Football players are assholes. I know; I'm related to their king. My older, and annoyingly overprotective, brother Jake is the star quarterback at Santa Cruz High School. I love him but hate living in his shadow. Everyone worshiping the air he breat...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
A wide body towered over me, followed by Bryce's griping. "Bro, we need to talk."
"No," I answered without looking up. "We don't."
"He's right." In my peripheral vision, Cole's thick eyebrows furrowed. "You can't let some chick-"
The whine in his voice pulled my eyebrows together. "Distract you from football?" I finished for him. "I agree."
His frown deepened before my diversion registered. "Not what I meant."
Not that football players should hide behind this excuse but, collectively, we were a slow-processing group. The guys needed a few days to realize I was serious. Past Bryce the idiot and Jackson the desperate to impress, who was lucky his ass wasn't here, Cole was the most upset. "Bullshit," he grumbled from behind his orange juice glass.
"Won't change your parties, Jenks." I suppressed an eye roll. Classic rich kid ignored by overworked parents. "People will still hook up in your poolhouse, so chill."
"You chill. Not sure what you did with the old Logan Hightower," he grumbled. "But I miss him. Can we get him back?"
His butthurt scowl prompted my warning. "Don't test me." My purge of their game would avoid getting caught, provided no one did something stupid, like -
I elbowed Bryce. "Can I borrow your phone?"
His sheepish grin and guilty eyes signaled, 'something stupid.' He unlocked his phone and handed it over. I cursed at another list created by Jackson. The very first entry was no surprise.
These fucking idiots made it personal. I deleted Ellie's name, then Jackson's spreadsheet. Fuck, that little shit pissed me off. "I said quit this bullshit." I lifted my eyes to half-guilty, half-irritated expressions around the table. "And how do you know she's a virgin?"
Josh laced his words with a not-at-all-subtle warning that matched his glare at me. "Fair assumption that Jake would murder anyone who touched her."
I ignored him and stared at the eggs that now tasted like cardboard on my tongue. My blood rushed up into my face, heating my cheeks. A slow-simmering rage festered in my chest. It increased as I squeezed my fork. Whose eye would I jab first to make them listen to me? Beyond disrespecting me as their captain, Ellie's V-card was no one else's fucking business except hers. Fuck, they were too bored. We needed to get home and start the season.
"Don't end the game when things get started." Bryce's face scrunched into a scowl. "Your girl caught our attention."
"Stay away from her," I warned him, as well as all the eavesdroppers.
Josh's skeptical eyes lifted from his cereal bowl. His spoon hovered and dripped a few milk drops. I was a chill guy, but this crawled under my skin as if an ant colony lived there. It wasn't the first time we'd had this conversation and I was tired of them not listening.
