Page 13 of Go Deep (A Bad Boy Sports Romance)
Everyone except Tre bet against me. Those were good odds. “Glad you got my back, Tre. That’ll be a nice chunk o’ change coming our way, bud.”
“Yeah, man. I say we celebrate the win at the strip club. That’s a whole lot of lap dances.”
I shook my head. “That’s not my scene, my friend, but I hear that’s how Nate gets his jollies.”
Tre grinned at Nathan, who was scowling at the other end of the table. “So I hear. No worries, Nate. I’ll spot you a few.”
“I’ll keep track of the bets,” Chad said. He pulled out a small pad of paper and a pencil. “Fork over the cash, boys. No more verbal bets. House rules.”
“What the hell is that?” Evan asked.
“What, this?” He raised his little note pad and Evan nodded. “Dude, haven’t you seen me use this at practice when we’re going over plays for the week?”
“What are you, a bookie in training? Just put it in your phone like everybody else. Can’t let this shit get lost when the stakes are this high, dumbass.” Everyone around the table was used to the fact that Evan could be a bit of a dick most of the time. He was the best damn wide receiver in the college circuit, certainly the only player in the SEC on my level. Which was why we worked so well together.
I smiled as the men gathered up their money and handed it over to Chad. That cash and Cassidy Greyson were mine for the taking. It would be fun proving them wrong when I finally nailed her good.
“Haven’t you known Cassidy for a while now?” Evan asked.
“Yeah. Almost my whole life,” I admitted. “We grew up on the same street, man.”
“Then, why the hell haven’t you tapped that already?” I knew what he was doing. He was trying to stir the pot, which was his forte.
“Man, she was the little girl next door back then. Definitely jailbait. And for a while I thought my little brother was hitting that for the longest time, so I let her be.”
“Yeah, but as soon as you found out he wasn’t, you should have moved right on in.”
“Don’t sweat it, bro. I got this. Once I lay on the old Slaughter charm, she’ll be all mine.”
I didn’t need Evan busting my chops over Cassidy right now. The rest of the team looked up to me, so what kind of example would I be setting if I allowed him to strip away my street cred by having them think there was a girl I couldn’t have? I couldn’t let him undermine my authority like that. Best friend or not, he couldn’t sow me up in my own domain.
“Yeah, we’ll see soon enough. You know what would really be hot?”
“What?” I dreaded to know what he was about to say. Knowing Evan, it could have been anything from letting the whole team hit it, to filming it and at least letting the frat brothers all watch.
“If you scored her and her roommate at the same time.”
I heard the collective groan of the guys standing around.
“Miranda? Man, that girl’s got the freak show thing going on,” I said.
He raised his eyebrows. “I bet she does.”
Everyone laughed.
Tre agreed with me. “I don’t know though, Evan. She looks like the type who’ll tie you up in fun then start cutting. I’d leave that alone and stick with Cassidy, Slade. She may be the Ice Princess, but damn, she’s not liable to shank you in your sleep.”
That earned another round of laughter at Evan’s expense.
“Anybody need a beer?” Ryan asked, getting up to go into the kitchen. A few of us nodded. “Gotcha.” He disappeared around the corner.
“So, about this party,” I started, trying to get the guys back on task so we could get Cassidy off the agenda again.
It wasn’t that I wanted to date her or anything, and I didn’t want the guys believing I did. She was just the hottest, most unattainable girl on campus, and I had a reputation to uphold. I had to hit that, and everyone expected me to. Hell,Iexpected me to. It was my duty as the hottest guy on campus and the star quarterback. Actually, it was insulting that I hadn’t.
I probably could have, back in high school, but she spent so much time with my little brother, I thought they were dating. They were inseparable. Besides, she was still a kid back then. She would have been perfect for Shawn, but after a while the two of them acted more like siblings than a couple who was dating. That’s where Shawn and I were like night and day. I couldn’t let a girl get that close to me without spending some time under the hood.
“Hey, Andrew says he’s in for a hundred against Slade,” Ryan announced as he strolled back in the room with a case of beer cans in his hand.
