Page 69

"Babe, your mom is one hundred percent listening right now…" I look to either side of me. "Somehow. She might even be watching, honestly."

"Ew, Jace." She slaps my arm, sinking back into her pillow. "That's so disgusting."

I chuckle. "Hey, I wouldn't put it past Mabel."

I lay back down anyway and pull her toward me.

She blows out a heavy breath as she slides back under my arm. "You know… it's frightening how right you might be."

Her body shudders against mine—the perfect excuse to yank her even closer.

Lenny melts into me, and thankfully, the vision of her mother—and probably brothers and sister and maybe even Patrick—disappears as she molds herself to my side. She lays one arm across my stomach, and her hand lands warm against my hip.

Her house is never quiet. Never empty. Someone's always walking by or yelling to her from downstairs. And as an only child, it's kind of nice. Her brothers and I get along fine—minus the first visit where they did the What are your intentions with my little sister spiel that Lenny warned me would happen but insisted was mostly for effect.

But she asked me here because for once it is—quiet. Empty. And that's only because she conned her way out of going to one of Mage's infamous festivals where her dad mingles and her mother dishes out a homemade recipe of hers that she and her siblings are recruited to serve.

It's cool, I guess—the whole Cleaver family thing I'll never have, despite how relatable my mom's new boyfriend Tom tries to be. But this? Just Lenny and me? This might be as close to perfect as life can get without cleats on my feet and a ball in my hand.

"You okay?" I ask. I drop my palm onto her bare shoulder and brush my thumb across the tan line just starting to form from her track uniform.

She hums, content—the most relaxed I've ever seen her in this house. And I home in on the quiet breaths that escape her lips and the way her head bobs up and down with the waves of my chest.

I never really saw myself as the snuggle type. Not the love-em-and-leave-em type either, though—not that there are that many opportunities for that at Mage Hollow High, anyway. But I don't just want Lenny, I never did.

Sure, she's hot—beautiful even—and she had that dress she wore to my junior prom filled out in all the right places. But lying here with her feels just as right as the rest of it.

There's only one thing that could make it better.

"There's a scout coming out to watch my next game."

It's not everything, but it's a start.

"Another one?" she asks, lifting her head off my chest.

I peer down at her, dragging my hand through her tousled hair. "Yeah, but this is for the school I told you about. The one I really want."

"CMU?"

The corners of my mouth lift before I even fully register why.

She remembered.

"Damn, look at you."

She tries hiding her smile, but it's there. Soft. Sweet. Perfect.

"It's easy to remember," she says, running her finger under my chain and watching as the links ripple as she does.

"Because it's three letters?"

She nods toward the poster of her celebrity crush hanging by her dresser. "Yep. Exactly—Chad Murray University."

She shimmies her brows, and I lift my shoulder up to nudge hers.

"Yeah, you wish, O'Reilly," I grind out, narrowing my eyes at the shaggy blond haired basketball player's picture that couldn't be any more my opposite. She giggles. "But you didn't seem too concerned with him a few minutes ago."

Her mouth drops open, then snaps shut again as pink rises up her neck. She licks her lips, then slinks back down against my chest exactly where she belongs.