Read Lucas Ryan Versus: The Hive (The Lucas Ryan Versus Series) for Free Online

the highest grounds . A thunder God’s territory. Taylor’s territory. I called him Thor for a reason. With a football in his hands, he was unstoppable. Legendary. He was so good at the game that the local sporting scouts had been following his football career since he was twelve.
    One of the biggest games of the year was this weekend and the entire school, community and state of Arizona would be watching his every move. The team practices after school had become like a pep rally on steroids. More than half the students were here.
    “Luc!” Taylor called to me from the field. He trotted up to me with a bottle of water in his big strong hand.
    “Hey, T. It looks like half the school’s here this afternoon.”
    He shrugged, “Oh well, whatcha gonna do?”
    “Sorry, I’m a little late...I was...”
    “It’s fine.” He took a long drink from his bottle. From over his shoulder I could see Roland and Morgan off in the distance. Roland was tapping away on his black laptop, trying to block the afternoon sun from its screen. He wasn’t having much luck with it. Morgan stood still, watching Taylor and I with giant doe eyes. She softly shifted her weight to one side and waved our way.
    “I hope you didn’t get in too much trouble today.” Taylor looked at me worried. He was always looking out for me. The big brother I never had.
    “Nothing I couldn’t handle,” I joked. My mind raced back to earlier as I stood in the school hallway, staring into my open locker and my hand locked inside of it. My smile faded. From behind us, a crowd of smitten girls approached us. They squealed with nervous excitement.
    “Good,” Taylor smiled, with relief. As he did, he was surrounded by the infatuated group of girls. They were all attractive and willing to flaunt that fact in front of him. He was used to the behavior by now, but still found the attention uncomfortable. He’s spent the last few years dealing with the perks of his celebrity, and it didn’t hurt that he was so freaking good looking.
    “Ahh...Big Country! You look like you’re ready for the big game Friday night,” one of the more obvious girls announced, with a wicked smile. The rest of them giggled on cue. Taylor tensed over, instantly. He secretly hated his fame.
    “Yeah, I guess,” he mumbled. His head lowered a little and he quickly stole a glance over toward Roland and Morgan. The twins sat in the grass watching every detail unfold. Roland had a silly grin on his face. Obviously, he enjoyed Taylor’s celebrity, even if it was only from the outside. Morgan on the other hand, looked like someone had punched her in the stomach. She hated Taylor’s popularity with the girls of the school. She hated his reputation as a ladies-man, but the thing she despised the most was, she was 110% head over heels, in love with him.
    “What are you doing after the game, Country?” another girl flirted. The nickname returned and so did Taylor’s emotional wall. He put on a large, but fake smile. I sighed watching his ever growing nervousness. The crazy thing was, everyone had tagged him with this reputation of the ultimate player, heartbreaker extraordinaire, but nothing could be further from the truth. Sure, he had his fair share of dates and temporary girlfriends, but he treated every last one of them with absolute respect. He was a complete gentlemen. Chivalries last remaining soldier. I respected him, completely.
    “Well, Country, what’s your plans for the weekend?” I prodded, with a mocking tone. His steel eyes looked at me with contempt. He never liked when I used his nickname in public. I smiled bigger knowing I was pushing his buttons a little. His face filled with a wry smile.
    “Call me,” he winked, and handed his phone number to a girl. I don’t think he even knew which girl he handed it to. He was just showing off. Proving that he was in the ‘big leagues’ while I spun my wheels chasing after a girl that barely knew I existed.
    “Oh...my...gawd!”