Ellie was attracted to me. And I would exploit that angle to my full advantage. She was also too easy to tease. With zero poker face, emotional reactions oozing out of those beautiful eyes, and too many groans of disgust to count, I was under her skin. By the brush-offs she gave Jake's friends, I assumed she was more conditioned to guy bullshit than the average girl, and my normal approach would be met with her cold indifference… and I was right. Based on a higher squeak in her voice, Ellie responded more to my blunt lines and taunts than compliments. So, I burrowed deeper, one teasing line and 'baby' after another. Unconventional? Maybe. Effective? Absolutely. I didn't offer a date. Ever. Ellie could wear a burlap bag as long as she showed up and Jake toiled in agony every minute that I whisked her away and returned her home in tears. She wasn't going to make it easy, and an unfamiliar thrill rushed through me. Quiet and soft, her voice cast the same calm as background music in a fancy restaurant. And yet, a snarky, confident girl lived in that tiny body, behind those large, beautiful eyes. Tease me with a not-kiss? It worked. When she knelt between my legs, she wiped all logic out of my brain. My heart pounded out of my chest. Retribution against Jake? Poof, gone. By the grace of her cheek, those full lips had to be warm and soft. Her small hands rested on my shoulders and parted lips a breath's temptation away – fuck, I wanted to kiss her. Badly. "I wouldn't kiss you if you were the last asshole on Earth… Not in a million years." I almost nutted myself from her confident, direct tone in my ear. Yeah, gross, but this girl –a damn stranger– wedged herself under my skin. Dial it back, Hightower. She was a girl. A girl who wanted me too, although not ready to admit it. From her furious blush to her chest pitching with ragged breaths, she wanted that kiss too. Focus. Stick to the plan. Game six. Nothing else. "You're home early," Mom greeted me from her reclined position on the living room sofa. She set aside her reader and planted her feet on the floor. "Did you forget about Brody?" "No." I rolled my eyes. 'Head down, run your ass off, and do what he says,' was my advice. The possibility of Harrison hazing him burned a hole in my chest, but I didn't want to discuss that with her. "I told him to make sure you sit in the back bleachers during games." "Logan Alexander!" Her hands met her hips. "Cheese and rice, I swear…" She launched into some lack of disrespect spiel that I tuned out. Vocal was an understatement about Mom. Adjacent towns could hear her during my games. Her sharp blue eyes saw straight through my bullshit, her nose never stopped sniffing in my business, and her heart was big enough to accept blame for Dad's faults. The most expressive woman I knew was cursed with zero filters. And it was damn embarrassing. "Are you even listening?" "Uh-huh." I thumbed over my phone. Ellie had forty-five followers now. "No, you weren't." Her hand tugged my phone down. "Listen, I won't see you for two weeks." The upward inflection in her voice at the end of her sentence showed she would never lose her accent, or attempt to coerce me into connecting with our family. I sighed at her one-way street to Mom guilt trip city. "I'm tired. They'll work us hard at camp so I'm going to bed early." "Fine." A tight smile thinned her lips and she flung a hand at the stairs. "I did your laundry and set out stuff to pack. Don't forget deodorant and extra clean underwear, stink butt. I packed you lunch too." "Thanks, Mom." I escaped before she guilted me into contacting her over the next two weeks. That lunch was a no-starter. Up in my room, I stuffed clothes piles and a few books in my bags and flopped on my bed. Last year of camp, last year of high school football. Shit, last year of high school. A low hum of anticipation awoke in my veins. Some guys slacked over the summer, but not me. With fifteen pounds of added muscle from Mason's grinding, I was ready and excited to see my teammates. They were assholes, but they were my assholes. "Am I supposed to call you Asshole?" Fuck, Ellie's gentle voice was dangerous. She was the quiet girl who wasn't initially noticed within a group but should have been. I squeezed the same fingers that touched her face. Why couldn't I let go of that moment? All I needed to know replayed itself as my thumb traced those callouses. Ellie's cheek nuzzled my palm and her eyes closed. Reactive touch and insults for the win. Problem was, I wasn't immune either. What voodoo magic did that tiny girl possess? I grabbed her wrist and damn near begged her not to ghost me, for fuck's sake. When the fuck had I last wanted to hold a girl's hand? Elementary school, probably. I dragged my hands through my hair and sighed. My heart flipped faster, a fissure of pressure erupted in my chest, and my mouth pulled into a smile. Harrison's sister. Retribution. I needed a different angle to salvage my plan. She was the exact opposite of impressed with my efforts, but at this point, I was in her head with nothing to lose. I woke up in the same state I fell asleep in - tired and frustrated. And I wasn't the only one. "Here's your phone," Mom spat in an irritated voice. A heavy object landed on my stomach and I groaned. "I charged it for you last night." What crawled up her butt? I frowned and sat up. "Thanks." "If what I think I saw in your incoming messages is right, Logan…" Her eyes narrowed. "I'm so disappointed in you." Paper crinkles erupted as she held up one of my bikini posters. I rolled my eyes when she tore it with a dramatic yank of her fingers. "For the record, Bryce hung those up." I rubbed the sleep out of my eye corners. She moved on to the next one. "And there's only four… two… zero." "You kept them!" Mom shook a handful of wadded paper at me. Before shutting the door, she delivered one more dig. "And given how you treat girls, you're better off being single, Logan Alexander." Two middle name drops in ten hours, but I'd already beaten her to the same conclusion. She didn't know my personal life details, but I was on a two-year break. The irony of my indifference to girls hit as hard as Ellie's final words. "Just… get away from me." I wasn't the cocky asshole that I projected to be.