The Game You Play: A Rixon Raiders Novel Read online

  Was I really hot for her?

  I’d told Cameron it was just sex, convenient. But I couldn’t deny I didn’t like hearing her describe what had really gone down.

  A girl’s first time was supposed to be... more or something, wasn’t it?

  Hearts and flowers and mood lighting and all that shit. I didn’t know because I didn’t make a habit of fucking virgins.

  “Why?” The word flew out of my mouth before I could stop it.

  “Why?” Felicity frowned. “Why, what?”

  “Why me?”

  “Oh don’t flatter yourself, Jason.” She tapped my chest, smiling wryly. “I have a list and you were a means to an end.”

  A means to an... what the actual fuck?

  “Now if you’re done, I have places to be.” She ducked under my arm and came up on the other side, but my hand shot out, grabbing her arm.

  “What game are you playing, Giles?”

  “Game?” Surprise flashed in her eyes, her earlier confidence slipping away. “You think this is a game?”

  “You’re telling me it isn’t?”

  The air electrified around us, crackling with sexual tension. My dick felt it. Hell, my entire body felt it. And it wanted more.

  More Felicity.

  More of her smart mouth and witty retorts. Her slender hips and pouty lips.

  I needed to get a fucking grip. Because I had enough to worry about without adding a girl to the mix. Especially my step-sister’s best friend.

  “Go to hell, Jason.” She stormed off, her anger almost palpable as she disappeared into the hall.

  Long after she’d gone, I was still standing there. Processing our interaction. My body’s strange response to her. She was pissed, that much was obvious—her attitude a front for her true feelings. Her closing line had been telling enough. She wanted me to stay the fuck away.

  So why did all I hear was game on?

  “Jason, can you come in here please?”

  With a groan, I stalked down the hall and into the kitchen where I found my dad at the kitchen table, pouring over a stack of papers. “Yeah?”

  “We’d like for you to join us for dinner today.”

  “I’m good, but thanks.” No way did I want to sit around playing happy families with my old man, his new wife, and Hailee.

  “Son,” Dad let out a heavy sigh. “We need to move past this.”

  “I’m over it. I just don’t want to pretend I actually give a shit.”

  “Jason,” he snapped, eyes sliding to Denise. “I know you’re hurting, but this is not the way.”

  Me and my old man were most definitely not father and son goals. To the rest of Rixon, Dad liked to exude togetherness. A team. The local football hero and the son set to follow in his path. But I knew the truth. I knew what Kent Ford was really about. There was a time when I’d worshipped the ground he’d walked on. But that was before. When he and my mom were in love. When our family was enough.

  “I’ll be in my room,” I said, swiping a banana from the fruit bowl and retreating into the hall. Almost colliding with Hailee as she flew off the stairs.

  “Sorry,” she said. “I didn’t see you.”

  “Yeah, okay,” I grumbled. It wasn’t like you could really miss me. Six one. Broad. Wearing my blue and white football jersey. “In a hurry?”

  Hailee’s brows pinched. “You want to talk?”

  “Forget it.” I waved her off.

  “Jeez, I’m sorry. I just didn’t expect... what you were saying?” Her expression softened, and I found myself humoring her.

  “I said are you in a hurry?”

  “Felicity’s picking me up. We’re going to The Alley.”

  Of course they were. I didn’t get the appeal. It was a dive place on the Rixon/Rixon East border. Too many East kids came around there for my liking.

  “You think it’s a good idea to go there alone?”

  “I won’t be alone. I’ll be with Flick. But it’s nice to know you care.” A hint of amusement played on Hailee’s lips.

  Before I could correct her, Felicity’s horn blared outside. I knew because I’d been listening to the annoying-as-fuck sound for almost two years since she passed driver’s ed.

  “Right then, I’ll guess I’ll see ya.” Hailee moved toward the door, but I called after her. “Yeah?” She glanced back.

  “I didn’t know.”

  “Know?” Her brows knitted.

  I dragged a hand down my face wondering why the fuck I’d said anything to begin with. But it was out there now, hanging between us. “Yeah, about Felicity being a... you know,” I explained.

  My step-sister inclined her head, studying me for a second and then said, “Okay.”

  Okay?

  What the fuck was that supposed to mean?

  “I’m glad we cleared that up.”

  A hint of a smile lifted the corner of her mouth but then her expression turned serious. “I know we have to tolerate each other for Cameron’s sake, but stay away from Felicity, Jason.”

  “I—” The words got stuck, but it was too late anyway. Hailee had already slipped outside and disappeared, leaving me standing there, wondering what the fuck just happened.

  Felicity

  “You’re distracted,” Hailee said over her sundae. “It’s him, isn’t it? Jason.” There was a coolness to her voice that squeezed my heart.

  “It’s not…” I let out a heavy sigh, meeting her gaze. “I thought I’d feel good or relieved or something but now I just feel…”

  I didn’t know what I felt.

  The list was supposed to help me push my boundaries, to step out the confines of my perfectly average life and take more risks. It wasn’t like I’d planned to seduce Jason. To play his stupid game of cat and mouse. He was just there. Like a slow building wave that before I realized what had happened, crashed over me and swept me off my feet.

  “Oh, Flick.” Hailee reached over the table and grabbed my hand. “I could kill him for doing—”

  “It wasn’t his fault. I need you to know that. I—”

  “You like him, don’t you?”

  “I can’t really explain it but something’s different this year.” I’d never looked twice at Jason and his friends before. Neither had Hailee though, and look how that turned out. Now she was madly in love with Cameron and they were planning to go off to college together and have cute football playing babies.

  “Did you think if you slept with him, he’d suddenly change? Because—”

  “What? No. No!” I shook my head. “I know Jason isn’t boyfriend material. Trust me, I know. But there’s something... he makes me feel...”

  Just then, the door opened and a swarm of people entered, all wearing red and white jerseys.

  “Crap,” Hailee grumbled as we watched the Rixon East football players stroll up to the diner counter.

  “Don’t they know this is Switzerland?” I whispered.

  Tate, the owner of The Alley, refused to let the rivalry between Rixon High and the high school across the river, Rixon East, affect his business. Anyone was welcome here so long as they played nice. That meant no football jerseys, colors, or smack talk. It’s why both football teams usually avoided the place like the plague.

  “Apparently the rules just changed.” Hailee retreated into herself, and I couldn’t blame her. Lewis Thatcher, captain and QB for the Rixon East Eagles, had come after her once he discovered she was Jason’s step-sister. It had been a shitshow, but since Rival’s Week was done, we figured—hoped—the stupid pranks were over.

  “Oh shit.” I’d clearly spoken too soon as Lewis Thatcher entered The Alley, a smirk on his face as everyone sat up a little straighter. Like Jason, he was worshipped by his classmates and townspeople. But he wasn’t in Rixon East now and technically, this was Rixon territory.

  So what the hell was he doing here?

  “Maybe we should go,” I said to Hailee who was still gawking at them. “Hails?” I kicked her leg gently under the table
and her head whipped around to me.

  “Sorry, what?”

  “I said maybe we should go.”

  “And let him win? No way.” Defiance sparked in her eyes. “I doubt they even recognize—”

  “Ladies,” a deep voice said, and we both glanced up to find Thatcher and another guy staring down at us. “Hailee and, I’m sorry, I don’t think I got your name?”

  “You didn’t,” I sassed. “Because I didn’t give it to you.”

  The whole diner had fallen quiet, everyone straining to hear our conversation. Hailee flashed me a look that said, ‘don’t make it worse’, but no way was I just going to sit here while he taunted her.

  “You go can now.” I dismissed them with my hand and focused on Hailee again. Silently praying they left. But they didn’t.

  “I like this one,” Thatcher’s friend said. “I wonder what else her mouth can do—”

  “You need to leave,” Hailee ground out, her hands curled around the edge of the table, turning her knuckles white.

  “Funny,” Thatcher leaned down into her space, his lip twisted with amusement, “Because it sounds like a warning, and yet, I don’t see anyone here coming to your rescue. Do you, Gallen?”

  “Don’t see no one, Cap.” Thatcher’s dog folded his arms over his chest, glaring at me.

  My eyes surveyed the diner, searching for someone—anyone—who might help us. But the handful of kids I recognized from school all dropped their gazes the second I looked at them.

  Cowards.

  The rest of the kids watched with a mix of interest and sympathy, and I figured they were East kids. Used to Thatcher’s games.

  “What do you want?” Hailee sounded disinterested, but I caught the inflection in her voice.

  “Want?” Thatcher grinned. “I want lots of things, baby.” He plucked a strand of her hair and brought it to his nose, inhaling deeply.

  Screw this. I dipped my hand into my purse and managed to dig out my cell phone without Lewis or his dog noticing. Quickly locating Cameron’s number, I fired off a text and then slid it back into my purse.

  “Rumor has it you’re fucking Chase now?”

  Hailee pressed her lips together refusing to answer.

  “Get off her, you disgusting pig,” I yelled, but panic filled Hailee’s eyes as she shook her head subtly.

  “Want me to shut her up, Cap?” The dog said. “Because I’d love nothing more than to watch her choke on my—”

  “I’d like to see you try.” The words spilled out before I could stop them. Hunger glittered in the dog’s predatory gaze as his hooded eyes drifted down my body.

  “Pig,” I muttered, angling myself away from him.

  “I want you to give your boyfriend a message for me—”

  “Why don’t you give it him yourself?”

  Relief slammed into me at the sight of Cameron and Asher standing in the door. Thatcher immediately straightened, but he didn’t leave Hailee’s side.

  “Are you okay?” I mouthed at her, and she nodded, unshed tears pooling in the corner of her eyes.

  “Fee, baby, why don’t you come on over here?” Asher crooked his finger at me, and I rose, ignoring the low growl coming from Thatcher’s friend. When I reached him, Asher hooked me into his side and whispered, “You did the right thing.”

  Although with the anger rolling off Cameron, I wasn’t sure. I didn’t want to incite a fight, but I didn’t want Lewis to upset Hailee any more than he already had.

  “She yours, Bennet?” the dog asked Asher with a snarl. “Because if she’s not, I wouldn’t mind taking her for a ride; see if what they say about Raider chicks is true.” His laughter filled the air and a few of his teammates snorted.

  My stomach washed with disgust but Asher’s fingers dug into me, grounding me. “What are we going to do here, Cam?” he said. “There’s only two of us and eight of them.”

  “I’ll handle it.” Cameron inched forward, the air around him charged and dangerous.

  “Hailee, come here.” He gave her a reassuring nod, and slowly Hailee rose from the chair. But Thatcher’s hand clamped down on her shoulder.

  “Not so fast, baby, we’re just getting—"

  “Get your hands off her.”

  “Or what, Chase? You’re a lover not a fighter and I don’t see Ford anywhere, do you?”

  Anticipation crackled in the air, the whole diner watching on with fascination. A few cameras were aimed in the direction of the stand-off between Cameron and Lewis Thatcher and I knew it wouldn’t be long before it was all over social media.

  “You don’t want to do this, man.” Cameron implored, holding his hands up. “It’s a public place, people are filming.”

  Hesitation flashed over Thatcher’s face, enough for Cameron to grab Hailee’s hand and yank her toward him. “Go.” He flicked his head toward us, and she hurried to Asher’s side.

  “Maybe we should call Jason,” she said.

  “That is the last thing we want to do right now. Your boy can handle it.”

  “What’s going on here?” Tate appeared looking flustered. Planting his hands on his hips, he glowered at Thatcher. “You know the rules, Son. I won’t have you coming in here disrespecting—”

  “Easy, old man.” He held up his hands, backing away slowly “We were just getting a bite and then leaving.”

  Leaving my ass.

  If Tate hadn’t showed up right when he had, we all knew things could have ended very differently. But Lewis Thatcher tipped his head toward the door and like good little minions, his teammates filed out of the diner, Tate following them out for good measure.

  “Tell Ford we’ll see him soon.” Thatcher blew Cameron a kiss. “Nice seeing you again, Hailee.”

  Asher released me and threw himself into Cameron’s path. “Don’t do anything stupid, bro.” He pressed his hand against Cameron’s chest.

  “I’m cool,” he said, wrapping his arm around Hailee. “Let’s go sit down.”

  “You mean let’s wait until it’s safe to leave?” I said unable to keep the sarcasm out of my voice. “What the hell was that?”

  Asher and Cameron led us over to one of the booths at the back so we had a little more privacy. Hailee scooted in next to Cameron and Asher pulled me in next to him.

  “He’s gunning for blood.” Asher scrubbed his face.

  “Well, he ain’t going to be gunning for blood in my place again.” Tate appeared, his brows bunched together. “Cameron, good to see you, Son.”

  “Hey, Tate. I’m sorry about—”

  “Now now, there’s no need to apologize; but I won’t have your little rivalry spilling into my business, you hear me?”

  Cameron nodded, his jaw set.

  “We had no idea they would show up here,” Hailee added, the color finally returning to her cheeks.

  “Yeah, well, the little shits planned it. A couple of them caused a distraction out back, or I would have been here sooner. You’re more than welcome around here anytime, you know that. But not if—”

  “We got it,” Cameron said. “It won’t happen again.”

  But it was promise we all knew he couldn’t keep. Lewis Thatcher did what he wanted. No one could stop him from coming around here, except the police. And like the Raiders, the Rixon East Eagles were virtually untouchable.

  Tate didn’t look convinced, but he skulked away, mumbling something about ‘football madness’. Few people in Rixon were anti-football. In fact, in my whole life I’d only ever known three people who weren’t obsessed with the game: Hailee, Tate, and my mom. It was just a part of life here.

  “Fuck,” Asher breathed out.

  “I second that,” I said, dropping my head back against the booth.

  “You okay?” Cameron asked Hailee, tucking her closer into his side. I envied them. Their closeness, their love. The way he looked at her like she was everything he needed, and he’d do whatever it took to keep her. I wanted that.

  God, did I want it.

  So w
hy the hell did you have sex with Jason?

  I ignored my inner critic, focusing on my best friend. “Maybe we should tell someone?”

  “Tell who? Miss Hampstead? My mom? The principal?” She shook her head. “I can handle Lewis Thatcher.”

  “You shouldn’t have to fucking handle him.” Cameron slammed his hand down on the table, making me and Hailee flinch. “Jason should never have…”

  “What did he do that was so bad?” I asked.

  Jason and Lewis Thatcher’s rivalry had grown with them from PeeWee through junior football camp. We’d all heard the stories of two of the best quarterbacks ever to come out of our district. The pranks and fights. But something had changed last year. The rivalry turned bitter. But no one knew the details, not even Hailee who lived with him.

  “Nothing you need to worry your pretty little head over.” Asher grinned.

  “You think I’m pretty? How sweet.” I shot back, my words dripping sarcasm. His expression fell and for a second I could have sworn he looked hurt, but then his smirk was plastered back in place as if it had never happened.

  “You know Jase is going to want payba—”

  “Not here,” Cameron said quietly, and something passed between them. Something they didn’t want me and Hailee knowing.

  Dumb boys. I rolled my eyes.

  “I don’t want you or Jason going after Thatcher.” Hailee grabbed his jaw, forcing him to look at her.

  “We’re not, I promise.”

  “Don’t lie to me, Cameron. I expect it off Jason, but not you.”

  “What do you expect me to do? What he did to you—”

  “Is done. Nothing you or Jason do is going to fix that. Let it go. I have.”

  Cameron dipped his head, capturing her lips in a slow, bruising kiss. Asher cleared his throat, shifting uncomfortably. “Seriously, here?” he drawled, shooting me a bemused look.

  “Sorry.” Hailee’s eyes slid to ours as she tried to break free from the kiss. But Cameron was stronger, planting big wet sloppy kisses all over her face.

  “Aaaaand that’s me, gone. Come on, Fee, baby, you can kick my ass at air hockey.”