The Player and the Bet: An Enemies-to-Lovers College Sports Romance

by Liv Reid

  What the hell is this?

  He walks around the desk so he’s standing directly over me. I think about getting up so I’d be right in his face. He may be ex-NFL, but I still have a couple of inches on him. But that’s probably what he wants. He wants a confrontation, so I stay seated and lean back in my seat casually. I can see it pisses him off, and I feel like I’m winning some small victory. It’s always been a power struggle between the two of us.

  “You aren’t untouchable, son,” he says darkly.

  “Actually, I am,” I say with a casual flick of my wrist.

  His eyes darken in anger, but he keeps his mouth shut because he knows I’m right. I made a deal with the Org, so he can’t kick me off the team unless I start sucking in a spectacular way, but I’m the best quarterback in the school’s history. So yeah, Coach Hill, I am untouchable.

  The dean looks between the two of us uncomfortably. He takes a deep breath to steel his nerves before continuing.

  “So we’ve come to an a-arrangement that we think will be beneficial for both of you. You’re both star students—in very different ways. Sadie, your academic achievements while you’ve been h-here have been impressive. And Mason, I don’t have to tell you that as the quarterback your contributions have been significant.”

  “—no shit,” I say. That’s the understatement of the year.

  Why does Winterford get more donations than practically any other school? Football. I’ve had to go to enough boring-as-hell galas to know how important my “contribution” is.

  “T-the school wants you both to succeed. So we’ve decided on an arrangement that we believe will be mutually b-beneficial for everyone.”

  “And that is?” I ask.

  “You’ll both keep each other out of trouble.” Coach takes over explaining. “You’ll keep her from getting into fights with cheerleaders, and she’ll keep you in line, keep the partying to a minimum, keep those stupid pictures off the internet, keep you sober long enough for you to head to class—and she’ll help you find your way there because I’m sure you have no clue in hell where your classes are.”

  I roll my eyes. Coach Hill is an asshole, but I respect him for it. I like people who are straight up about who they are.

  “You two are now stuck together. You’ll use your popularity for good and keep her out of fights, and she’ll keep you out of trouble,” Coach finishes.

  As what he says finally sinks in, I look over at Sadie and see the same look of horror on her face that I’m sure is on mine.

  “You want me to watch him?!”

  “You want me to watch her?!”

  We both say at the same time.

  Screw that. I’m not taking care of Sadie Edwards, stuck-up queen of the trailer park.

  “There has to be another way,” she says desperately.

  “There isn’t,” Coach says firmly. “It’s either this or you get expelled. Your choice.”

  The tone of his voice is leaving no room for argument. Sadie shakes her head in disbelief.

  “This is ridiculous,” she mumbles.

  “Yeah,” I add. “What she said.”

  “You’re on thin ice, Law. Don’t fuck this up,” Coach growls at me.

  The dean shrugs his shoulders apologetically like all of this is out of his hands. I look over at my new minder/burden. There are red spots on her cheeks and her pouty lips are hanging open in shock. I suddenly realize for the first time she could be pretty if she didn’t dress like death.

  She looks back at me and her green eyes narrow into angry slits. It’s then that I realize how much this is going to fucking suck.

  3

  Sadie

  I throw open the door and burst into the hall. I can’t believe what just happened in there. I feel like I’m in shock or something.

  “What the hell was that?” I hear him ask.

  I whip around to see him stalk out of the office after me. He’s annoyed and subconsciously flexing so I can see all his muscles clearly beneath the thin T-shirt he’s wearing. He’s tall, so I have to look up into his face. There’s anger and confusion in his dark eyes. His chocolate brown hair shines in the dull hall lights, and I suddenly realize that with his tan skin and strong jaw, he’d be insanely hot if he wasn’t such a douchebag.

  I just shake my head. I do not want to think about how hot Mace Law is right now—or ever.

  “I don’t know,” I answer.

  “Well, this fucking sucks,” he says. “I don’t need a minder. I’m not a child.”

  “Well, neither do I!”

  “Kind of sounds like you do, based on what we heard in there. Sadie Edwards, kicking ass both in the classroom and outside it,” he says with a smirk and it makes me see red.

  How is he so good at being so incredibly irritating? It’s like he’s trying to get under my skin on purpose. Too bad this school doesn’t let you major in being a pain-in-the-ass because Mace would graduate early and with honors.

  “I never start anything. I only defend myself from your friends. I just want to be left alone, but at the same time I’m not going to let some stuck-up cheerleaders get away with bullying me,” I say through gritted teeth.

  He shrugs. “And you shouldn’t.”

  “What?” I stare at him in confusion. That was not the reaction I was expecting from him.

  “No one should let anyone else bully them. I’d have even less respect for you than I do now if you let those girls walk all over you. I just fail to understand how that’s my problem.”

  “You were in that meeting too. You heard what they said, and it sounds like it just became your problem, just like you just became mine.”

  He shakes his head and the muscles in his square jaw pop out. “This is unbelievable. I can’t believe I’m stuck with Miss Goody Two-Shoes, the Queen of the losers of Winterford University, ruler of the trailer park. Great, just great. These were supposed to be the best years of my life, you know? I don’t want to be forced to spend them with you.”

  I cannot believe I have to be around this idiot. He’s so rude and obnoxious. He doesn’t care about anything except fast cars, women and spending daddy’s money. I don’t even know if he really cares about football. He sure doesn’t act like it.

  “Look, I’m not any happier about this than you are, but we don’t have a choice. Like it or not, we’re stuck together so we have to deal with it,” I say.

  He rolls his eyes, and it makes me feel like he does that just to piss me off.

  “So what are we going to do?” I ask.

  He thinks for a moment, and I’m hopeful he’s actually going to work with me to come up with a solution. We both don’t want this, but we don’t have a choice, so we might as well make the best of it. We’ll have to find a way to work together so we can both stay in school. From the look of concentration on his face, I start to think maybe he’s not as shallow as I thought and is actually working on a solution—but then he opens his mouth.

  “I’m going to head back to the party and then I have practice. We’ll deal with this later.”

  I breathe out a sigh of annoyance.

  “Fine.”

  I let it go because I don’t want to deal with this any more than he does right now. And besides, I have class to get to. If I don’t get expelled for fighting, I don’t want to get expelled for failing.

  “Meet me in front of the student center at seven p.m. so we can figure out what we’re going to do,” I say sternly. “Okay?”

  “Whatever.”

  “I said, okay?”

  “Okay, okay, don’t get your grim reaper panties in a bunch.”

  I groan in frustration and storm away from him. I hate that guy. He gets under my skin like no one else. It’s like it’s his superpower or something.

  I hurry across campus to class. I’m very late but Jess, Marty and Luna saved me a seat. I slip in next to them as quietly as I can.

  “What’s up?” Marty whispers. “Where’d you go?”

  “We thought yo
u died,” Luna leans over to add.

  “You guys are not going to believe it. I—”

  “Ms. Edwards!” the professor calls from the front of the class.

  All eyes in the lecture hall turn around to stare at me. I hear a couple of snickers.

  “It’s bad enough you came in late, but now you’re interrupting everyone. Will you kindly stop talking so I can continue the lecture? The rest of us are here to learn.”

  “Sorry, sir. I’ll be quiet,” I say, and sink down into my seat. I’d like to sink down and disappear into the floor if I could.

  “You’re usually a great student, so don’t make a habit of this.” He gives me another stern look before going back to teaching. All eyes slowly turn away from me and back towards the front of the class.

  “I’ll tell you guys later,” I whisper quickly because I can’t help myself. “You’re not going to believe it.”

  The four of us are in our favorite coffee shop in town. Luna and Marty walk back to the table carrying our drinks. The coffee here is amazing. The drinks are about 50% sugar and three drops of actual coffee, which is what makes them so good. But the best part about this place is it’s a tiny hole-in-the-wall shop, so no one else from school comes here. It’s the one place we can have privacy, outside of our apartment.

  “Dish, girl,” Jess says the second Luna and Marty sit down. “You’ve kept us waiting since class and I’m dying to know.”

  “It’s insane guys, truly insane,” I say.

  Marty shakes his head and takes a sip of his iced coffee. “You’re so dramatic, Sades.”

  I’ve known all of them for about a year, but it feels like we’ve been friends forever. We genuinely like each other, but what truly bonded us together was being the rejects of the school.

  Luna and Jess have known each other since the ninth grade when they quickly became friends because of their mutual love of goth culture. They met Marty, a nerd who is into anime and heavy metal music, their first day at Winterford. They added me to their loser posse a couple of weeks later when they saw a group of cheerleaders trip me in the hall and came to help me up. We’ve been inseparable ever since, and they are the best friends I’ve ever had.

  “Okay, so, you guys know Mace Law? The quarterback?” I ask.

  As I look at their expectant faces, Luna’s septum piercing catches the light and temporarily blinds me. I put up my hand to block it.

  “Um, duhh,” Marty says. “Everyone in the school knows who he is.”

  “You’d have to be living under a rock not to know who one of the Players are,” Jess adds.

  I roll my eyes. It’s such a dumb nickname for the four guys who rule the school, but I can’t help but admit it’s accurate. They all play football and they all sleep around with as many girls as they can get—which, when you’re on the football team, is pretty much all of them.

  “What did that asshole do now?” Luna asks.

  “Okay, so it started when I was about to head to class, but then they called me down to the dean’s office—”

  “Oh, yeah! I heard that announcement! I was wondering what the hell was up, but you didn’t respond to my text,” Jess says.

  “Well, what was up was that the dean and head coach were there when I arrived, but we couldn’t start until Mr. Quarterback decided to show up.”

  I can see the confusion on their faces, and I don’t blame them for being confused. None of us have had anything to do with the Players for the entire time we’ve been at this school—except for the occasional rude comment they’ve said to us in the halls.

  “Apparently the school isn’t happy with all the partying he’s doing. They aren’t happy with his ‘image’. They said it’s reflecting negatively on Winterford.”

  Marty scoffs. “The administration won’t hold the Players accountable for anything. The football program brings in so much money that the whole school treats them like gods. Those guys could get away with murder.”

  “Maybe not anymore.” I shrug. “Because they said he needs to straighten up.”

  “What does that have to do with you?” Jess asks.

  “I’m in danger of getting kicked out too.”

  They all gasp.

  “You’re joking,” Marty says.

  I shake my head. “I wish I was.”

  “What for?? You have some of the best grades in our entire year,” Luna says.

  “They aren’t happy with all the fights I’ve been getting into.”

  Marty sneers in disgust. “Those aren’t your fault. You never start them. It’s always those asshole cheerleaders.”

  “I know. I told the dean that, but he didn’t care. He said I’m always involved, and the school has a zero tolerance policy towards violence.”

  “Since when??” Marty screeches indignantly. “I guess when it’s their precious cheerleaders getting their asses handed to them, that’s when they actually care about bullying.” He shakes his head.

  I take a deep breath before telling them the rest. I still can’t believe it myself.

  “So they made us both a deal. We have to keep each other out of trouble if we don’t want to get kicked out of school. I have to keep him from partying too much, posting compromising photos on the internet and saying embarrassing stuff in interviews, and he has to keep me from punching cheerleaders.”

  “You’ve got to be kidding me,” Luna says.

  “I wish I was,” I answer sadly. “I have to be Mace Law’s minder or I’m going to get kicked out of Winterford University.”

  I look around at my friends. Jess’s black-lipsticked mouth is hanging open, and the other two are shaking their heads like they can’t believe it.

  “Are you going to do it?” Luna finally asks.

  “I don’t have a choice. I have to. I’m not going to lose everything I’ve worked hard for just to avoid some arrogant jock. He’s not worth ruining my life over.”

  “So sorry, Sades,” Marty says sympathetically.

  “That sucks so much,” Jess adds.

  Luna puts her hand on my arm comfortingly. Her black nail polish contrasts against my pale skin.

  “Thanks, guys,” I say with a sad smile.

  I already knew this whole thing was going to suck, but seeing my friends’ reactions just makes it real. Hanging around the school’s asshole quarterback is going to be hell.

  4

  Mace

  I walk into the locker room and see it’s empty. I’m late. Again. I head over to my section and start getting changed.

  After the meeting with Coach and the dean, and… her, I went back to my room. I wasn’t in the mood to party with the Thi Kappa sisters anymore. I wanted to be alone, but Britney texted that she wanted to come over. I wasn’t really in the mood for that either, but Britney is hot so I’m not going to say no if she wants to throw it at me.

  I didn’t get a chance to tell the guys what happened, and they are already on the field, so I’ll have to wait until later. I quickly put on my practice uniform and head out.

  The bright sunshine beats down on the grass, which is a perfect shade of green. We have the best groundskeepers in the country to keep it that way. The mountains rise in the distance to surround us on all sides.

  Practice has already started and when Coach sees me, I know I’m in for a world of pain. The guy is pissed.

  “You’re late, Law!” he yells, as I run over to join the rest of the team already jogging around the field.

  I shrug at him, and his mouth presses together in a hard line. He turns back to the clipboard he and the assistant coach were looking at before I came out. Coach starts yelling at him about something, and I can tell that anger is for me.

  I join the group and easily make my way to the head of the pack. Camden, Holden and Knox are at the front, leading the way like always. We truly are the best players here, and it was bullshit we had to make a deal with the Org to get to where we are. We earned our spots. But that’s just how the world is run. Nothing comes for free.<
br />
  “Hey, there he is!” Camden calls as I jog forward to join them.

  He slaps me on the back, hard—well, it would be hard for anyone else. Camden’s a big guy, but I’m bigger. He’s faster than me though, and that pisses me off. He may be one of my best friends, but I’m competitive as hell and want to be the best in every aspect of the game.

  “Yeah, here I am,” I say.

  “We thought we lost you, Law,” Holden calls over his shoulder.

  He’s out in front, which isn’t surprising because he’s our pass rusher and the fastest of all of us. I still want to be faster than him too, though.

  “Nah, I just had some shit happen, and I was in a shit mood because of it,” I say.

  Holden looks over his shoulder, then turns around so he’s facing me while running backwards. The guy doesn’t even slow down—fucking showoff.

  “Your dad?” he asks in concern.

  “No. He’s fine—as far as I know. No, it was something else. Something incredibly shitty.”

  “Well, fucking spit it out. Don’t be such a drama queen,” Knox grumbles from behind us.

  Good old Knox. The irritable giant. Our left tackle who hits like a battering ram on, and off, the field.

  “You guys know Sadie Edwards?” I ask.

  “Who?” says Holden.

  “Is she hot?” asks Camden.

  “She’s—” I start to answer, but a loud, piercing whistle cuts me off.