by Maya Hughes
Marisa and I were fascinated by the ceiling and windows.
“For the late arrivals, you’ve got five minutes to change.”
Berk and Jules hadn’t had the New Jersey detour, and were already in their battle gear.
Marisa and I rushed upstairs, bodying one another the whole way.
She darted into her room and I ducked into mine. My suit jacket, fancy dress shoes and dress pants were gone, and I grabbed a pair of sweats and took off the dress shirt.
“You’re going down, LJ!” She called from the other side of the wall.
“You might think that, but you’d be wrong. I’m stealthy and I’ve taught you everything you know.” I threw on some sweatpants and a t-shirt and dumped out my arsenal in the basket in my closet.
“Did you steal my Commander Blaster?”
I picked up the blue and orange plastic gun and tucked it into the waistband at the back of my sweats. “Nope, haven’t seen it anywhere.” Grabbing an ammo belt of orange-tipped foam, I slung two over my chest.
The racket from Marisa’s room died down a bit.
“That’s time.” Keyton shouted from downstairs.
I bolted back out into the hallway at the same time as Marisa.
She shoved me into the wall and rushed past me down the stairs.
A gentle knock stopped all of us. No one was missing.
The front door opened. “Hey Coach. Wha—what are you doing here?” Uncertainty radiated from Berk’s voice. Things hadn’t gone so well the last time—scratch that, anytime—Coach had shown up at our front door.
“I wanted congratulate you boys on how well you did today.” He held out his hand and shook Berk’s.
Keyton walked up next and shook it. “You did a hell of a job for the team this season.”
Marisa walked around the open door and I came down behind her.
“You looked beautiful tonight.” He hugged her.
Looking over her shoulder, he looked at me. “The city will be lucky to have you playing here. It’ll be a hell of a motivator for the next crop of kids showing up here.” He pulled off his hat. “And I know you could’ve gotten a higher—”
“It’s okay, Coach. I made it.” I wrapped my arm around Marisa, bits of plastic and foam jamming into my chest and looked into her eyes. “And we’ll make it.”
Marisa had let me read the emails from her dad. As much as I wanted to hate him or be angry with him, every one of them hammered home how much she meant to him. Anyone who cared about her half as much as I did was someone I wanted on my team. The team who’d make it their life’s mission to show her how much love there was in the world for her, and that it was never going away.
“I know you will. I can see you’re all getting ready to celebrate.”
Behind me, the whole gang was locked and loaded with more Nerf gear than a toy warehouse.
“It’s a tradition.”
“Have fun. I’ll see you both later.”
Marisa shot forward and hugged him. “See you on Monday, Dad.”
He stood there in stunned silence for a moment before wrapping his arms around her, barred against her back. A tremble rocked his body. “See you.” He let her go with a sheen to his eyes.
She closed the door and turned, sniffling a little.
“You okay?”
Her arm wrapped around my waist and she held me close. “Yeah, I’m good.”
Breathing in, I closed my eyes and kissed the side of her head. There was a fidget of her fingers.
“And even better now.” She jerked the blaster out of my waistband and backed away with it trained on me.
“You little sneak.”
“Takes one to know one. ‘Nope, haven’t seen it.’” She deepened her voice to imitate mine and evaded my grasp, jumping behind Seph and Elle.
I lined up beside Berk, Keyton and Reece. The girls faced us.
Keyton stepped forward before the two teams. “We all get five minutes to strategize. No going outside. No making out. Does everyone understand the rules?”
“You’re going down, LJ.” Marisa glared with a smile tickling her cheeks.
“Not if you go down first.”
Keyton cleared his throat.
“I didn’t mean…not…”
Everyone burst into laughter, and the guys shoved at my shoulders.
“Okay, back on track. Everyone has five minutes. Go!”
There was a scramble for the best defensive positions. Marisa brushed past me and I couldn’t help it. I snagged her around the waist and kissed her. Quick, playful and full of desire. “I love you, Risa.”
Her eyes twinkled with mischief. “I love you too, L. And I wasn’t joking about you going down tonight. One way or another.”
“Sounds like I’m the winner no matter what the game has in store for me.” Another quick peck.
Keyton’s voice broke us apart. “What did I say? I swear. You can’t make it a whole ninety seconds…”
Marisa burst into laughter and charged back up the stairs with the rest of the ladies.
“I know. Something about this woman just drives me crazy.”
Thank you so much for spending some time with these two best friends! For another day with LJ and Marisa, you can check out their bonus scene. Who says football and a London adventure don’t mix!
Ready for some more college sports action?
Shameless King - Enemies to Lovers
Enemies to lovers has never felt so good!
Declan McAvoy. Voted Biggest Flirt. Highest goal scorer in Kings of Rittenhouse Prep history.
Everyone’s impressed, well except one person…
I can’t deny it. I want her. More than I ever thought I could want a woman. I’ve got one semester–only four months–to convince her everything she thought about me was wrong.
Will my queen let me prove to her I’m the King she can’t live without?
Only one way to find out...
One-click SHAMELESS KING now!
Want to start Fulton U where it all began?
The Perfect First - Reece + Seph
“How long do you last in bed?” Those were her first words to me, swiftly followed up with, “And how big would you say you are?”
Cue the record scratching, what?!
Persephone Alexander. Math genius. Lover of blazers. The only girl I know who can make Heidi braids look sexy as hell. And she’s on a mission. Lose her virginity by the end of the semester.
Grab The Perfect First today!
The End
I can’t believe it’s truly the end for Fulton U. Or is it? While the Fulton U series is complete, this doesn’t mean other characters won’t pop up in the future.
Writing this group of friends has been a wild ride. I’m never quite sure where things will go, but I love the ride no matter how frustrating these characters make me.
A special thank you to my editors, Dawn, Sarah, and Sarah. To my assistant, Karen! Oh man, I couldn’t do it without you.
And thank you to you! Time is limited in our crazy world, so thank you for taking the time out of your busy schedule to hang out with this lovable group of people and for loving them as much as I do.
If you were wondering, Keyton will get his own story. I’m working on it now and it’s different than anything I’ve done before.
If you’re looking for Liv and Ford’s story, you can grab, Fearless King right now and start the whole series for FREE with the novella, Kings of Rittenhouse.
Happy reading!
Maya xx
Want More Maya Hughes?
Here are a few books from my backlist you might want to dive into for even more swooning and laughter! All of these books are available in KU!
Want to start Fulton U where it all began?
The Perfect First - Reece + Seph
The Second We Met - Nix + Elle
The Third Best Thing - Berk + Jules
Looking for another sweet and steamy sports romance read?
Kings of R
ittenhouse - FREE
Shameless King - Enemies to Lovers
I hope your next book hits all the right spots. Happy reading!
Maya xx
