Stuck With The Four Hotties

Coach Hannah runs over to help me up, but I’m too dizzy to stand. I just got nailed hard-and not in a good way.

The music keeps on pounding through the stadium, and the other girls finish their dance to cheers and clapping from both sides. Pretty sure everyone thinks that was accidental. Except for me. And Zack.

He storms over in a rush, panting hard and soaked in sweat, his dark hair

plastered to his forehead. I manage finally to find my feet and push past Coach Hannah to intercept him on his way over.

“Don’t,” I murmur through the blood. I’m starting to wonder if my nose might be broken. It hurt too much, and now it doesn’t hurt at all … Not a good sign. My body’s trying to protect me from the agony. “Zack, don’t.”

“I don’t care if they are girls, I’m going to break their faces.”

“No, you aren’t.” I put my palms on his chest as he stands there, huge and muscular and panting, trying to come to my rescue in the only way he knows how. Just like with Tristan, I try to get ahold of that dark streak inside of him by drawing his attention away from them and over to me. “The scouts are here. I know you love football; I know you want to play for the NFL, even if you won’t admit it.”

“I can have my grandfather buy a team and put me on it,” Zack whispers, but he sounds almost sick when he says it. Sure, he could do that. But he’s like me: he wants to earn his own way. He doesn’t just want to play; he wants to deserve to play.

“They will get theirs. I promise you that. I promise you.” Because this first month at Burberry Prep, I haven’t been doing nothing. I have my notebook. I

have my rules. And last year, I let the guys do a lot of the revenge-getting for me.

This year is going to be different.

I’m graduating Burberry Prep, and I’m going out with a bang.

“You fucking trolls,” Zack growls, but the girls behind me just laugh, and this time, it’s my turn to reach up and grab his face in my much smaller hands. He turns his bittersweet chocolate eyes down to me. They’re narrowed and dark, and I know he’d destroy them if I asked him to-even if it meant losing his spot on both this team and his future college career. “You best watch your backs.”

“We’re terrified,” Ileana purrs, laughing as Zack looks back down at me, positively shaking with rage. I look around for Charlie, and see him disappearing around the corner, probably heading for the steps to come over here. He doesn’t know I’m dating Zack yet, so … I only have a second.

“Don’t pay attention to them; kiss your girlfriend and walk away. That’s it.” Zack cups my chin and kisses me deeply in front of both schools, causing several of his teammates to catcall and whistle. I don’t even care that it hurts when he presses his mouth to mine. Even though I’m sure I must taste like blood, I run my tongue over the thickness of his lower lip.

He seriously has the prettiest freaking mouth.

With his kiss, Zack claims me, making a low, satisfied male sound in his throat as his tongue sweeps mine, and his big hands clamp over my shoulders, squeezing hard. When he finally releases me, I feel like I’ve been marked somehow, branded to the entire stadium as his mate.

“I’ve got a few minutes. Let’s get you cleaned up,” he growls, and then he picks me up and carries me over to the bench. The field medic examines me, and decides that it’d be best if I go get checked out at the hospital afterward, just in case. Dad is there, trying to hover over me, Jennifer, too. I wave them both off and manage to talk all the adults involved into letting me sit there with ice on my face, so I can finish watching the game.

The other boys come down to stand beside me, and Windsor, unsurprisingly, is the one who takes over, pulling me into his lap. He doesn’t say a thing, none of them do, but I can tell they’re all quietly fuming.

Just as we’re nearing the end of the game, I see Zack give Corb a look.

Jalen readies himself to throw a forward pass, the sun shining off the black surface of his helmet.

He pulls his arm back, and Corb goes right for him. Since he’s the defensive lineman for Grenadine Heights, that makes sense. That’s his job. He tackles Jalen hard, and all I hear as he goes down near me is this awful crunching sound.

The ref calls a timeout as Jalen screams, and I see all this blood. Like way, way too much blood. I bend down next to him since I’m the nearest person there, and find a shard of glass in his leg.

“What the …”

I’m pushed aside for the field medic, but not before I palm the glass in my hand and take it with me, stumbling back and slipping it into a cup of water. I pretend to take a drink to calm my nerves, and then chuck it in the trash.Content from NôvelDr(a)ma.Org.

Zack looks at me from across the field, and our eyes meet.

Jalen is taken away with a severed artery and a broken femur. His chances of playing for a college team next year … virtually none. And his dad is some super famous NFL player, too. It’s all he ever talks about.

When I get back to my room, I’ll cross his name off my list.

The game finishes up shortly thereafter, with the victory going to Burberry Prep. It’s a nice change of pace from second year when I fucked-up Zack’s chances at glory.

I don’t get a chance to talk to him though because we go straight to the hospital after (my nose isn’t broken, thankfully), only to learn I have a possible concussion. Charlie stays up all night with me playing board games in one of the visitor’s cabins, and I spend every moment soaking up my time with him.

Once he leaves, I can confront Zack.

He broke one of my rules, and I am not happy about it.

I storm up to Zack in The Mess and grab one of his big, muscular arms, dragging him away from the ot

her boys and out into the hallway.