Playing to Win (The Trouble with Tomboys Book2)

by Stephanie Street

  I loved this time of evening, when the sun set and the oranges and reds softened to pinks and violets. My bedroom still felt warm from the afternoon sun. I wrapped my towel more securely around my body and with one hand while standing to the side, opened the window just enough to allow a slight breeze into my room.Only the breeze didn’t come alone, it brought something with it.

  Mesmerized, I dropped to the carpet below my window.

  At first, I only heard the guitar. Then, as my ears adjusted, Asher. It had to be him. I didn’t recognize the melody or the lyrics, but his voice. Even after such a short time, I knew his voice.

  The music stopped. I waited. He began again, repeating what he’d just sung only to cut himself off again. For the next thirty minutes, I sat under my window in my dark room wearing nothing but a damp bath towel, straining my ears to hear every note, every lyric.

  I could listen to him forever.

  “Asher!” a man’s voice called and my heart raced as though I’d been caught eavesdropping.

  “Yeah!” Asher called back, his voice clear and a lot closer than I expected.

  I rolled to my knees and peeked enough to see Asher’s long strides carry him across the yard to the back door of his house. The dark silhouette of a man filled the opening. He stepped aside allowing Asher to cross the threshold before closing the door.

  Glancing down, I realized I still wore my towel. I hadn’t even gotten dressed. I’d been so engrossed listening to Asher.

  Asher.

  The boy who threatened my chance at achieving my goals.

  I needed to get a grip.

  It didn’t matter what he looked like. Or if he had the most amazing voice. Because my new neighbor had become my number one enemy.

  Asher

  “How was hockey practice?” Dad called me in from the backyard where I’d been working on a new song before dinner.

  My step-mom, Shari, wanted us to eat dinner together as a family. I didn’t mind except it usually turned into an inquisition.

  Typical. My first day at a new school, my senior year no less, and all he cared about was hockey. I had to leave my friends behind and start a new school so close to graduation because of him. You’d think he’d be a little sympathetic. But no. Not my dad.

  “Fine,” I replied. I pushed a pile of peas around my plate hoping it would make them disappear. If I could get away with it, I’d slip them onto my baby brother’s high chair tray. At ten months old, Caleb would eat just about anything you put in front of him. It didn’t even have to be food.

  “And how about school?” Shari asked, forcing a cheerful smile. “How was your first day?”

  I liked Shari. She had a way of softening the rough edges my dad developed after my mom left us when I was two years old. Shari and I weren’t necessarily close, but I figured we needed her. It had been an adjustment when Dad married her five years ago and even more so when Caleb came along. But Dad seemed happy.

  “First day was good.” If it had just been Shari, I might have told her about the incident in the parking lot with Jordan. She would get a kick out of it. Dad would ask too many questions which would lead to him realizing Jordan was Coach Parks’s daughter. He’d tell me not to aggravate her to stay on Coach’s good side.

  Everything revolved around hockey with him.

  “You’re lucky to have a spot on Kevin Parks team, Asher. Don’t take it for granted. This is an incredible opportunity for you. You’re a talented athlete.”

  Clenching my jaw against the disrespectful words aching to get out, I stared at my nearly full plate. We’d had this discussion before. Dad wanted me to play hockey. I wanted to pursue my music. He hated everything about my love of music, and refused to acknowledge any amount of talent I might possess.

  Like I said before, I didn’t blame him. But just because she chose music over us didn’t mean I would turn out like her and do what she did. She hurt me, too. I’d never make the same mistakes as her. Sure, I’d make my own, but that was life. Right?

  Hockey wasn’t my passion.

  Dad had to stop playing competitive hockey as a sophomore in college because his leg got crushed in a car accident. He could walk, but he couldn’t skate, not enough to play hockey.

  Somehow his dream for himself had become his dream for me. It sure wasn’t the dream I had for myself. Not even close. I knew Dad wished I’d inherited his love for hockey rather than Mom’s love of music, but I didn’t.

  “Don’t worry, Dad. I haven’t forgotten our agreement. May I be excused?”

  Dad frowned, but nodded.

  I put my dish in the sink and went up to my room.

  What a day.

  I flopped on my back on my bed and let my thoughts turn Jordan once again. I hadn’t been able to get her off my mind.

  I knew from what her friends had said at lunch, she’d likely show up at the same hockey practice as me, but it had still been a shock when she arrived in the parking lot outside the rink.

  I hardly knew what to do with the wave of attraction I felt. Despite being a raving lunatic that morning, everything about her hit me in all the right ways. If she hadn’t been screaming at me, I might have asked to walk in with her.

  Seeing her at lunch had only reinforced the physical attraction. I liked the way she dressed. Kind of edgy. A lot sexy. It was obvious she had no idea, which just added to her appeal. And her hair. So soft and feminine.

  During practice, I’d had to skate my butt off to keep up with her. I admired her determination, her drive. She was fierce. The girl could play. Everything about her effort on the ice testified her love of the game.

  Even the fear in her eyes when she realized we’d be competing for the same position on the ice told me Jordan’s passion for the sport far exceeded my own.

  I wanted to reassure her I didn’t care about hockey, and she could have the starting position without any kind of competition from me, but that wouldn’t fly. My dad expected me to do my best which meant working my tail off to start in games. Either that, or I knew he’d make good on his threat to my dreams.

  And I just couldn’t let that happen.

  The next day at school, I gave into the temptation to yank Jordan’s chain and showed up to school early to park in her spot again. I shouldn’t have done it and it made me a douche for sure, but I wanted to talk to her. We were teammates. And even though we’d be competing for the starting position, we still had to play as a team.

  I leaned back against the trunk and waited.

  About five minutes later, Jordan came barreling into the parking lot. By the expression on her face, I’d done the exact wrong thing if I wanted to make amends. I just hoped she’d forgive me since I’d scared off two different people who tried to park in the spot next to me so she didn’t have to go all the way to the back.

  She parked, jaw set, and avoided my gaze as she got out of her car.

  “Jordan! Wait!” I called, chasing after her. She didn’t even hesitate, just kept going. Well, what did I expect?

  I couldn’t move very fast with my guitar case banging against my legs, but I still caught up. Walking backwards in front of her I got an eyeful of just how angry I’d made her.

  “Jordan, I’m sorry. I was just messing around.”

  She moved to side-step around me, but I got in her way again.

  “Come on. If I really meant to be a jerk, I wouldn’t have saved you a spot next to me.” I gave her my most charming smile.

  Stopping short, she planted her fist on one hip. “If you didn’t want to be a jerk, you should have parked in the other spot and let me have mine.”

  She was right, of course. “But that wouldn’t have been as funny.”

  Her lips flattened into a thin line.

  I put up my hands between us, signaling my surrender. “Fine. I’m sorry. It was just a joke. I do want to talk to you, though.”

  She started walking again. “Too bad. I don’t want to talk to you.”

  Before she could go too far,
I caught hold of her wrist. She stopped with a gasp, her eyes wide and mouth open.

  Maybe I’d been the one to go too far.

  I dropped her wrist. “Sorry.” I ran my fingers through my hair, irritated with this whole situation. “Listen, I don’t know what the big deal is about your parking spot, but I won’t park there again. I just wanted to talk to you and was trying to be funny.” I made a face. “Epic fail. Message received. But come on, we’re on the same team. I don’t want to fight with you.”

  She didn’t say anything, just stared at me long enough, I felt my ears get hot. Finally, she lifted her chin and took a step toward me, the top her her head barely reaching my chin.

  “Teammate or not, hockey is my life,” she said, poking my chest with her finger. “Don’t mess with me or my game. Got it? We are not friends.”

  Good hell, she was gorgeous.

  Heart in my throat, it was all I could do to nod.

  “Good.” She jabbed me again for good measure before spinning on her heel and walking away.

  Convinced she was wrong, I waited until she disappeared to start down the hall in the opposite direction to put away my guitar. We were teammates and if I had anything to do about it, we wouldn’t just be friends, we’d be more.

  Chapter Four

  Jordan

  I’d only met Asher Sloane twenty-four hours ago and already he drove me crazy! Just who did he think he was, anyway? Parking in my spot. Trying to take my place on the team. Well, he could just go right back where he came from!

  “Wow. Two mornings in a row?” Natalie asked, eyes wary.

  “Ugh! It’s that Asher guy. He’s determined to ruin my senior year.”

  Natalie frowned. “What, did he park in your spot again?”

  “Yes, but you were right. It’s a stupid parking spot. It’s the fact he did it just to make me mad.” He said he did it to be funny, but I didn’t believe him. The guy was out to get me.

  “Why would he want to do that?”

  I shrugged. “Because he’s a jerk? And I hate him?”

  Natalie made a face. “You don’t even know him. How can you hate him?”

  “Stop being so reasonable!”

  “Who’s being reasonable?” Kelly asked, joining us with wet hair and a fresh face.

  Natalie rolled her eyes. “I think the real question is who’s being unreasonable.”

  “You’re supposed to be on my team, Nat.”

  Natalie threw up her arms. “I am. I’m just saying, give the guy a chance. He’s only been here one day.”

  “Really? This again? What did he do this time?” Kelly shook her head, clearly exasperated.

  “He parked in her spot again.” Natalie pumped her eyebrows at Kelly.

  Kelly’s lips split into a grin. “Did he, now?”

  “What’s that supposed to mean,” I asked.

  Kelly flipped her hair over her shoulder. “It means he’s a delicious piece of eye candy and he’s flirting with you.”

  My jaw dropped. “No, he isn’t! How could you say that?”

  Kelly glanced at Natalie. “She’s in denial.”

  Natalie nodded, agreeing wholeheartedly.

  “I am not! And it doesn’t matter anyway. He’s my teammate.” I took a second to relish the satisfaction of shutting them both up. “And you know the rule, no falling for a teammate.”

  “But you’ve thought about it.” Natalie said. “You’ve thought about it or you wouldn’t have brought up the rule. Admit it. You think he’s GOR-geous.”

  I inhaled a deep breath filled with long-suffering and reminded myself I’d been friends with these two for a decade, too long to turn my back on them for being such complete ninnies!

  “It doesn’t matter if I think he’s good looking.” And heaven only knew, I did! “He’s my teammate, and a parking spot thief.”

  Not to mention he had a beautiful singing voice and had it out for my starting position on the hockey team. But I couldn’t reveal my secret, that I’d become an eavesdropper and a self-doubter. That kind of negativity didn’t deserve a voice.

  “And he’s hawt!” Natalie sighed.

  I threw up my hands. “I’m outta here. You two are hopeless. See you at lunch.” I walked away to the sounds of their snickers, couple of traitors!

  We’d just see about them and their theories. Asher Sloane would never be interested a tomboy like me, although the thought did send a thrill of excitement through me so strong I shuddered. Parking in my spot for the second day in a row had to be his idea of mind games. That’s all there was to it.

  Determined not to let Asher get to me, I pushed all thoughts of him to the back of my mind and tried to focus on school. Getting onto a college team wouldn’t be easy, even more so if I didn’t keep up with my grades.

  By lunch I needed a break. Anxiety about running into Asher again threatened to choke me. Thankfully, Natalie and Kelly sat alone at our usual table. I heaved a sigh of relief. But where was Asher? I found him sitting with Jarom and a couple of his friends. They were in a band. It made sense Asher would make friends with them.

  “I see Asher didn’t want to take his life in his own hands by crashing our table again today,” Kelly teased.

  I set my tray down and scowled. “Can we please have a conversation that doesn’t revolve around Asher?” He’d been consuming my thoughts since the day before. I didn’t want to talk about him anymore.

  Kelly shrugged. “Sure, what do you want to talk about?”

  “Ooh, I know! Why don’t we talk about the transfer student from Lakes High?” Natalie grinned.

  Kelly whirled on Natalie. “How did you hear about him?”

  “How did I not hear about him? Who is he?” I asked.

  “He’s not quite as good looking as your boy, Asher, but whew!” Natalie fanned herself with her hand. “He is fi-ine.”

  Kelly rolled her eyes. “Yeah, if you’re into arrogant jocks.”

  “What’s this arrogant jock’s name?” I asked Natalie because Kelly’s poopy face put me off.

  “Jared Oliver.”

  Wait. “Haven’t I heard that name before?”

  Natalie nodded excitedly, but Kelly’s expression gave me the real answer.

  “Wasn’t he the guy-” I started to say.

  “Yes,” Kelly cut me off. “Let’s talk about something else. How about this, Natalie kissed Finn over the summer and didn’t tell anyone.”

  Natalie gasped, her face turning bright red. “How do you about that?”

  “Wait. You did kiss Finn over the summer? Nat, what the heck? How could you not tell us?” Someone scrape me off the floor! This was big news. Big.

  “No one was supposed to know.” Natalie looked close to tears. “How did you even find out?” she asked Kelly.

  Kelly crossed her arms over her chest. “Why are you keeping secrets, Nat? We’re best friends.”

  Natalie jumped to her feet. “Are we, though?” she cried, a single tear rolling down her cheek. “Because best friends don’t blab things they know nothing about!” Without another word, she stormed out of the cafeteria, leaving her lunch tray and Kelly and I both gaping after her.

  “What in the world just happened?”

  Kelly’s shoulders drooped. “I shouldn’t have brought it up like that. It’s my fault.”

  She wasn’t wrong. She shouldn’t have, but I had a feeling I understood why she did. Natalie liked to tease us about boys and there must be something I didn’t understand going on with Kelly and this Jared dude that Natalie knew about.

  “Did she really kiss Finn?” I asked, my voice barely above a whisper. Finn was Natalie’s older brother, Charlie’s best friend. She’d had a crush on him since third grade, but Finn and Charlie graduated with Joe so they were older than us.

  Kelly nodded. “Yeah, I heard about it from Angie. They were all at a party this summer. I don’t know the details. Angie didn’t, either. I just know it happened.” Angie was Kelly’s older sister, even older than Finn an
d Charlie, but they all went to school together in Champaign at the University of Illinois.

  “And the transfer student?” I asked.

  Kelly shook her head and rose from her seat. “I’ll see you later.”

  What the heck was going on around here?

  Asher

  Thank goodness for Jarom. Because of him, I didn’t have to be the loser with no one to sit with during lunch. He introduced me to the other two guys in his band, Bash and Adam and then proceeded to give me the who’s who of the senior class in his unique and hilarious way.

  “Who you starin’ at, bro?” he asked out of the blue.

  “What do you mean?” I replied, startled. Of course, I’d been watching Jordan, not at all realizing I’d been so obvious about it. I felt bad for the way things went down earlier and wondered exactly what I could do to fix it. Other than parking as far away from her ‘spot’ as possible.

  Jarom sat back in his chair with a smirk. “I knew you had your eyes on someone.”

  “Who?” Jarom’s friend, Adam, spoke up. Adam was kind of quiet and looked exactly like you would think a guy in a high school garage band would. He played the guitar and wore dark skinny jeans, black shirt, and a leather jacket. His dark hair hung low over his brow making so he constantly reached up to brush it out of his eyes.

  “Nobody.” No way I’d admit anything to these clowns.

  Jarom squinted at the table where Jordan sat with her two friends. They seemed to be having an intense discussion and I kind of wished we were close enough for me to eavesdrop.

  “Jordan?” he guessed.

  I snorted. “Jordan? Yeah, right. She’s on my hockey team.”

  Jarom’s brows pulled low and he leaned onto the back two legs of his chair to peer around the table beside us to get a look at Jordan where she sat with Kelly and Natalie across the room.

  “Seriously?” he asked.

  I kicked his chair almost making him lose his balance. “Dude! What are you doing? Stop staring.”

  Jarom sat forward and grinned. “You do like her.”