Read Playing Hard: A Bad Boy Sports Romance for Free Online Page B

the next few days. Best fuck i’ve ever had.
    I’ve honestly never had much of a libido. That’s how I’ve got to twenty-two without losing my virginity. I’m pretty sure I could find some guy in a club and get laid if I really wanted to, but I’ve just never had the urge, literally.
    The way I felt when I was around Riley was… totally unprecedented. And I had no idea how to deal with it.
    Being a bitch seemed like the simplest way out.
    And it’s not like I had to put on much of an act, anyway. I was serious when I told Darcey what an ass he was.
    “ Total ass,” I say again, for emphasis. Though whether it’s to convince Darcey or myself I’m not sure.
    “What’s your father going to say?” Darcey asks, leaning forward and resting her chin on her palm.
    I lick my lips. That part I hadn’t really thought through yet. “I don’t know,” I admit. “But it was never going to work, anyway. It was a dumb idea. Fake dating is for pop stars who want to get their names in the gossip column. I can’t do it.”
    “So what’d you tell him?”
    “I texted Murray and explained I didn’t think it was going to work out.” I’d done that almost as soon as I’d hurried off away from the cafe. Before I’d had a chance to re-think my position. “He hasn’t got back to me yet, though.”
    Just as I say that, I hear my phone vibrate in my purse, and groan. Pulling it out, it’s just as I suspected: Murray.
    “Guess who,” I mutter to Darcey, standing and lifting my phone to my ear. “Hi Murray, what’s u—”
    “I received your text,” he informs me, all business. “Can you explain what it means?”
    I suppress the urge to pinch the bridge of my nose. “What’s to explain?” I ask, trying to keep my voice light and breezy. “It’s like I said, I just don’t think this idea of yours is going to work out. I tried, but —”
    “It’s a bit late for second thoughts, Ava. I’ve already given a story to the Daily about the date you and Riley went on this afternoon. And you’ll be taking a walk with him in St Christopher’s Park across from campus tomorrow afternoon. It’s already all arranged.”
    What?
    “What?” I ask, horror slicing through me. “Murray, what are you talking about?”
    “I already arranged all this,” he says, as if he’s talking to a slow child. “William Jackson and I have organized everything. So I’m afraid it’s a little too late to back out now.”
    “Does Riley know about this? Because I have a feeling he’s going to want to—”
    “Coach Jackson is telling him right now, as far as I know,” Murray says. “Is there a problem?”
    “I kind of… already told him I wasn’t going to do it anymore,” I say, biting my lip. “And I don’t think he’s going to want to see me again.”
    Murray’s silence on the other end of the phone could cut glass.
    From the other side of the couch, Darcey raises her eyebrows at me and mouths what’s going on? I wave a hand at her, irritated.
    “Murray?”
    “Can you tell me exactly what you said?” he asks.
    “Nothing much. And I really do think it’s not a good idea.”
    There’s another long pause.
    “I don’t think I need to tell you,” Murray says slowly, “how beneficial this would be for your father.”
    Oof, I think. Right in the emotional blackmail.
    “I know,” I tell him. “But there has to be another way, right?”
    “This one is already arranged. And I don’t think I need to explain how awkward it would be for me to have to make a phone call now, telling the papers it’s off. You know what journalists are like, Ava. If they smell blood, they won’t stop sniffing around until they’ve found the source.”
    I roll my eyes, but I know it’s true. I went to prep school with more than a few children of celebrities. My own fame might be tiny compared with most people’s, but it still doesn’t change the fact we’re a prominent family, and digging up dirt on the rich and famous is what a lot of