Page 3 of Play For Me

“Jesus,” he mutters, wiping a hand over his face. I growl and bring my foot up only to slam it down on the couch cushion in front of him, inches from his pathetic dick. He yelps and tries to push himself back.

“Next time, I won’t be so restrained,” I say brightly.

He glares up at me. “You’re a fucking psychopath, do you know that?”

I grin. “I’ve been told, yes.” I inch my foot forward and he yelps again. “And now you have this psychopath as an enemy. Well done.” I put my foot back on the floor and point a finger at him. “Leave Violet alone, asshole.”

Then I shake out my hair and turn to follow my cousins to the kitchen, where Vega is waiting with a beer for me.

“You just couldn’t help yourself, huh?” she asks, smirking.

I shrug as I take the bottle from her. “Just wanted to make sure we were all on the same page.” I turn my attention to Violet. “You did amazing.”

She manages a small smile. “It was kinda fun. Maybe I should try being a badass more often.”

“You know what a badass would do next?” Vega asks, reaching for Vi’s hands.

“Dance?”

“Hell yeah!”

As I follow Vi and Vega to the living room, I catch sight of some of my soccer teammates standing by the back door. I wave, feeling a little guilty. As one of the captains, I know the plan was to encourage team bonding when we suggested everyone come to the start-of-the-semester party tonight, and I’ve barely said a word to any of them.

But as much as soccer is my life, my cousins come first. Always.

The music is blaring in the living room, bodies crowding the small space. As we join the throng of people dancing, there are a plenty of eyes on us, but we’re used to that. It comes with the territory when you’re a member of one of the most famous families in the country.

Our fathers—Reed, Cash, Lennon, and Daltrey Ransom—released their first album back before any of us were even born. Uncle Daltrey had still been in high school when they left home for their first tour. Decades later, Ransom is considered one ofthe most successful rock bands of all time. The record label they started with their best friend, Levi, and our grandfather, has been cranking out hit after hit for years. Their fame has opened the door for some of their kids to enter the entertainment industry, too—acting, fashion design, reality TV.

So there’s never been a time in my life when people didn’t know who my family was. Of course, there are shitty moments that come along with that—finding out so-called friends are only using you to get access to rock stars, seeing cell phones covertly recording you when you’re just trying to walk across campus, people saying crap about your family behind a computer screen—but, for the most part, I’ve made peace with being a Ransom.

The two cousins I’m currently dancing with—along with Cade and Ash—are a big part of that. We’re the kind of close that goes deeper than friendship, deeper even than family. There’s no one else I’d rather go through this life with than the four of them.

So I throw myself into dancing with my girls, not letting myself worry about anything else. Not even soccer. And definitely not worthless boys.

TWO

SOLOMON

Cecelia Ransome is dancing a few feet away from me, and I can’t keep my eyes off her.

This is nothing new for me. For the last two years I’ve found myself staring at her any time we happen to be in the same vicinity. She’s gorgeous, for starters. I’ve never seen eyes like that, so dark blue they’re almost a shocking navy in certain lights. When she’s around campus I usually see her long hair back in a braid, but every once in a while, she leaves it down to fall over her shoulders in a dark, shiny curtain.

I think about what her hair would feel like between my fingers way more than I probably should.

But I figure it’s better to obsess about her hair than her body—which my brain would have no problem doing. She’s on the shorter side, her figure both curvy and athletic, as you’d expect from the star winger on a division one soccer team. Tonight, she’s wearing tight jeans that show off the strength in her thick thighs and…yeah. Fucking gorgeous.

She’s also fierce and funny and joyful in a way that I have never been and never could be.

Cecelia scares the shit out of me. And I’m pretty sure she has no idea I exist.

“Dude.” My best friend snaps his fingers in front of my face. “You’re doing that thing again.”

I grunt and manage to tear my eyes away before Jason notices what I was staring at. There would be no end to the shit he’d give me if he knew the level of my obsession with Cecelia Ransome.

Jay is friends with her. Hell, he’s friends with the majority of the campus. Much like Cecelia, Jay has that confident, extroverted quality that people always seem to be drawn to. He doesn’t take anything too seriously and he laughs a lot.

Basically, the exact opposite of me.