, Satch.” He points at me, and I’m pretty sure I’m about to pass out.

Jade turns to face me, her eyes flashing me a warning before she puts on a sweet grin and holds out her hand. “Satch? Hi. I’m Jade.”

I stare down at her open hand, the one that cracked me across the face. The memory burns bright, and it takes everything in me to reach out and wrap my short digits around her long ones. “Um… hi.”

“Satch.” She repeats the word, her fingers crunching mine together. “So nice to meet you.”

Please let this stop.

“Uh, yeah, you too.” I try to pull my hand away, hot ants crawling all over my body as she eyes me up, then looks at Wily .

“Isn’t she a peach?” She giggles. “I’m really happy for you guys.”

Oh man, those words must be acid in her mouth.

I am so dead.

Yep, she’s definitely gonna kill me.

Giving me one last smirk, she makes a move to leave, then quickly swivels. Placing her hand on Wily’s shoulder, she reaches up on her tiptoes and whispers something in his ear that I can’t hear and… you know what? I don’t even want to know.

His eyebrows rise, his cheeks turning a touch red, before he leans away from her and politely smiles again. “Thanks, but I’m good. I’ll catch you around, Jane.”

“Jade,” she corrects him, lightly slapping his arm with a laugh. “I’ll see you in class.”

“Yep.” Wily nods, hurrying after me because I’m already walking away. “Hey, wait up.”

He reaches for my hand and tries to thread our fingers together, but I quickly shove my hand into my pocket before he can.

“Hey. Are you mad at me?”

“No.” I shake my head, throwing him a tight smile that seems to hurt for some reason. “Just don’t want to be late to class.”

“Satch.” He steps into my path, forcing me to stop. Leaning down, he waits until I’m looking at him, having to capture my chin and stop my head from moving. “You don’t have to worry about that girl.”

Yeah, right!

Part of me wonders if I should tell him. Maybe if he knew just how horrible she’d been to me over the years, he wouldn’t be so nice to her .

But I don’t want to.

How am I supposed to stand here and admit how shitty I’ve been treated? It’s so humiliating. I don’t want him to picture me like that. I just want him to look at me the way he did when I met him at Java Jeans this morning.

“I’d never cheat on you.” He catches my eye when my gaze starts to wander. “You know that, right?”

“Yeah.” I nod and force another smile—this one doesn’t hurt as much. “I trust you.”

And I do. Really. I know he’d never intentionally hurt me. He’s too sweet. Too nice.

But what if he gets bored of me?

What if he gets drafted and leaves me? Which he totally will.

He’ll be away, and I’ll be out of sight, out of mind.

“Whatever is going on in that brain of yours, can you please just stop it?” he says, bringing my attention back to him. “I’m yours, baby. You’ve got to believe that.”

“I just don’t understand it,” I mumble.

“What?” He leans closer, and I shake my head.

“Nothing.” Desperate to get out of this hellishly awkward conversation, I lightly peck his lips.

He grins. “Did you just kiss me in public?”

“Maybe.” I feel the heat rising in my cheeks and wrinkle my nose.

He laughs and grabs my face, kissing me soundly before pulling back and brushing his nose over mine. “Maybe we should skip our first class of the day and?—”

“No.” I lightly push him back. “We are not missing class just because you’re horny. And besides, I…” Dropping my voice, I whisper, “I got my period this morning, so …” My cheeks flush red yet again. I no doubt look like a raspberry as I admit this to him, but he takes it with ease.

“Oh, bummer. How bad do you get them?” He stands tall, taking my hand and threading our fingers together.

“A little painful, but nothing a few Tylenol can’t counter.”

“That’s good. My poor sister used to get the worst cramps. In fact, her periods were so bad she had to go on the pill.”

I raise my eyebrows, wondering if his sister would want me to know that.

But Wily keeps going, telling me about Blake’s heinous periods and how he learned to duck and cover through the worst of them.

“It was like navigating a minefield. She’d go from tantrums to tears to hysterical laughter within minutes.

I swear, I had to mentally suit up once a month.

She finally went on the pill when she was sixteen, and it gave us all a chance to breathe and not worry for our lives so much.

” His emphatic look makes me giggle, and I squeeze his hand. He’s a good big brother, I can tell.

The way he talks about Blake makes me think they’re close, and I can’t help asking what it was like growing up with a sibling.

He continues to tell me stories as we amble slowly to my first class, and it distracts me from the Jade encounter this morning.

When it’s finally time to go our separate ways, I let him kiss me again and don’t regret it until an hour later when I leave my class and bump into Jade and Kelsey, who have obviously been waiting for me.

Shit.

Jade’s long nails dig into my arm when she grabs me, getting in my face and hissing, “You’re his girlfriend now?”

“I… I…” Fear chokes me out as she pulls me along the pathway, seething in my ear.

“You told me you were just his tutor, but now he’s off the market.”

“Because of you?” Kelsey scoffs. Her scorn is potent and burns the back of my throat. “What a joke. Are you paying him or something?”

“With what money?” Jade spits. “Seriously. Are you stupid?” She shakes my arm, her nails digging in that much deeper. I can feel her talons through my jacket.

I wince and try to wrangle out of her hold, but her grip is like a dog bite, cinching my arm.

“I told you to stay away from him.”

“You can’t tell me what to do,” I reply so softly it’s barely audible.

“There has got to be an ulterior motive here,” Kelsey says to Jade. “There’s no way he’d be into a girl like her. Something else is going on.”

I frown at the pair of them as they discuss my love life like it’s some big conspiracy.

With a soft growl, I try to take my arm back.

“Shut up,” Jade barks at me. “Growling like a fucking bitch. Don’t think this is over. We’re gonna find out the truth about you two.”

“There’s no truth to find out,” I quietly argue. “We’re dating. Deal with it.”

“You can’t possibly expect us to believe he’s into you.” Kelsey scoffs again, then looks at her friend. “Jade’s been crushing on him since she got here, and you need to back the hell off. ”

“He’s not some property you can claim.” Anger starts to bubble and flare within me. “He can date who he likes.”

“Well, he’s fucking delusional if he thinks that person is you.” Jade’s glare is hot and intimidating.

I dip my chin, unable to hold her eye. My insides are burning, and I want nothing more than to disappear, just melt right into the icy concrete beneath my feet.

“Don’t think for a second that I’m backing down on this. I’ll show Wily exactly what he’s missing out on, and he’ll see soon enough that you’re a waste of his time.”

“She must have hexed him or something,” Kelsey mutters. “Wouldn’t surprise me if this weirdo is a full-blown witch.”

“I’m gonna break your little spell, hippo,” Jade hisses, giving my arm one last, super-hard squeeze before finally letting me go and stalking away.

I stay where I am, staring at the concrete and feeling like total shit.

For a second, I wonder if I should save us all the brewing angst and just break up with Wily now.

No way! You’re not doing that just because Jade told you to!

My insides rebel as I rub my aching arm and finally find the strength to shuffle forward.

I should probably warn Wily about her, tell him to watch his back because Jade will be coming on stronger than ever now.

But then I’ll have to admit everything, and… and I can’t!

I just have to trust what Wily said to me. He’s no cheater .

He could still break up with you, though. Jade could win him over so easily. She’s gorgeous and flirty and ? —

“A total bitch,” I mutter to myself.

Wily’s not stupid. He’ll be able to pick up on that, right?

Doubts swirl through me as I shuffle off to my next class, wondering what the hell I’m supposed to do to keep this amazing, wonderful man who has burst into my life and stolen my heart without any kind of warning.

How am I supposed to compete with Jade Buchanan?

You can’t.

All you can do is try to keep him as far away from her as you can.

Pulling out my phone, I send Wily a text to find out how his class went and ask if he wants to meet up for lunch.

Thankfully, he replies almost immediately, and I spend the next three hours praying Jade doesn’t cross his path before I can hide him in my dorm room for a secret lunch away from prying eyes.

I’ll probably need to come up with some better plays than that, but for now, I’ll just have to keep him close and hope he doesn’t get sick of me.