The Love Game (The Game #1)(2)
Author: Emma Hart

“Woah, okay, I’m comin’!” She turns and drags Lila along too.

The front room is crowded. Music pumps from speakers and bodies grind in the middle of the floor. A couple is making out on the sofa and – oh my god. Nope, that’s definitely gone past making out.

I look away and allow the girls to drag me into the writhing mass of people. The alcohol is spreading through my body, and I relax a little, knowing I’m done for the night on the alcohol side. No point pushing my luck.

Megan grabs one of my hands and urges me to dance, to let go. Crazy. That’s what this is. Drinking and now dancing. These girls are ruining me.

“Lighten up, baby girl!” Kay shouts. “Mr Carter himself is watchin’ your sexy little body!”

Fantastic. Just what I want – to be the next on his to-do list. The next on a very, very long list.

“He can keep looking,” I reply, seeing him watching from the corner of the room. “Looking is as close as he’s gonna get.” I turn my back to him, and Lila shakes her dark hair out, moving towards me.

“Someone needs to take his ass down a peg or two,” she says. “Lord knows he hit every branch on the way down the beautiful tree, but he’s sure perched at the top of the ego one.”

“Right,” Megan agrees. “But he’s always been like that. That’s just Braden.”

Megan and Braden both come from the same town and from what she’s said, their parents are quite close so they grew up together. Besides us, she’s about the only girl at the party that isn’t falling at his feet.

“You know what?” Kay says. We glance over at him and another blonde is wrapped around him.

“What?” I say and turn away from him with a look of disgust on my face.

“That boy needs to know what it’s like to do what he does. What it’s like to be humped and dumped.”

All eyes turn to me. I shake my head, stepping back. “Oh, no. No, no, no way!” I turn and leave the room, pushing my way through the kitchen to the yard, all three girls on my heels.

“Mads, it’ll be fun!” Lila takes my hands and bounces. “Come on!”

“Um.” Megan looks at the house then at me. “I guess it wouldn’t hurt.”

“No.” I shake my head again.

“You only have to hump him once,” Kay reasons. “Besides, he’s not exactly bad to look at, is he? I could imagine smacking that ass.”

“Then you do it!”

“Oh, no.” Megan sighs. “She can’t. Kay might be bi but everyone knows she prefers girls, so he won’t go there. Lila has a boyfriend who happens to be his friend, and I grew up with him. He’s like my brother or something. You’re the only one that can do it.”

“I don’t understand what we’ll get out of this.” I look at each of them.

“Satisfaction of knowing the guy finally wanted what he couldn’t have,” Kay shrugs. “Come on, Mads. It’ll take two weeks, three, tops.”

“A month maybe,” Megan adds. “After that, he’ll get bored and give in or he’ll be in love with you. He’s always watching you, Mads. Even in class when you think he isn’t. And he refuses to talk about you to me, so I know he’s attracted to you. Usually he gives me a play-by-play over his weekend conquests.”

“Plus Megs knows how his mind works,” Lila says. “So we have that advantage.”

“You’re not going to take no for an answer, are you?” I sigh and rake my fingers through my hair.

“Nope.” Kay shakes her head.

“Oh, hell. I have a feeling I’m gonna regret this.”

“Maddie Stevens. Your mission, should you choose to accept it.” She grins and puts her hand out. Lila and Megan put theirs on top of hers. “Is to play the player at his own game. Do you accept?”

I inhale deeply, every bit of my mind screaming at me to say no and run. Play the player. The guy I hate because he embodies everything I wanted to leave behind when I left Brooklyn.

Instead of running, I place my hand on the pile in front of me. “Accepted.”

Chapter Two – Braden

I have no f**king idea who this chick is who’s hanging onto my arm. I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen her in my life, but she’s kinda hot with nice tits so I guess she can stay for a bit. She’s not hot enough to bang though, so she won’t be around for that long.

Blondie presses her lips against my ear, and I hide my cringe by looking around the frat house. My eyes find Maddie Stevens – Princess of University of California, Berkeley.

She’s sitting at the bar with that bi girl. Shit, what’s her name? Oh, never mind. Megan and Lila are sitting with her, and I watch as they knock back shot after shot of whatever it is Kyle is throwing down their throats tonight. She shakes out her auburn hair and the bi one drags her up.

My eyes sweep her body, and I’m vaguely aware Blondie is now sitting on my lap. Two hard globes press against my chest, and I know instantly she’s got fake tits. They were way too good to be true.

Megan takes Maddie’s hand, and she smiles, almost shyly. She starts to move to the beat of the music and f**k, there’s nothing shy about that. She puts her free hand in her hair, looks at the floor and her hips move perfectly in time. She glances up through her eyelashes and smiles again, more confidence in it this time.

“She’s so f**king hot,” Aston says, appearing next to me. Ryan steps up behind him.

“Maddie?” I ask, my eyes still on her moving body.

“Who’s Maddie?” Blondie purrs. Fuck, she still here?

Maddie looks up, her bright green eyes taking in Blondie on me. Her lip twitches in disgust, and she turns away.

“No one you should worry about, babe.” I peel her off me. “Be a doll and get me a beer.”

She flutters eyelashes caked in mascara. “Of course.” She hops off of me and I pat her ass, turning my attention back to the guys.

“Who was that?” Ryan asks.

“Good question, dude.” I shrug. “Some chick.”

I catch sight of Maddie pushing her way through the crowd, Megan, Lila, and bisexual girl following her.

“Hey, reckon the girls would be pissed if I chased after her?” Aston asks, following her with his eyes.

“Megan would beat the shit out of you.” Ryan nudges him and leans against the arm of the sofa. “Lila and Kay, too, actually.”

Kay. That’s the bisexual girl.

“Maddie would likely kick my ass, too,” I add, looking at them. “You’d need to get that girl down the aisle before she dropped her pants for you.”

“Marriage? Fuck that.” Aston shakes his head. “I’m too hot for that shit, dude.”