Playing to Win

“Thank you,” I said, dipping my head.

“Do you want to sing it? For our fall concert? I always leave spots open for solos or small ensembles and I think you should sing that song.” Her eyes widened. “Have you written others?”

I nodded. “Lots.”

“Wow.” She stared at me as if she didn’t quite know what to do with me. “Wow. Well, you have an amazing talent, Asher. Your voice is beautiful and if your other songs are as good as that one, I can’t imagine you won’t have an opportunity to do something really special with your music.”

“Thank you, Ms. Jackson. I really appreciate that.” I stood up. The bell had rung about a minute before.

I made my way to jazz band flying high from Ms. Jackson’s praise and the rush of performing, everything about it reaffirming music was my future. No matter what my dad said, I was going to pursue it.

CHAPTER TWO

Jordan

No.

It couldn’t be.

Not again.

He turned and spotted me, his lips immediately pulling into a frown before they seemed to change their mind and curve into a smirk.

Another magazine cover pose for him.

What was he doing here?

And how did he make ‘jerk’ look so good? Not that I cared. I still wanted to be mad at him.

“This your spot, too?” he asked, tipping his head toward his car before reaching into the trunk.

I watched, horrified, as he pulled out a duffle bag and hockey stick.

“You play hockey,” I said, the image so incongruous to my preconceived judgments I couldn’t even wrap my head around it. After meeting him in the parking lot, I’d almost convinced myself he couldn’t possibly be as good looking as I imagined. But then I saw him in the cafeteria, once again in my spot, and I knew I’d been lying to myself. The boy was hot with a capital tsss.

Sizzling.

Asher paused to glare at me. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

Since I put my foot in my mouth like a pro on a regular basis, I replied with, “You play the guitar.”

And look like a long lost Jonas brother.

I kept that last part in my head.

“Really? I play the guitar?” He rolled his eyes in a fantastic imitation of a five-year-old as he slammed the trunk shut.

I held my breath as he took a step toward me, lowering his face so close to mine his breath brushed my cheek. “I’ll let you in on a little secret.” His voice dipped low into a seductive whisper. “I can do both.”

An involuntary shiver raced down my spine.

He turned on his heel and headed into the rink without a backward glance.

Holy smokes!

I’d never experienced that heart pounding, tingling feeling you read about in romance novels, had begun to wonder if it even existed. It did. I’d experienced it three times that day already.

I held my breath until he disappeared inside the building then gasped not allowing myself to contemplate what his presence at the rink where my team had practice might mean. I had more important things to worry about, like impressing my dad enough for him to let me start at our first game. I couldn’t let myself get distracted by hot guys who stole my parking spot.

And my breath.

Inside the rink, deep male voices echoed off the cinder block walls inside the guys locker room. As I walked passed and a wave of isolation hit me. For the last twelve years I’d played on an all girls team. Maybe I’d taken for granted the camaraderie, the sense of being a part of a team, that developed inside the locker room.

Not on this team.

At least, not for me. Each day for practice and before every game, I’d prepare by myself in a separate locker room.

But I’d made a choice. I wanted to play for the same team as my brothers. The same team coached by my dad. So, I appealed to the commission and they agreed I should be allowed to play as long as I made the team the same as everyone else, by trying out.

And I did. I worked my butt off for a spot on this team.

My thoughts turned to the conversation I had earlier that morning with Hannah and Alex about dating teammates. The stakes were high for me now. I had a lot to prove. The time had come to buckle down, focus. Hockey and school, those two things had to be my top priorities. I couldn’t let anything stand in my way. Especially, not a relationship. Which made it doubly important to remember and follow Rule #1. I absolutely could not fall for one of my teammates.