“Are you two ready to play?” Xander interrupted this time, his green eyes looking at me with disapproval.
“I’ve been ready,” I said in reply. “It wasn’t me who stopped the game, it was Aiden.”
“Yeah, Xander. It was Aiden who blew his whistle, like some sort of trumped-up referee.” Liv glared at Xander. “This is just meant to be a friendly game. This isn’t the NFL.”
“They don’t play flag football in the NFL,” Xander replied to her with an amused smile.
“Exactly,” she said with an annoyed expression. “This isn’t the NFL.”
“Liv, if you and Alice don’t want to play flag football, then you can both just leave.” Aiden spoke up this time and my heart stopped. “When we’re playing the game, we should be playing the game. We aren’t here to hear about your sex lives or the sexy lingerie you’re buying. Or how much you need to work out because you can’t keep up with the rest of us.”
I gasped at his words and my mouth fell open. My face was hot with humiliation, and I glared at his smug and superior expression. Was he calling me a fat ass?
“Aiden, you’re such a pompous jerk.” Liv just shook her head and then looked at Xander. “And you’re an asshole.”
“I’m an asshole?” He put his hands up in the air. “I didn’t even say anything.”
“Exactly. How could you let Aiden speak to us like that?”
“What?” Xander sounded frustrated. I was about to cut in and say something when Henry cleared his throat loudly.
“Look, guys, this is my fault,” he said smoothly. “I was the one talking to Alice and monopolizing her time. I won’t do it on the field anymore. I’ll just wait until we go out for drinks later.”
“Whatever,” Aiden said and then blew his whistle again. “If everyone is ready to begin playing again, maybe we can get back to the game.”
“We were playing the game before you stopped us, Aiden,” Liv said loudly. “I think we’re all ready to get back to something other than you trying to boss us around.”
“Grow up, Liv.” Aiden rolled his eyes. “I thought you’d start acting your age now that you have a boyfriend.”
“Excuse me?” Liv walked over to him, and I watched as Xander grabbed her around the waist and pulled her towards him and whispered something in her ear. She turned to me then and gave me an exasperated look as if to say, “Why do you want to date my brother again? He’s a big old jerk.”
And then, because the day was going so perfectly already, my luck got even better. “I’m here, folks!” A loud boyish voice echoed across the field, and we all turned to watch as Scott came running towards us, a huge grin on his handsome face. My stomach flipped anxiously as he ran directly towards me. This was the last thing that I needed. I was supposed to be making Aiden jealous and antsy with random guys, not his sister’s boyfriend’s rich brother or his own brother. I could still remember the night that Aiden had spotted Scott kissing me, and I wanted to scream out in frustration. Why was this happening to me? Why was it that the guys I didn’t want paying attention to me were circling around me like vultures?
“Hey, Alice.” Scott stopped right next to me and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “Fancy seeing you here.”
“Hey,” I said weakly, and I gazed at Aiden quickly. He was staring at me with a closed expression on his face, and I offered him a small smile, which he didn’t return.
“I heard you were going to be playing so I—”
“Eeeep!” Aiden blew his whistle loudly and interrupted Scott. “Scott, you can be on Alice’s team. And you guys can talk later. At the bar.” He looked at me then and smirked slightly. “Just remember to take a number, though, as Henry’s already got his ticket ready to talk to her first.” And with that he blew his whistle again and turned around. I could tell that everyone on the field, except for Liv, Xander and I, was confused about what was going on. All I could think about was getting back at Aiden for being such a prickhead. I was going to pay once I got him into my bed, of course. I thought back to what Xander had said about Aiden being a Dom, and I knew then exactly what I was going to try and do. I was going to make Aiden think I wanted to submit to him, but instead of letting him dominate me, I was going to tease him until he begged me to stop. Only then would I be able to wipe that smug little smirk from his way-too-handsome face.
“Next game, we need to kick their asses,” Liv whispered in my ear as she glared at her brother.
“Yup,” I said back to her. “Next game, we need to show them that we girls can kick ass at football as well.”
Chapter Six
The Way to a Man’s Lap Is Through a Horror Movie
“Argh, my muscles are still sore from football.” I groaned as my calf muscles tingled. “Why am I in such bad shape?”
“So am I.” Liv made a face. “We need to start working out.”
“That doesn’t sound like fun.” I made a face at her.
“We’ll go to the gym and walk on the treadmill,” she said and nodded to herself. “And maybe we can practice throwing the football at the park.”
“Why?”
“So we can practice,” she said. “I want us to show up and just totally dominate the game. We need to show Aiden and Xander that we aren’t just weak, unsporty girls. I totally didn’t appreciate how they basically excluded me from every play.”
“I know,” I agreed. “That was so uncool.”
“Yeah, we need to show those boys that girls can kick ass in sports as well.”
“I guess so.” I sighed and stretched my legs out. “Though I don’t know I will ever kick ass in football.”
“Yes, you will, Alice. You need to have a positive mental attitude.”
“I’m trying,” I said and sighed. “I mean, I’m still trying to have a positive attitude about Aiden and me getting together.”
“About that …” Liv said and grinned. “Let’s go over the plan.” She looked down at her notepad and then back up at me. “I’m going to invite Aiden over to watch a movie as a way for us to make up for the argument that went down.” She made a face. “He thinks that we were inappropriate on the football field yesterday and that we shouldn’t argue like that in front of others.”
“Since when has he cared about being an ass in front of others?” I was surprised, but pleased to hear that he was going to be coming over.
“Since he realized I’m not a little kid anymore.” She laughed. “Anyway, I’m going to tell him to bring a movie and a bottle of wine and that is how he can make it up to me.”
“But you’re not going to be here, right?” I said, trying to confirm that the plan was the same as this morning.
“Yeah, well, I’ll be here when he arrives, but just before the movie starts, I’m going to leave abruptly because Xander is going to need me.”
“He knows he’s going to need you, right?” I asked skeptically; I wasn’t sure we could count on Xander following through in helping us with our plan.
“Trust me, he knows he’s going to need me.” She grinned. “I told him to call me at eight p.m. on the dot. I’ll talk to him and then leave and then you and Aiden can watch the movie. I told Aiden to get a horror movie—”
“Oh no, you know I hate horror movies.” I groaned.
“That’s why I told him to bring one. You’ll scream and jump into his arms, and he’ll protect you.”
“Protect me from the TV?”
“Well, he’ll put his arm around you to comfort you from the scariness on the screen or whatever, and you can snuggle into his arms.” Liv sounded impatient. “Come on, Alice, you know how it goes. You’re the one who taught me the horror-movie trick.”
“I know.” I sighed. “I just don’t think it will work on Aiden.”
“It works on all men.” Liv grinned. “Even guys who are totally into themselves and have significant others; though it’s unlikely to lead to kissing and messing around with them.”
“It’s unlikely to lead to kissing for me and Aiden, either.”
“Alice,” Liv sighed. “Just go with it, please.”
“Fine.” I shrugged. “I’ll watch a horror movie with him, but I just hope he doesn’t feel like he was tricked and leave. He didn’t exactly seem like he was into me at the football game.”