Read Sidelined for Free Online

and Leah gets up to answer it.
    “Well, next time, tell her not to be such a damn bitch about her business and that, if she doesn’t want a guy, she should answer the phone her damn phone herself and say so,” I call after her.
    Corey tilts his juice glass in my direction and nods. “True that.”
    I hold my hands out as if to say, “I know.”
    Seriously, when Ryann answered the phone, I assumed Macey was agreeing to everything I was saying. Apparently, though, girls are just as immature as guys when you throw a bunch of them together.
    “Or you could understand a girl’s statement when she tells you not to call in the first place.” Macey appears in the doorway, her jaw clenched, her light-brown eyes blazing.
    Ah, shit.
    “Did you explicitly say that?” I counter, my lips tugging up.
    She freezes because she knows as well as I do that she didn’t say any such shit. “I believe I was about to,” she replies, her voice weaker than it was a second ago. “But you decided to cross the line and kiss me.”
    “Which you responded to.” My smirk fully forms. “You know what, M? Guys don’t take hints. We don’t get snarky little comments meant to convince us into doing somethin’. Don’t respond to, ‘I’ll call you,’ with a, ‘You don’t have my number,’ because that ain’t a, ‘Don’t call.’”
    Macey takes a deep breath in and pins me with her steely gaze. “Don’t. Call,” she says firmly. “That clear enough?”
    I tilt my head to the side and study her for a second, fully aware of Corey’s amused eyes and Leah’s hesitant ones on us. “Nah, baby. Nowhere near clear enough.”
    “What kind of asshole are you?”
    My lips threaten to grin, and I get up and approach her. She steps back, but I curve my hand around the back of her neck and hold her still as I move against her.
    “Baby,” I whisper, ducking my head so my mouth brushes her earlobe. “I’m the asshole who makes you come five times in one night. That’s who. So you want me to fuck off? Fine. But you’re sure as shit gonna give me a fuckin’ good reason why.”
    She touches my hand with hers and turns her face away. “I don’t owe you a fucking thing,” she breathes. “So there’s your goddamn reason.”
    I release her, but I meet her eyes as I do. “Sounds like an excuse opposed to a reason.”
    Her chest heaves with a second deep breath, and she briefly looks away before her gaze slams into mine with a ferocity that flares up every intrigued instinct in my body.
    “Well, excuse me,” she snaps breathlessly, “if I’m not the girl who’ll conform to your shorthanded demands, Jack Carr. Excuse me if I’m not the chick who’ll pant and fall at your feet if you tell me I’m good enough to be a regular fuck for you. And ex-fucking-cuse me if I am the girl whose boyfriend knocked up her cousin and has absolutely zero desire to be dragged into a situation where her surprisingly gentle heart may be wrangled into trusting yet another asshole.”
    Her voice wavers on the last few words, and almost as soon as she’s done talking, she turns on her heel and stalks back to the front door.
    “Mace!” Leah calls. “Fuck me, Jack!” she growls, smacking my arm as she walks past.
    I shoot my arm across her body and stop her dead. “Back off.”
    “What?”
    “Back off,” I say slower, meeting Leah’s blue eyes.
    “What?” she repeats. “Corey.”
    “Ain’t gonna help,” I reply. “Somethin’ you gotta learn about us Vipers boys, sweetheart. We fuck up, we fix it. Regardless of who you are.”
    “I’ve known her ten years. You’ve known her ten minutes. And if you have any sense, Jack Carr, you’ll move your damn arm to let me past before I bite it.”
    “Corey.”
    He sighs heavily and stands. His arms go around Leah and he pulls her back from me and my steady one-armed hold. “Babe, he’s right. Us Vipers are a football team, sure, but we stand for more than that. We stand for America, baby. We