The Wrong Play: A Football Romance (The Wrong Player Series Book 2)
The Wrong Play: Chapter 34

Parker and I were lounging on the couch, watching football, when the front door slammed open so hard I thought it might fly off the hinges. Matty stormed in like a man on a mission, eyes locked onto me like I was his mortal enemy.

“You are still tracking me?” he bellowed, hands on his hips like a pissed-off suburban mom.

I popped another cheese puff into my mouth, completely unfazed. “You hadn’t answered any of my texts,” I pointed out, licking the cheese dust off my fingers.

Matty threw his hands in the air. “I was on a date, Jace. A date.”

I nodded sagely, reaching for another cheese puff. “Yeah, and that date could’ve been a cleverly orchestrated kidnapping attempt. You never can be too careful these days.”

Parker snorted, but I kept my face neutral, like I was genuinely concerned about the state of Matty’s safety.

He scowled. “Kidnapped? By Courtney?”

I shrugged, stuffing another handful of snacks in my mouth. “Listen, I don’t know Courtney personally. Maybe she seemed sweet. Maybe she batted her eyelashes and laughed at your dumb jokes—a sign she’s faking, by the way, because you’re not funny. But who’s to say she wasn’t planning to stuff you in the trunk of her car and drive you to an underground fight club?”

Parker leaned forward, intrigued. “Ooo, underground fight club. Could be fun, though.”

Matty turned his glare on him. “Not helping.”

Parker shrugged. “I’m just saying. If she kidnapped you, at least you’d have a cool story.”

Matty turned back to me. “You tracked me down, Jace. During my date. And do you know what you did?”

I grabbed the remote, pretending to be super into the game. “Of course, I know what I did. I was the one doing it.”

“I don’t know what he did,” Parker offered.

Okay, that was kind of funny. I gave him a high five just because. “I rescued you from a potentially dangerous situation. You’re welcome, by the way.”

Matty clenched his jaw. “You sat down. At our table.”

I nodded. “I did.”

“You ordered a drink.”

“Thirsty work, tracking people.”

“And nachos.”

Parker laughed so hard he nearly fell off the couch. “Sorry…just making sure I have this straight. You crashed Matty’s date and sat down at the table?”

“There was a picture of nachos on the menu. I couldn’t resist,” I said, completely unapologetic.

Matty groaned, dragging his hands down his face.

I pointed at Matty with my cheese-dusted fingers. “I told her I was his brother so she wouldn’t be weirded out.”

Matty actually howled in frustration, throwing himself onto the couch beside us like he was being pushed down by the crushing weight of this best friendship. “Before that, she asked if we were dating—and then asked if she could watch!”

“What can I say? We’re a good-looking pair, Matty. Who wouldn’t want to watch us is the actual question. Although, let me be clear, it was offensive that she thought I would ever settle being a side-piece.”

Parker raised his hand, a smirk on his lips. “I would like the record to reflect that I would not want to watch you.”

Matty sighed, closing his eyes dramatically like the world was ending. “You’re a menace. A psycho menace. And you need to stop tracking me.”

I leaned back, popping another cheese puff into my mouth. “No can do, Matty-kins.”

Matty groaned again. “Courtney probably thinks I’m freaky now.”

Parker snickered. “I mean, that’s probably not far off since you’re a guy whose male ‘companion’ showed up at your date and ordered nachos.”

Matty sat up suddenly, jabbing a finger at me. “You owe me.”

I nodded solemnly. “I’ll get you some nachos next time.”

He gritted his teeth. “Not what I meant.”

Parker threw an arm around Matty’s shoulders. “Matty, you really should’ve just texted him back.”

“Yeah, look what happened the last time I didn’t text you back,” I told him, a grin spreading on my face because…Darla.

Matty groaned and sank deeper into the couch. “Point taken.”

I offered him the bag of cheese puffs.

He took one.

Victory.

The game was on, Parker was half-asleep, and Matty was still sulking about the “Great Nacho Betrayal.” All in all, a solid Saturday. If Riley was going to be at the spa with Casey and Nat, this was how I wanted to spend the day.

Parker’s phone lit up on the coffee table.

Incoming FaceTime: Walker Davis.

Parker groaned, barely cracking one eye open. “If this is about Cole’s Rolling Stone article, I swear⁠—”

I snatched up his phone before he could finish. “Ooo, let’s see what Big Brother Davis wants.”

Matty perked up. “Does this mean I get to watch Parker get bullied in real-time?”

“Absolutely.” I grinned, answering the call.

Walker’s face filled the screen, looking entirely too put together for a Saturday. He was in some swanky hotel room, probably on the road with his NHL team, the Dallas Knights. And sitting next to him, grinning like he was about to cause problems on purpose?

Ari Lancaster.

Star defenseman…and possibly my hero and who I wanted to be when I grew up.

Not that I would admit that to him. He’d never let me hear the end of it.

“You finally picked up, jackass,” Walker said before his eyes focused, his frown deepening. “Oh. Jace?”

I smirked. “’Sup, Walker Disney Davis?”

“You don’t have to say my full name,” Walker sighed.

Matty snorted as Parker grumbled, rubbing his face. “That’s not your actual name. I hope you know that.”

“He wishes it was his full name,” I said.

Ari leaned into the screen, pointing. “Thatcher.”

I saluted. “Lancaster.”

“Question.” Ari squinted at me. “Your hair during the last game. Was I imagining that?”

Matty perked up, eyes gleaming. “Oh, I love where this is going.”

Parker sat up, suddenly interested. “I love where this is going as well.”

I smirked at both of them, because I appreciated their attention. “‘As well,’” I mimicked. “So proper, Mr. Big Brain.”

Ari snorted, and I preened.

Running a hand through my hair, I rolled my shoulders, completely unbothered. “You jealous of my luscious locks, Lancaster?”

Ari grinned. “Nah, just concerned, buddy. Because last I checked, you’re not an Instagram influencer from Miami.”

Parker was eyeing me, like he could tell I was getting all giddy inside because Ari Lancaster had called me “buddy.”

Walker shook his head and examined me. “Or an eleven-year-old at summer camp.”

Matty started dying like Walker had actually said something funny. Which he hadn’t.

“Hey, hey.” I pointed at the camera. “That was art. You think I just woke up with two perfectly symmetrical braids intermixed with the rest of my flowing, long locks? That took effort. That took precision.”

Ari pressed a hand to his chest. “How long did it take for you to look like a budget boy band member from 2002?”

I shrugged. “Thirty minutes to get the look I was going for. And it was worth every second,” I said, raising my eyebrows up and down. “I’ll have you know that Riley thought it was very sexy.”

Walker crossed his arms in front of his chest and shook his head. “I’ll bet she did. Although, real commitment is piercing her name into your⁠—”

All of a sudden Ari’s hand was in front of Walker’s mouth, cutting off what he’d been about to say. “Disney, there are children in the room. Let’s not give specifics about what true love actually looks like.”

Parker’s eye roll was outrageously loud next to me.

Walker leaned back, shaking his head. “I don’t think I could get my hair messed with for thirty minutes. I can barely get through a five-minute haircut without twitching.”

Ari snorted. “That’s because you have the attention span of a goldfish, Disney.”

“Oh, I’m sorry,” Walker scoffed. “Did you forget about how you zoned out mid-interview the other day with ESPN?”

Ari blinked. “Blake was giving me the look. You try concentrating in the midst of such perfection. I’m just a man, Disney.”

I nodded. Because I understood what he was talking about. The struggle was real trying to concentrate on anything but Riley Babycakes Thatcher.

“We should talk about your pre-game rituals too. What is it again? You have to tape your left wrist twice before your right, or you’ll suddenly forget how to function like a human?”

Ari rolled his eyes. “That’s called being locked in, darling Disney. It’s science.”

Matty, Parker, and I were watching their back-and-forth avidly, like we’d never seen anything more interesting.

“I would just like to state for the record,” Ari began, turning his attention back to us. “So there’s no confusion. Walker only has big balls because Lincoln’s not around. His balls shrivel and get simpish when Golden Boy’s in the room.”

Walker sighed, and Matty waved a chip at the screen.

“Lincoln Daniels, now he’s what I call style.”

Parker and I glanced over at Matty, suddenly sure there was another “simp” in this conversation…and it wasn’t Disney.

Ari raised a brow at Matty’s comment, but then he nodded. “I can’t argue with that,” he said solemnly.

I smirked, popping a chip into my mouth. “I bet Daniels thought my braids were awesome.”

Ari scoffed like I’d personally offended him, and Walker looked behind them…hopefully…like Lincoln—their star center—was about to walk in the room.

Ari sighed and shook his head. “Don’t mind, Walker. He just can’t wait for the sleepover to start.”

“Sleepover?” I asked, intrigued. I loved a good sleepover. Too bad Matthew was so against it.

“Logan got a hat trick last night…so here we are,” Walker muttered, like he wasn’t fucking giddy about the prospect of Lincoln sleeping in the same room as him.

Ari side-eyed him. “Don’t pretend I didn’t see those face masks in your bag, Disney. Plus popcorn. And a selection of movies that will emotionally wreck all of us because there are dogs involved.”

“I also brought Pretty Woman,” Walker said with a wink.

Ari looked delighted at that revelation. “Ah, yes. A heartwarming tale of an escort, a corporate credit card, and the undeniable power of thigh-high boots.” He patted Walker’s shoulder. “You brought that because it’s my favorite. Finally! The respect I deserve.”

Walker nodded…unconvincingly, but Ari didn’t seem to notice. I had a sneaking suspicion that Pretty Woman might have been a Lincoln Daniels favorite as well.

“Anyways…” Walker said, suddenly sounding eager to change the subject. “I did have a point in calling.”

“Shocking,” Parker said, his gaze drifting to the screen where Houston had just scored a touchdown.

Walker gave a cute little growl that kind of sounded like a kitten trying out its meow for the first time. “ANYWAYS…Olivia wants to do a Christmas thing this year in between games, and she specifically asked if Matty and Jace are bringing girlfriends.”

“Yes,” I said, at the same time that Matty said, “No.”

“You could bring Darla,” Parker suggested, quickly ducking as Matty tried to pick up a lamp…before realizing it was plugged in. He glared at it like it had personally wronged him.

Walker looked confused at Matty’s behavior, but that wasn’t anything new. Matty confused all of us at one point or another. “All right, well tell Olivia what you’re doing so she can plan. I don’t want to be in charge of wrangling you two.”

Parker saluted. “Will do, fearless leader.”

Ari pointed at me. “And you—whatever this chaotic energy is, keep it up. It’s wildly entertaining.”

I grinned, feeling a little boisterous now that I knew I was impressing the great Ari Lancaster. “Oh, I plan to.”

“And Disney…have fun at your sleepover,” Parker said mockingly, like he didn’t think it was the greatest idea ever, and we wouldn’t be instituting it at our next away game.

Walker scoffed. “Bye.”

And just like that, the call ended.

Matty exhaled, still scowling. “We’re not snuggling, Jace Thatcher. So don’t get any ideas.”

I shook my head at him. “This is why my ranking system exists. So I can judge you when you’re a negative Nancy.”

Matty groaned and reached for another handful of chips.

“Love you too, bud,” I said, opening my app to make sure that Riley was still at the spa.

Parker smirked and pulled up the camera footage from Casey’s necklace, and I was instantly inspired by him.

I grinned, already scheming on my next gift for Riley. “You know, Parker, sometimes I think you might actually deserve your spot in the rankings.”

“The per se rankings,” Matty added grumbling, and I hummed in agreement, because sometimes it was best to just go along with him.