Jocking Jameson: Face-Off Legacy #4 Read online

  “Give me a second, Cam.”

  My brother grunts but does as I ask and pauses the game. “Hurry up. We have mages to beat.”

  Jamie: I got everything on your list. I still have no idea what you’re cooking for us. Can I get a hint?

  Earlier, I sent Jamie the list of foods he needed to buy for tomorrow night’s dinner. I have no idea what I was thinking. A meal of this magnitude will take a while to cook. At least Jamie is going to help me. A few hours alone with him, even if his teammates are there too, makes it worthwhile.

  Me: Italian food, obviously

  Jamie: Duh. That’s about as far as I got.

  Me: You said you don’t mind surprises

  Jamie: I lied. Tell me.

  Jamie: J/k you don’t have to. How was work?

  Me: It was work

  Jamie: LOL What are you doing now?

  Me: About to play Mage Wars with my brother

  Jamie: Want the cheat codes?

  Me: What are those?

  Jamie: A way for you to beat the game faster

  Me: How did you get them?

  Jamie: I know a guy who knows a guy

  Me: Can you help us get the Sword of Balthazar back? My dad played with my brother earlier and lost it. Now we can’t get past level fifteen.

  Jamie: Easy. But don’t tell Preston or any of the guys I gave them to you.

  Jamie texts me a series of button commands we have to hit in the exact order. I have no idea what he’s talking about, but when I mention cheat codes to Cameron, he slams his hand on the bed and screams. Cameron follows Jamie’s prompts. Within seconds, the Sword of Balthazar falls from the sky. It flashes at the center of the screen, spinning in a circle as its magic grants us an additional power.

  “Sweet,” Cameron says, gripping the controller in his hands. “How did you get the code?”

  “I know a guy who knows a guy,” I joke.

  “Can he get us a code to beat the Grand Mage?”

  I shrug. “I don’t know. I can ask.”

  He looks at me with wonder in his eyes, and I glance down at my cell phone.

  Me: Thanks for the code. You’re officially my brother’s hero. Any chance you have the code to defeat the Grand Mage?

  Jamie: Now I’m starting to feel used.

  Me: Shit, I’m sorry.

  Jamie: I was kidding… Here it is.

  I screen capture the code Jamie sends me, knowing we’ll need it later. Even with an advantage, this game is hard to beat.

  Jamie: You have mages to spell. Let me know how it goes.

  Me: Thanks. You’re a lifesaver. See you tomorrow.

  Jamie: Can’t wait.

  I smile so wide my cheeks hurt.

  Cameron notices and taps me with his elbow. “C’mon, sissy. Stop messing around. We don’t have a lot of time.”

  I lift the controller from the mattress and hit the button to join the game. “I’m ready.”

  Jamie really did save the day. Without the codes, I’d have spent days on one level with Cameron. As much as I like this game, I would like some time to myself for once. All I have to do is help him beat Mage Wars. And Jamie just gave us an advantage.

  Chapter Five

  Jamie

  After hockey practice, I find Preston in the exercise room in the middle of a set. Pushing the hair out of my eyes, I approach the weight bench, staring down at him.

  “Want some company?” I sit on the open bench next to him and tug at the string on the seam of my mesh shorts. “We could take turns spotting each other.”

  “Yeah, I guess.” He lifts the bar above his body. “Think you can keep up? You looked like some washed-up has-been on the ice earlier.”

  I roll my eyes at him and then help him set the bar on the rack. “I just need to focus.”

  “It’s all the drinking you’ve been doing with Tuck and Trent over at Delta Sig. They can get away with having a few beers, but you’re not like them. Stay away from that shit during the week. If you guys spent as much time practicing as you do chasing around sorority chicks, you’d be giving me a run for my money at MVP this year.”

  I lean forward, digging my elbows into my thighs. “I’ll be fine by the game on Friday. Stop worrying. You sound like my dad.”

  He shrugs. “I’m the captain of the team for a reason. Someone has to keep your ass in line.”

  I push out my hand to silence him. “Whatever. Don’t start with me. I’m not in the mood. I had two hours of sleep last night before I had to get up for practice.”

  He wipes his face with his towel and then slings it around his neck. “I’m only looking out for your career. We can’t make it pro together if you’re too busy drinking and running around campus trying to get your dick wet.”

  Preston couldn’t be more wrong right now. Just because he saw me talking to girls at frat parties doesn’t mean I did anything with them. Cece had me so fucked up over the summer. None of my friends know I allowed her back in my life. If not for Shannon, I doubt I would even bother with another girl. But she’s different. Shannon is nothing like Cece which is why I like her so much.

  “Says the guy who has a crush on Coach Bryant’s daughter,” I quip.

  Preston shakes his head. “That’s never gonna happen.”

  “She looked pretty into you last night. You could be tapping Bex right now. That eye-fucking I saw in Gio’s went both ways.”

  We ran into Coach Bryant and his daughter, Bex, at the pizza shop on campus last night. Preston has a major crush on her. He doesn’t even try to hide it.

  Preston swings his legs off the bench, and I follow him to a leg press machine. I stand beside him, moving my hands to my hips. “We should go watch Bex play sometime, maybe scout some of her teammates.” I wink at him, partially joking. “We can always use new recruits.”

  I don’t mean a single word. The only girl I want right now is Shannon. Unlike my friends, I’m a one-woman kind of guy. Women are too complicated for me to be a player. I guess I get that from my dad. He was the same way before and after he met my mom.

  Preston stops moving his legs and crosses his arms across his chest, smirking. “I was kind of hoping you would help me with Bex. I need you and the guys to make nice with some of her teammates, or better yet, her roommate. She said something to Coach about him having rules. I want to know what she means by that. It seemed like she was referring to his players and that being around us was somehow breaking those rules.”

  “Why don’t you stalk her online like any normal person?”

  He laughs as if the idea is ridiculous. “I looked last night, couldn’t find her anywhere. I checked Snapchat, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. It’s like she doesn’t exist.”

  “Maybe she’s an android,” I joke.

  “You’re such a nerd.”

  I shrug, unaffected by his words. Everyone calls me a nerd, but I’m the one they turn to when they need help fixing a broken computer, can’t get their phone to work, or need cheat codes for video games.

  I shove my hands into my shorts pockets and shrug. “I can take one for the team. I’m sure Tuck, Trent, and Drake will, too. What do you want to know about her?”

  He scratches his jaw, thinking over my question. “Find out if she has a boyfriend. Where she hangs out. Who she’s friends with, other than her roommate. Whatever you can get out of her teammates.”

  “I don’t think she has a boyfriend. I’ve seen her on campus before but never with any guys. She always hangs out with the same girl.”

  “Coach probably doesn’t let her date.”

  “Nah, Bex didn’t act like she’d just seen her first naked man. She seemed uncomfortable walking through the locker room, but she wasn’t terrified of all the dicks hanging out. And you heard her… ‘nothing she hasn’t seen before.’”

  Preston laughs. “I think that comment was meant for me.”

  “Maybe. She doesn’t seem to like you very much. What did you do to get under skin already?”

  “
Nothing. She’s been like that with me from the second she crashed into me in the locker room.”

  Bex literally ran face first into Preston’s wet chest in the locker room after practice. She was on her way to her dad’s office at the back of the room. Apparently, she didn’t realize the players would be in there. That must have been a rude and awkward awakening for her.

  “Yeah,” I say. “But she’s meeting your mom. She loosened up a lot after you offered to take her with you on Saturday. You forgot to mention the games last all day.” I snicker. “Wait until she finds out she’s spending the entire day with your mom… and my dad.”

  Our parents still coach a youth basketball team together. Of course, Aunt Charlotte is the head coach, and my dad is the assistant. She’s the most dominant woman I have ever met.

  Sometimes I wonder how my dad could befriend a woman for more than half his life and never think of her in a sexual way. One time I asked him about it, and he said, “I never thought of Charlie as a girl.” I laughed and he added, “When you grow up the way we did, you look at life differently. We needed each other to get by, and that made it hard for me to see her as anything other than my friend.”

  Preston grabs a paper cup from the holder on the wall next to the water cooler. “You should come, too. It’s going to be a long day. Bex will need someone to talk to when I’m busy helping out with the kids.”

  He drinks the contents of the cup and fills it again before I pour one for myself.

  “Depends on how drunk I get on Friday night after the game,” I say to annoy him.

  Too eager to pass judgment, he frowns at my stupid remark. “Dude, we just talked about this. For a smart guy, sometimes you’re so dense. Stay in and play video games with me instead. Your dad’s new game is pretty sick.”

  “Oh, I know. Right? I was playing Mage Wars last night drunk off my ass. The graphics were insane and even better with a good buzz going.”

  I sit down at a leg machine and remove the towel hanging from my pocket to wipe down the equipment.

  “We should play later,” Preston says.

  I flash a joker-like grin. “Think you can keep up with me?”

  He throws his hand out at me and laughs. “Please. More like… can you keep up with me? Seriously, though, you should stay in with me after the game, kill off a few levels with me, and come to the games on Saturday. If you’re there, Bex might lower her guard more. She probably thinks it’s a date or some shit.”

  “I guess.” I pause for a second and then add, “But I’m not leaving the house at the ass crack of dawn with you. I’ll meet you and Bex for the second half of the games. Maybe Bex has some hot friends she can bring along for me. And I’ll warm up to her… do some recon for you.”

  Somehow, he always manages talking me into doing shit I don’t want to do. Like getting up early on one of my few days off from school and hockey.

  He slaps me on the back. “I knew I could count on my wingman.”

  “You know, you could just ask Bex whatever you want to know. Stop acting like such a pussy.”

  Preston groans. “Whatever. I’m going to go hit the showers. I’ll catch you later.”

  “I’m making dinner later.” I lift the bar somewhat out of breath. Damn, this is sad. “Make sure you’re home.”

  He narrows his eyes at me. “You’re making dinner? What, in the microwave? You don’t know how to cook.”

  “Shannon’s making dinner for me, by extension, she’s now cooking for the entire house.”

  “Sounds good. Don’t do anything stupid. I don’t want my food poisoned.”

  I laugh. “Nah, Shannon’s cool.”

  I tell him about Shannon and her sisters dancing in a contest this weekend at The Sixth Floor. He agrees to come with our friends and me. Not like he’d miss an opportunity to watch half-naked girls shake their asses on a bar.

  About to leave, Preston glances over his shoulder at me. “Did you get any new leads on The Queen?”

  “No. I wish. I looked again this morning before I went to class. Whoever’s running the blog is good. Better than I expected.”

  “So, what’s that mean? You can’t find her?”

  “I can and I will. But I need more time. She’s a coder with real skills.”

  He laughs. “You’re getting beat by a girl?”

  His question irritates me. “No, of course not. She’s just making it harder for me to find her.”

  “If we don’t react to her, maybe she’ll go away.”

  “She posts new pictures of us every day,” I point out. “Everyone on campus is talking about her. They’ve even downloaded her app. I doubt she’ll go away anytime soon. When you feed an animal, they keep coming back for more.”

  That’s the worst part about all of this. The Queen has infiltrated the cell phones of almost everyone on campus because of her stupid app. You can scroll through pictures of most of the popular students on campus in compromising positions all because of the mastermind behind Dethroned. She’s good, way better than I could’ve imagined. I hate being bested by anyone, and The Queen has really gotten under my skin.

  “Then all we have to do is stop feeding her ego,” Preston counters.

  I chuckle. “Good luck with that. You might be able to get our team to listen to you, but I wouldn’t hold my breath when it comes to the rest of the students on campus.”

  He rolls his eyes at me. “I’ll see you at home.”

  After he stomps off, my cell phone vibrates in my pocket. It’s Shannon telling me she’ll see me in an hour. My heart crashes into my chest. For the first time, in a long time, I’m excited about a date.

  But it’s not supposed to be one… or is it?

  Chapter Six

  Shannon

  After work, I rush over to the Kappa Delta sorority house to practice the dance routine for this weekend with my sisters. I stumble through the front door, already fifteen minutes late. Abby has a strict policy about being on time.

  She narrows her eyes at me when I walk into the living room, crossing her arms over her chest. “Where were you?”

  “My professor wanted to talk to me after class,” I lie.

  Only a few of my sisters are aware of my financial situation. Abby is the last person I would ever tell anything personal. She still believes my parents have money and that I can afford to buy expensive clothes. Or at least, she doesn’t say anything if she does know the truth. Jordan is her closest friend, but I doubt Jordan would ever tell on me. Not when she’s the one who helps me conceal the truth.

  For a second, Abby glares before extending her hand for me to take my place among my sisters. “Now…” she hisses turning back to the group, “… where were we before we were rudely interrupted?”

  I roll my eyes at the back of her head, and Jordan notices. A smirk turns up the right corner of her mouth as our eyes meet.

  In a hurry, I strip off my jacket and assume my position in line. Abby raises her hands above her head, gesturing for us to follow. Our routine is ridiculous. I hate the fact we have to dance on a bar this weekend for money. It’s for a charitable cause, so I guess that makes it less demoralizing. Still, I’m not thrilled about shaking my ass for any amount of money for any reason. But I can’t be the only girl in my sorority to bail.

  I rock my hips from side to side, holding my arms out in front of me as I sink to the floor along with my sisters. We’re dancing to a classic rock song mixed with a techno beat. Abby’s so rich she knows a famous DJ who sent her the custom song. She’s convinced it will be the reason we’ll win. I believe it’s because she knows the owner of The Sixth Floor.

  After close to an hour of dancing, Abby dismisses us. Jordan grabs my hand and leads me up to her bedroom. A massive four-poster bed occupies a large portion of the open room. Soft light filters through the windows that span the right side, peeking through the silky white curtains. The furnishings are expensive, most likely from Crate & Barrel or Pottery Barn.

  She drops on the mattress
and pats the open space next to her for me to sit. “Everything okay with you?”

  “Yeah.” I force a smile. “I missed the bus. That’s why I was late.”

  Jordan nods, running her hand over the white duvet. “My dry cleaner was able to get the stain out of the dress. So don’t worry about it. Okay?”

  Covering my heart with my hand, I let out a sigh of relief that turns into a real smile. I was terrified I ruined Jordan’s dress. “How much do I owe you?”

  She waves her hand, a tiny smile crossing her lips. “Nothing. Jamie took care of it.”

  My smile quickly turns into a frown. Jamie knows better than anyone that I don’t want any more handouts than I already have to take. It’s bad enough I have to borrow Jordan’s clothes to fit in with my sisters.

  “I’m gonna kill him,” I grunt.

  She chuckles. “Technically, Jamie spilled beer on my dress, so I don’t see the harm in letting him pay. He has more money than he knows what to do with anyway.”

  Irritated, I grit my teeth. Why are the rich kids at this school so oblivious to the real world? Just because they have money doesn’t mean they need to spend every cent. I work my ass off at Rizzo’s Bakery for ten dollars an hour. Jamie probably makes more than that in dividends with each breath he takes.

  He said his dad is in tech. I don’t know much about his family or how they have amassed so much wealth. All I know is they’re loaded. But I’ve always liked that Jamie doesn’t show it. Aside from his expensive clothes, he could blend with my friends from high school, no problem.

  “I’d still like to pay him back,” I tell Jordan.

  “He won’t take a cent from you, babe. I wouldn’t even mention it the next time you see him.”

  “I’m seeing him soon. I offered to make dinner for him, which also means feeding his teammates.”

  Jordan leans back on the bed staring up at the ceiling. “What were you thinking? Half the ice hockey team lives in that house. You’ll be cooking from now until the dance competition.”