Dare You to Kiss the Quarterback (Rock Valley High Book 1)

by Lacy Andersen

  It wasn’t easy for me to apologize. Especially not to someone like Collin Preston. But the lunch time conversation with my besties had given me a lot to think about. There was something beneath the jock surface of Collin. Despite the rippling muscles, ridiculously good looks, and the confident swagger, I was sure that he had to have his own problems. Just like me. And maybe, that meant I should cut him a break.

  I felt him move closer to me just then, the heat of his body evident next to my right shoulder. There was a charge in the air. I wasn’t sure if it was just me or if he felt it too. But either way, I couldn’t help but inhale sharply and wait for him to say something. Anything.

  “Don’t give yourself that much credit,” Collin said with a sour laugh. “You can’t hurt my feelings.”

  I peeked through my fingers at him, exhaling when I saw him dressed in his athletic shirt. The coast was all clear. Turning around to face him, I frowned, not buying his reply.

  “Well, whatever, I’m still sorry.”

  His slightly amused gaze trailed down my face, landing solidly on my mouth. That was when I realized he was standing awfully close. Like close enough to lean forward and kiss me. With a shaky hand, I tucked my hair behind my ear and tried to step backwards, only to find myself pinned against the wall.

  “What do you want, Audrey?” The tip of his tongue ran slowly between his lips and my knees nearly buckled. “At first, you told me the performance was yours. You practically threatened me. And now, you’re saying you won’t let me quit? What is it that you want?”

  At this moment in time? I wanted nothing more than to be the kind of girl who could reach up and press her lips against his. To feel how soft his hair was between my fingers. To run the palm of my hand over the sinewy muscles of his throwing arm. I’d bet anything that Savannah was that type of girl. She had confidence to burn. Why couldn’t I be more like her?

  “I-I want you to sing with me.”

  His gaze flicked back up to my eyes and he placed his hand on the wall above my head, leaning in closer. “Is that it?”

  No. I wanted to know what he tasted like and if the rumors about his kissing skills were true. But I’d die before saying that.

  “Yes...”

  “And you’ll actually let me help write the song?”

  My pride was stinging, but I nodded my head. “I promise.”

  “Ok, then.” The left side of his mouth curled up into a grin and he pushed off the wall with a shrug. “You could’ve just said so.”

  My cheeks blazed red hot with embarrassment. I hoped he couldn’t read my mind because I was sorely mourning the lack of his imposing body pinning me up against the wall. At the very least, my sacrifice of pride at his feet had won him over. We were back on. We could finally start focusing on the song again.

  “When do you want to start work?” I asked as he snatched his football pads from the bench behind us.

  He threw them over his shoulder and winked at me. “I’ll find you when I’m ready.”

  That kind of planning didn’t work for me. I needed a time and a place. Not just a wink of assurance.

  “Collin, wait!”

  I followed him out of the locker room, but he was already headed toward the back door to the practice field. My feet slowed to a stop. I would’ve looked even crazier than I already did if I’d stalked him outside. So I stood in place, watching him go, and feeling the slightest bit of panic.

  If we couldn’t get through one conversation together without him arguing or me wanting desperately to attack him with my lips, how were we going to get this song done?

  Chapter Ten

  “Dad asked me to talk to you. Again.”

  Lexi leaned against the doorframe of my bedroom as I laid sprawled on the bed, finishing up some calculus homework. Her dark curly hair was pulled half up and she’d put on her Hello Kitty jammies for the night. A light breeze drifted in through my open window, ruffling the loose curls around her face.

  She crossed her arms and tapped her foot, giving me a disapproving stare. “When are you going to call him back?”

  I grumbled under my breath and turned onto my back. Lexi might have forgiven our dad, but I wasn’t ready to. Fury still burned inside my chest when I thought about what he’d done to our family. To Mom. I just wasn’t ready to move on.

  “Maybe never,” I said, glaring up at the posters on my ceiling. “He’s just going to have to deal with it.”

  I could practically hear the disdain ringing inside her head, but she didn’t say anything more about it. Instead, she sighed and shifted against the wall.

  “By the way, I heard a terrible rumor from Michelle today that my big sister barged into the boys’ locker room. I told her she had the wrong Audrey Black. My sister would never do something like that. But then I saw your picture on the Rock Valley Biz Instagram feed and my mind was blown.”

  I grimaced and closed my eyes against the memory still fresh on my brain. One of the football players must’ve snapped a picture when I wasn’t looking. Tomorrow, everyone would be talking about me. Again. This was starting to become a nasty habit.

  “I needed to talk to someone. He refused to listen.”

  Lexi snorted. “Collin Preston doesn’t listen to anyone. I’m surprised he didn’t throw you out flat on your rear end.”

  Honestly, I was kind of surprised, too. He kept the football team under an iron fist. No one messed with Collin. The fact that he took my crap was nothing short of amazing.

  “Well, what did he expect?” I asked, turning back over to my stomach to look at my sister. “We’re performing together at the centennial event. He couldn’t avoid me forever. We need to practice.”

  Lexi looked me over as if trying to decipher some hidden message in my reply. Her lips twisted to the side and she wrinkled her nose. “Just be careful around him, Sis. I’ve heard his dad has major issues. Don’t be surprised if the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.”

  I opened my mouth to argue, but cut myself short. First of all, I didn’t know enough about Collin or his family to say if that was true or not. He was pretty intimidating. And secondly, it was kind of refreshing to have Lexi be the one looking out for me, for once.

  Shooting her a smile, I nodded. “Don’t worry, I’ll be fine. Night, Lex.”

  “Night,” she said, pulling the door closed behind her. “Don’t forget to call Dad!”

  My mood soured once again. This business with Dad was making my fingers itch to play the guitar. Closing my calculus book, I reached for my Gibson and pulled it into my lap. I’d been working on a new song since last week’s game. Something that really nailed my feelings about my parents and their split. Strumming a few chords, I hummed the melody until the words came.

  You say we’ll be happy, you say not to mourn.

  But I can’t move on from the things that you’ve done.

  You’ve lied and you’ve cheated. You’ve beaten and torn.

  Forgiving you just isn’t part of the plan.

  I strummed through two more verses when a deep clearing of a throat nearly made me throw my guitar across the room. My gaze went straight to my open window, where a figure in a dark hoodie crouched on the oak branch outside.

  “What the...?” I snatched my cell phone off my bedspread with my shaking hand. We only lived five blocks from the police station. I’d call 911 if I had to. And I was pretty sure I had pepper spray around here somewhere...

  “That was actually really good.” The hood came down and Collin’s face emerged from the shadows. “Did you write that?”

  I pressed a hand to my chest, sure that I was having another heart attack. My room was two stories up from the ground. Only a crazy person would climb up that tree and onto the aging branches. He was definitely certifiable, just like Lexi had warned.

  “What are you doing here?” I hissed, gently laying my guitar on the bed and running toward the window. “You can’t be caught out there. My mom will kill me.”

  He leaned clo
ser to the screen and grinned, his eyes searching my face. “So, let me in and I won’t be caught out here.”

  My hands froze on the window sill, my mind whirling. I’d never had a boy in my room before. Never even invited one into my house. Mom hadn’t exactly banned them, but then again, she probably still wouldn’t approve.

  On the other hand, it wasn’t like Collin was just any boy. He was my singing partner for the big event. Our relationship was purely professional — no matter how much I liked to stare at his beautiful face. At the very least, the attraction between us was all one-sided. Mom could rest at ease. He just liked to be a tease. Collin Preston didn’t actually go for girls like me.

  “Fine, but you can’t stay long,” I said, unhooking the screen from the window and letting him in.

  He folded his form practically in half to fit through and then dropped his boots on the carpeted floor. Standing up tall, he stretched his arms behind his head and had the audacity to slowly canvas the room. Suddenly, I was very aware of the stuffed teddy bear on my bed, the stacks of Teen Vogue magazines on the dresser, and my pink Aerie bra hanging from the back of my desk chair. Shuffling backwards, I snapped up the bra and stuffed it under a nearby sweater, smiling innocently up at Collin when his gaze landed on me.

  “Nice pajamas,” he said, his lips twitching with a smile. “Very hot.”

  I looked down at my athletic shorts and vintage pink Barbie sweater with the oversized neck that hung low on one of my shoulders. What was so wrong with Barbie? She was an icon and I still had a couple of my old dolls stuffed in a box underneath my bed.

  “Why are you here?” I asked, putting my hands on my hips. “Surely it’s not because you want to insult my pjs.”

  “You said you wanted to start work on the song.” He walked past me and made himself at home on my bed, sprawling across the comforter on his side with one hand propping up his head. Raising his eyebrows suggestively, he grinned. “I’m here now.”

  The very sight of Collin Preston on my bed made me want to fall into my desk chair in a quivering pile of jelly. Never in a million years had I pictured him there, grinning up at me as if he were God’s gift to women. Instead, I backed away until my rear end hit the edge of the desk and I could grip it for extra support.

  “You want to work here? Now?” I shook my head. “It’s a school night.”

  “So what?”

  “So, it’s not exactly very convenient. Plus, my mom or sister could hear us.”

  He sat up on the bed and pulled my guitar into his lap, as if he hadn’t heard a word I said. I took a step toward him, feeling odd about seeing my baby in Collin’s grasp. He moved his fingers nimbly over the frets, strumming softly. After a few strokes, I recognized the song that I had just been playing. Moving closer to him, I could hear him humming the melody, his head bobbing to the beat.

  “That’s my song,” I said, sitting on the bed next to him. “How’d you pick that up so quick?”

  “I guess I’ve always had a sort of gift with music,” he said, still strumming. “My mom would take me to her church choir practice every Wednesday night. I had nothing else to do but learn how to play. She’d say that I’d been kissed by the angel of music. She probably thought it would make me happy, but I used to have nightmares of these scary, winged creatures coming into my bedroom at night to steal my soul.”

  Laughter bubbled up out of my mouth and I tried to picture Collin as an innocent little kid at a church choir practice. For some reason, those images didn’t fit together.

  “You know, your song’s really good.” He looked up at me, his hands becoming still on the guitar. “Are the lyrics about your dad?”

  The laughter died in my throat and I swallowed it down, trying my best to keep a neutral expression. Other than with Mandy and Trina, I didn’t really talk about my personal problems very often. But Collin had already witnessed my family drama. There was no point in trying to hide it.

  “He left my mom for another woman. If you couldn’t tell at the game the other night, we’re not exactly on the best of terms right now.”

  That was a nice way of saying it.

  Collin shook his head and swore. “If I’d known that, I would’ve punched him in the nose for you.”

  I tried to suppress my smile. The idea of some guy my dad didn’t even know popping him in the face was strangely satisfying, even if I didn’t condone violence. “Probably not the best idea. He’s a lawyer. He’d sue you for all you’re worth.”

  “Then he can have the clothes off my back. That’s about all I own,” Collin said, running a hand through his hair. “That, and the trash bag social services gave me to pack my stuff in when my mom died.”

  His gaze flicked to mine and the half-hearted smile on his face dissolved into an expression filled with hurt. I wasn’t sure how to respond. Honestly, finding out Collin Preston had a wider range of emotions than jerk and super jerk was kind of unsettling. We stared at each other for a long moment, until he snorted and looked back down at the guitar, his cheeks reddening.

  “Listen, if we’re going to write this song together, I think you’re going to need to relax the reins a bit.” He strummed a few chords and then abruptly set the guitar back in its stand. “You’re too stiff. Too structured. You’ve got to learn to loosen up.”

  The connection I’d felt building between us just moments ago snapped and I leaned back, resentment coloring my voice. “Excuse me, but Mrs. Banks likes how I write my songs. She says I’m one of her best students.”

  He laid down on my pillow, putting his arms behind his head and grinning up at my Taylor Swift poster. “Whatever you say, raccoon girl. But Mrs. Banks paired me with you for a reason. Think about that for a second, and just maybe, you’ll agree that I could be good for you.”

  Collin’s words made my cheeks burn hot. I turned toward the window to hide my reaction.

  My head was telling me that maybe Collin was right and my music could use a little loosening up. My girl hormones were telling me that Collin might just be good for me in other ways, too. Ways that made warmth explode in my gut and left me with weird tingly feelings all over. Dangerous territory.

  “Fine, I’ll work on loosening up.” I stood and crossed the room, standing pointedly by the window. “But you’d better go before my mom finds out you’re here. I can’t practice with you if I’m grounded for life.”

  He gave me a cheeky grin from my pillow, causing yet another flare of warmth in my gut, and then kicked his lanky legs off the bed and walked toward me.

  “Meet me outside your apartment building at 8:00 tomorrow night,” he said, leaning against the window sill. “I’ve got an idea on how I can help. Leave the guitar at home.”

  Tomorrow night was a school night, but if it was for my performance, I was sure Mom would okay whatever it was. Too ready to get him out of my room to ask him any questions about his methods, I nodded and crossed my arms over my chest.

  “Fine. Good night, Collin.”

  Leaning down to look me in the eyes, he reached out a hand and softly tucked a strand of hair behind my ear. A bolt of electricity shot across my skin. The sudden reaction made me squeak a little. His brown eyes darted back and forth across my face, his lips curling into that lopsided grin.

  “Night, Audrey. Try not to dream about me in your bed tonight.”

  And once again, I was immediately reminded of the size of Collin’s ego. He wished. If anything, I’d be repeating my favorite dream about performing on the road with my bestie, T-Swift.

  My mouth formed a smirk and I rolled my eyes at him. He laughed as he swung one leg out the window and then the next. With a last look at me, he jumped down to a lower branch and then dropped gracefully to the ground. I watched him go, trying desperately to erase the image he’d just conjured in my mind.

  Snuggling up to Collin in bed wasn’t exactly my worst nightmare. In fact, my pulse leapt at the idea of it. It was yet another reminder that bad boys like him knew exactly how to manipulate go
od girls like me. I needed to keep my head on straight.

  Or risk losing sight of the goal.

  Chapter Eleven

  “What do we even know about this boy?”

  Mom gestured with her egg roll and narrowed her eyes at me from across the table. I avoided her gaze and shoveled in another bite of Lo Mein. Thursdays were Chinese take-out nights at the Black household. Collin was supposed to be here in approximately five minutes and I had yet to convince Mom to let me go. It hadn’t been as easy as I thought it would be.

  “He’s the starting quarterback,” Lexi piped up next to me, her excitement evident in the bouncing of her curls as she waved her chopsticks about. “Came to Rock Valley three years ago to live with his foster family. He’s got dreamy brown eyes and all the girls at school want him.”

  “All the girls?” I could feel Mom’s questioning gaze on my face. “Is that true, Audrey?”

  I shifted uncomfortably. Lexi’s statements might have been a little farfetched, but the way Collin’s cologne had lingered on my pillow last night had certainly not helped my case. “I told you, he’s just my partner for the centennial performance. Mrs. Banks paired us. Our song assignment is due next week.”

  “Hmmm.” I glanced up to see Mom chewing a bite of the egg roll slowly. Very slowly. She pursed her lips. “Is he a good kid?”

  Good was relative. Grandmas were good. Twenty percent off sales on my favorite shade of lip gloss were good. Collin was good — at being bad. There was a major difference.

  “Sure, Mom. Now, can I go? He’s probably already waiting for me.”

  Her lips twisted in uncertainty. I shot her a pleading look, pulling out the puppy dog eyes. That seemed to do it. With a laugh, she threw a fortune cookie at my head and gestured toward the door.

  “Fine, go. You’re nearly an adult, anyway. It’s not like I can control you for much longer.”

  “As if you could ever control me,” I replied with a grin, relieved to no longer be getting the third degree. I never was any good at interrogations.