The Game You Play: A Rixon Raiders Novel

by L A Cotton

  “George?” I rubbed the sleep from my eyes unsure I’d heard him correctly.

  “George from New Tail. I hope I didn’t wake you?”

  “Is it that obvious?” A soft chuckle left my lips.

  “Sorry, I figured with it being a school day you’d be up and at it.”

  “I’m not really a morning person.”

  “I remember it well.” I heard his smile. “Anyway, I just wanted to call and let you know that a position came up, so if you’re still interested—”

  “Interested?” I bolted upright. “I would love to.”

  “Well, that’s great. When can you come down and fill in the paperwork?”

  “Today, I can come today,” the words spilled out in a frenzy. “I have classes until three-thirty, but I’m free after that.”

  “I’ll need to check what we have going on today, but I can’t see it being a problem. I can email you later to confirm,” he hesitated, “or shoot you a text?”

  “Either is fine.” Excitement danced in my tummy. “I’m just relieved and excited, definitely excited. You were so certain nothing was available, I’d kind of given up hope.”

  “Well, I’m glad to be calling with good news.” George gave me a list of what to bring in with me later before we said goodbye and hung up.

  I leaped out of bed with a spring in my step, and quickly shot a text to Hailee and Mya.

  Me: George just called... there’s a position for me.

  Hailee: That’s amazing, I’m so happy for you.

  Mya: That’s great. All that flirting must have paid off.

  My stomach knotted. Is that why George had suddenly found me something? Because he liked me? I didn’t want to owe him anything.

  Dammit.

  I typed another quick text to Hailee.

  Me: You don’t think George found me something because he thinks I’ll owe him now, do you?

  My cell rang and I hit answer. “Mya seems to think he’s doing this because he likes me,” I rushed out.

  “Good morning to you too,” Hailee laughed softly.

  “Sorry, I was just so happy and now I’m panicking.”

  “Did he give you that vibe just now?”

  “I don’t know. He was friendly, but he seemed like a nice guy.”

  “He knows you’re in high school, right?”

  “Of course.”

  “So he’s probably just doing a nice thing. You said he’s fresh out of college himself, so he probably just appreciates how much this means to you. This is a good thing, Flick.”

  “You’re right,” I breathed a sigh of relief. “You’re totally right. It’s Mya’s fault.”

  “She likes to mess with your head. But she means well.”

  “I know. Thanks. I should get ready for school. Do you want a ride?”

  “Cameron’s picking me up, but you can ride with us?”

  “Is Jason… actually, don’t answer that. I’ll meet you there. I think I have to get Mya anyway.”

  “Okay, and Flick?”

  “Yeah?”

  “I think Mya’s right. I think this could be a really good thing for you.”

  “Thanks, I’ll see you at school.” I hung up and let out a shaky breath, nervous energy radiating through me. Getting this break at A Brand New Tail was a good thing but it meant pulling the plug on my parents’ dream for me.

  Something I didn’t relish doing.

  “Hey,” Hailee chased me down after class. The day had flown, my head too consumed with George’s early morning call to concentrate. “Are you headed straight there?”

  I nodded. “I didn’t want to risk going home and running into Mom. This way I can hopefully calm my nerves before I get there.”

  “And what has you all worked up?” Asher peeked over Hailee’s shoulder, grinning at me.

  “The pet rescue place called Flick; they have an opening for her.”

  “Georgie boy pulled some strings, did he?”

  “How do you know about George?” My brows bunched together.

  “I, uh,” he stuttered, guilt swimming in his eyes. “I overheard Hailee telling Cam all about it.”

  “Okay.”

  “I’m proud of you, Fee, baby.” He hooked his arm around my neck and pulled me in. “Those furballs are going to love you.”

  “I hope so, I could really—” Asher yanked his arm free and jerked away from me.

  “Hey, guys,” Mya said, joining us.

  “Mya,” he said smoothly, the reason for his sudden change apparent. “Nice shirt.”

  “This old thing.” She pulled at the frayed t-shirt and chuckled. “Thanks, I guess.”

  Hailee and I watched the two of them. Asher was smitten, his eyes tracking Mya’s every move. But she seemed indifferent to his attention.

  “So what are you girls up to later? I know Flick is heading to puppy heaven but what about you, Hailee? Mya?”

  “Me and Cam promised Xander we would take him to Ice-T’s.”

  “Just don’t feed that little shit any of the candy. We made that mistake once.”

  “I think we’ve got it covered.” Hailee smiled.

  “Mya?”

  “I’m living the dream tonight with Mr. Galveston’s homework.”

  “History?” Asher winced. “Ouch.”

  “Do you even do homework?” She threw back.

  “I do it… occasionally,” he added. “But just because I play football doesn’t mean I’m a dumb jock. You’re looking at a GPA of 3.33 right here.”

  “Athletic and book smart. I am impressed.”

  “You should be.”

  “Okay,” I interrupted. “Not that I’m not enjoying watching whatever this is,” I wagged my finger between them, “but I need to go. I don’t want to keep George waiting.”

  “Call me as soon as you get done,” Mya said, “I want to hear all about dreamy George.”

  “Dreamy George?” Asher frowned. “Isn’t he the manager of the place?”

  “The very young, very cute manager,” Mya nodded. “Flick’s words, not mine.”

  “You have a crush, Fee, baby? I’m wounded.”

  “I do not have a crush.” Heat spread along my neck and into my cheeks. “George is... nice. He’s also going to be my boss so...”

  “Kinky.” Asher grinned, his eyes dancing with amusement.

  “Gross,” I hissed, waving him off. “Right, I’m out of here. I’ll call you both later. Asher, it was a pleasure as always.”

  “The pleasure is all mine,” he called as I left them to it. “Oh and Fee? Make sure George keeps his paws to himself. See what I did there... paws.” He exploded with laughter as I rolled my eyes and headed out of the building.

  Wondering what I was getting myself into.

  Turned out, I had nothing to worry about. When I’d arrived at the center, Serena had welcomed me, handing me a stack of paperwork to fill in. Then she traded me the papers for a volunteer handbook which she left me to study while she dealt with some clients. George eventually showed up to walk me through the volunteer schedule and list of duties. I’d missed the latest round of volunteer training, so for now I’d have to learn the ropes as I went, but I was just relieved to be there.

  “I had no idea there was so much involved in pet adoption,” I said, shadowing George as he scrubbed a new arrival: Benji, a cute one-year-old puppy, brought in by his parents who were getting a divorce and no longer wanted him. He was so frickin’ cute, with big, round eyes and thick soft fur, the color of the sand.

  “Our matching process is rigorous and time consuming, but it means better success rates. Something we’re very proud of.”

  “I’m so excited to get started.”

  “And we’re excited to have you. You’ll get to meet the other volunteers over the weekend. I think Sandie, Hale, and Lisa are in Saturday, and then Tom and Beth are down for Sunday.”

  “There’s five of them?” I asked, confused.

  “Yes, didn’t I already explain that
?”

  “You did, but I’d just assumed someone had left since the position came up.” And I definitely remembered him telling me there were at capacity.

  “Ah.” George flushed bright red. “We shuffled things around and managed to find you some hours after all.”

  “Wow, that’s… wow.”

  “It’s actually great timing as Sandie recently announced she’s pregnant, so she’ll be looking to drop her hours as her pregnancy progresses.”

  “Oh, okay then, if you’re sure.” I couldn’t shake Mya’s insinuation George’s motives weren’t entirely innocent.

  “There’s nothing to worry about, I promise. I know how important hands-on experience can be for a college application, so if we can do our bit to help you…” He let his words hang.

  “Thank you, that’s very kind.”

  He beamed, the color in his cheeks returning to normal. “You want to takeover while I grab the rest of the supplies?”

  “For real?” I started pushing my sleeves up.

  “Of course, get in here. Benji is one of our friendlier arrivals.”

  “He’s so cute. I can’t wrap my head around the fact they no longer wanted him.”

  “He’ll be rehomed in no time. He’s one of the better cases, trust me. Okay, if you get in here,” George held onto Benji but stepped back letting me slip around him, so I was closest to the tub and the puppy, “that’s it. Now slide one hand to his collar.” Our fingers brushed as he withdrew his hand and it was my turn to blush. George cleared his throat and jerked back.

  “You can start rinsing him off and then dry him with that towel.” He flicked his head over to the counter and a stack of towels.

  “Rinse and dry, got it.”

  “Excellent, I’ll be right back.”

  George left and I took my time washing Benji. He was a placid thing, letting me scrub and run my fingers through his soaked coat. “You like that, boy?” I cooed earning me an eager lick to the face. Laughter bubbled up, the smile on my face so wide it hurt. But there was something so right about being here, that I felt happiness wrap around me like a warm blanket.

  “We good in here?” George’s voice perforated my bubble.

  “We’re fi—” Benji chose that exact moment to shake off his fur, spraying droplets of water everywhere. “Oh my…”

  George handed me a towel. “Here, get dried off while I pat him down.”

  “Does that happen a lot?”

  “Yep, hazard of the job I’m afraid,” he chuckled.

  “It’s funny,” I said toweling myself off, “I’ve kind of drifted through high school, never being sure what I wanted to do. Happy to go along with my parents’ plan for me. But being here, it’s like I know this is what I want to do. Gosh, I bet that sounds so cliché.”

  “It doesn’t. I felt the same, back in the day. I knew being a doctor was what my parents wanted for me. But I’d be at the hospital, visiting my gran when she was sick, or hanging out with my dad on his rare day off, and I never felt that connection. I knew it would be rewarding, to heal people, save lives. But it never felt like what I was destined to do.”

  “How am I going to tell them?” I whispered the words.

  “If it makes you happy, eventually it’ll make them happy.”

  He made it sound so easy.

  “Look at it this way, you could spend the next four years of your life at college, surfing along studying a course that’s okay, or you could spend the next four years of your life studying something that excites you. Something you feel passionate about. Who knows where the future will take you, but wouldn’t you rather be on a path you choose? Sorry,” George added. “Like I said before, sometimes things just spill out before I can stop them.”

  “I admire it actually. It’s nice to meet someone who understands where I’m coming from.”

  “Surely there must be someone? A best friend? Boyfriend?”

  “Best friend, yes. Boyfriend, no.” My stomach dipped. “But I’m not sure Hailee really gets it. She’s always known what she wanted to do.”

  George’s expression had changed, his eyes fixed on mine, searching for something.

  “George?” I asked, breaking the strange tension that had descended over us.

  “What? Sorry.” He shook his head. “It’s been a long day. Where were we?”

  Benji chose that moment to shake his fur again, soaking George. I grabbed some towels and hurried over to them. “Thanks,” he said, “that’ll teach me for not paying more attention.”

  The moment between us had passed, but I couldn’t help but wonder what had him so distracted in the first place.

  Jason

  “You’re sure about this?” Grady asked for the twentieth time that week.

  “This thing needs to end now.”

  “I’m not disagreeing, I just don’t understand why you’re not taking Bennet and Chase for back up. Well, Chase I kind of get. If Thatcher had come after my girl the way he went after Hailee, I wouldn’t be able to—”

  “Grady…”

  “Shutting up,” he groaned. “So we’re really doing this?”

  “I’m doing this. I just need you there in case things go south.”

  He let out a low whistle. “And you’re sure we can’t hold off doing this until after we win State?”

  “It has to be now.”

  “If Coach—”

  “Coach won’t find out.” Thatcher was many things, but he wasn’t a snitch.

  “I could call a couple of the other guys—”

  “If you’re having second thoughts, man, I’ll go alone.”

  “Nah, I’ve got you. I just think this is a bad idea. A really bad idea.”

  I didn’t disagree but Thatcher wanted his pound of flesh and he was determined to get it one way or another. At least this way, if I met him one on one, it would be a fair fight. Besides, it wasn’t the first time we’d rumbled. I knew I could take him.

  “Noted. I’ll see you in ten.”

  “Yeah, yeah. See you there.” I hung up and grabbed my keys off the sideboard. It was almost sundown. Cameron was out with Hailee, and Asher’s parents were in town for a flying visit and had insisted on taking him for dinner. Dad and Denise were off doing whatever the fuck they did on Friday nights. The coast was clear.

  Until I walked out of the house.

  “Aimee?” I stared at the girl who had screwed me over once upon a time. “What the fuck are you doing here?”

  “Hey, Jason,” she gave me a tentative smile, “it’s been a while.”

  “Not long enough.” My teeth ground together. “Let me guess, your brother sent you.”

  “Actually he doesn’t know I’m here. If he did...” She trailed off, her eyes darting to the ground. “Can we talk?”

  “You can say whatever you came to say, yeah, and then you can get the fuck off my property.”

  “Jason...” she let out a heavy sigh, running a hand through her hair. When I didn’t respond she added, “That’s fair enough. I guess I earned that.”

  “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me,” I mumbled beneath my breath.

  Aimee lifted her eyes to mine again, sympathy and regret swimming in her brown irises. “I suppose it’s too late to say I’m sorry?”

  “Apologies mean nothing out of the mouths of liars.”

  “I never meant to hurt you... it just all went too far and—”

  “Save it,” I snapped, my chest heaving with frustration.

  There had been a time when I’d wanted the girl standing before me. Wanted her so bad, I let down my walls. Opened up to her. There wasn’t an inch of her skin I hadn’t tasted. A dip or curve or blemish I hadn’t trailed my lips over. I thought I’d known everything there was to know about the quiet girl from across the river... until I’d found out she was none other than Lewis Thatcher’s little sister.

  Anger rushed through my veins, igniting a firestorm in my chest. There had never been any love lost between me and Thatcher, but Aimee
had changed everything. Turned our rivalry into a war that spilled off the field and into our lives, affecting everyone around us.

  “You got your revenge, Jase, isn’t that enough? What you did to me—”

  “Don’t fucking talk to me about what I did. You reeled me in for weeks, let me believe what we had was real. I felt things for you I had never felt before and it was all a lie.”

  I had been falling in love with her. I couldn’t pinpoint the exact moment it happened. Even at the time I hadn’t realized. It was after, when I learned who she really was, that I understood how deep my feelings ran for Aimee Thatcher—my enemy’s sister.

  “It wasn’t,” she cried, swiping at the tears falling from her eyes. “What we shared was real. It was real. It wasn’t supposed to be, but I couldn’t help it. I couldn’t help falling for you.”

  Closing the distance between us, I stopped right in front of her. Looming over her, my eyes narrowed to deadly slits. “You played me, Aimee. You made me weak and defenseless and then, when I was completely at your mercy, you stabbed the knife in my back and watched me bleed out.”

  “Jason...” Aimee’s voice trembled as she craned her neck to look at me. “I’m sorry, I’m so sorry.”

  “Yeah? Well, I’m only sorry I didn’t completely destroy you.” The words came out low and deadly, laced with the pain of our past.

  When I’d found out who she was and what she’d planned with her brother, I’d concocted a plan of my own. I would never forget the look on Thatcher’s face when he opened the video message of me fucking his sister. It had been all the revenge I’d needed, but it had been the catalyst for everything since.

  “You were always mean, Jason, but I’ll forever regret turning you into... this.” A violent sob spilled from Aimee’s lips as she stepped back, putting some much-needed distance between us.

  “I only came to warn you,” she added. “Lewis is out to destroy you. He wants to make sure you never see the play-offs. If you have any sense, you won’t go.”

  I ran a hand over my head and down the back of my neck, the weight of her words pressing on my chest like a ton of bricks. “Is that all?”

  “I mean it, Jason,” she warned, “he’s out for blood. Your blood.”