Score (Skin in the Game Book 1) Read Online Free

glare at me so quick that she hit me square in the jaw with her cranium.
    Pain rocketed up the side of my face. “Ah, fuck,” I groaned.
    She reeled back, holding her head. The perma-scowl got even scarier as her eyes bored into mine. “Believe me, I don’t want to be doing this,” she snapped.
    “Oh, really? Couldn’t tell,” I muttered, all sarcasm as I flexed my jaw and checked for loose teeth with the tip of my tongue.
    She stared at me, still holding her head, and the scowl started to fade, making room for a sliver of regret. What was this? The ice-queen had a heart?
    “Here’s a tip: You could work on your bedside manner some,” I added, milking the kernel guilt I’d seen for all it was worth.
    She nodded, exhaled, and then shook her head.
    “Yeah. You’re right. I’m sorry. It’s been a long day, and it’s not fair to take it out on you.” She put the clipboard down. “I promise to work on it, okay?” Her cheeks turned pink as she reached down for her backpack and pulled out her phone. “Is this time good for you, usually? We can do Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays if that works with your class schedule?”
    “Saturday mornings.” Weird how just wiping the frown off her face made her look almost pretty. I swung my legs over the side of the table, determined to stay on track. “Instead of Fridays, if you can manage. I’ve got practice Friday.”
    She handed me her iPhone. “Put in your number, and I’ll text you back, that way we have each other’s contact info in case something needs to change.”
    Just as I thumbed my number in, her phone began to buzz with a new call. Suddenly, the locker room was filled with song. And not a good song, either. Josh Fucking Groban, belting out You Raise Me Up in all his choirboy, full-lunged glory.
    I cocked an eyebrow at Bee as her face went from pretty pink to the color of my crimson jersey.
    “Nice ringtone choice. Someone named Flo calling for you,” I said, holding out the phone with a smirk.
    “That’s…it’s not…” She snatched the phone from me and fumbled to quiet it. Back to the scary look of death, but at least this time, there was a layer of embarrassment as well.
    She grabbed her bag and high-tailed it out of there quicker than I could blink again.
    “See you later, Honey Bee,” I called after her.
    Personally, I thought I deserved some kudos for that one. It was the perfect ironic nickname for a girl who had not an ounce of sweetness in her, but she didn’t turn around.
    Oddly, I found myself grinning after her anyway. If I had to be stuck in therapy with her, I might as well enjoy myself a little and try to figure out exactly what made this Bee buzz.

3
    Bee
    “ S ee you later , Honey Bee.”
    I couldn’t get it out of my head and by the time I got back home, I was sweating bullets and completely out of breath. Not something that happened often, considering I could usually run laps around the track pretty much forever without feeling winded. But the second I climbed up the Stairs of Doom and got myself safely inside, I threw myself at the door with all my weight and just slumped there, my heart beating out of my chest.
    Funny. I never thought the Kappa house would feel like a refuge. After going two rounds with Callum Samskevitch today, though, I just wanted to curl up at home and lick my wounds.
    It only took three seconds for that fantasy to crash and burn.
    Pretty much all the Kappas were lounged on the sofas, wearing cute, matching but not too matchy PJ’s and watching a Zac Efron movie. They were one pillow-fight away from looking like the cast of a cheesy B flick on Cinemax.
    Ugh.
    “What’s up with the heavy breathing?” a girl named Allison called to me before I could make my not-so-graceful exit. Pert, pretty, the envy of all the other beauty contestant wannabes in the world, Allison made me cringe on a daily basis. “Was a rhinoceros chasing you or something?”
    I groaned as a bunch of her groupies