Hail Mary Catch (Camellia Rom-Com #3)

Prologue

prologue

EIGHTEEN YEARS AGO

LANDRY

“It’s your job as an older brother to look after your sister, Landry,” my dad says sternly. “Especially now that Loren is …”

“Thirteen?” I offer.

He grunts and nods.

I add a “Yes, sir” to make sure he doesn’t think I’m telling him something he should already know.

He’s right, though. As soon as our older sister, Lilley, moved away for college and left Loren with a bedroom all to herself, Lo wasted no time in plastering the walls with posters of her favorite male actors. I’m afraid my baby sister has officially become boy crazy, and I don’t imagine it’ll get any better after her first coed party tonight.

Although I’m only one grade ahead of Loren, I’ve been tasked with chaperoning her and her best friend, Tenley, and I’ve got my work cut out for me. Every thirteen-year-old boy at that party will be vying for Tenley’s attention since she’s more stacked than any of the girls at my high school, and I can totally see my sister jumping on the first wingman offer she gets. The thing is, Tenley’s always had a crush on me. I mean, I’m decent-looking and pretty good at sports, and having a high school football coach for a dad makes me relatively popular, even though I tend to put my foot in my mouth. But I figure this is one of those “best friend’s older brother” things.

Which brings me to the next problem—I can’t make a move on Tenley without upsetting Loren, since it’s not like my sister has any other close friends. So, despite the fact that Tenley Robin is hot as hell and more than willing to get with me, I’ve been acting like I haven’t noticed the way she follows me around like a lost puppy, mostly because I can’t risk distracting Tenley from her job of keeping Loren occupied.

“She’s young and gullible. But her reputation is as much your responsibility as anyone else’s,” my father continues after a while. It’s probably one of the longest non-football related conversations we’ve ever had, so I know he’s serious. And I need to take advantage of every opportunity I get to show my dad he can depend on me. He’s not easy to impress.

My mom, however, thinks I walk on water. Now that my dad’s named me the starting quarterback, at least for practices, she’s become my biggest fan. I’ve also inherited Lilley’s job of taking care of her when she’s had too much to drink after she brags about me to every person she crosses in town.

Which reminds me—I’ll have to get home at a decent time tonight, or else Mom will be trashed when I return, and it’ll be harder to drag her to bed. At least she can stumble there with my help when she hasn’t completely passed out.

“Yeah, I’ll make sure she’s good, Dad,” I say after a while.

My dad furrows his brow. “Yeah?”

“Oh, sorry. Yes, sir .”

He nods once before he gestures to the door, signaling for me to get out of his truck.

“Thanks for the ride,” I add quietly, but he only glares impatiently, waiting for me to shut the passenger door behind me.

I search the host’s backyard as I walk into the party, scanning the crowd for Loren. She’s supposed to have gotten a lift from Tenley’s older sister, which is concerning in and of itself. I spot her and Tenley beside the pool, a small crowd of eighth-grade boys surrounding them. I roll my eyes when I see the way Loren’s eating up the attention, even though it’s not directed at her.

“Hey, Lo-Lo,” I call out loudly as I approach, causing most of the guys to scatter.

Loren frowns and crosses her arms when I make my way over. “Seriously? Did you have to do that?”

“Uh, yeah, actually, I did. Those kids are all creeps, and I’d have to beat the crap out of any of them if they so much as tried to lay a hand on you.” I glance at Tenley, who’s already giving me the look , and I shoot her a flirty smirk.

Loren lets out an exasperated groan. “Gah, Landry. No one’s even asked me to dance yet,” she protests. “And now they never will.”

“Then I guess I’m doing my job,” I retort, pursing my lips and shrugging. My eyes dart to Tenley again, measuring her reaction. She’s still staring hopefully. “How about you, Ten?”

She bites her lip and shakes her head.

“She’s lying,” Loren says dryly. “She’s just been waiting for you to ask.” Tenley’s eyes widen in embarrassment as she elbows Loren in the arm. Loren yelps, and I can’t help but laugh.

Tenley is pretty cute … and she’s definitely into me.

She licks her lips this time and looks down shyly, making her eyelashes flutter. And for a second, my stomach mimics the action.

I allow my gaze to travel over her. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t interested in being the first guy to claim that territory. Not to mention, the idea of someone actually liking me for me and not just because I’m Coach Reed’s son feels nice.

But what if Tenley’s been using Loren to get to me? Or she’s only showing an interest because she thinks it’ll make her more popular?

I furrow my brow as I regard her again, and her eyes finally meet mine. I think back to our interactions over the past few years, the way she’s always seemed flattered by my attention but disliked the recognition from the others. Tenley’s too innocent to use me for that, and she’s been Loren’s friend for too long to risk hurting her now.

I turn back to my sister. “Think you can stay out of trouble for five minutes?”

“What do you mean?” Loren asks.

“Your friend needs rescuing,” I say, offering a hand to Tenley.

Her shoulders rise, and her eyes flutter again, but she immediately turns to survey Loren’s reaction. “Oh, thanks, but I’m fine?—”

Loren groans in disgust again, reaching out to shove Tenley forward. “Good grief , Ten. Please, dance with my idiotic brother. Just try not to get too gross.”

I glare at her as Tenley takes my hand, but Loren just smirks and crosses her arms as if she’s satisfied with her work as a matchmaker. Then I pull Tenley onto the makeshift dance floor just as another slow song begins.

“So, how many guys have you actually turned down so far tonight?” I ask, tentatively slipping my hands around Tenley’s waist while she carefully places hers on my shoulders. It’s not that I’m nervous, since I’ve dated a couple of girls by now, but I’m suddenly aware of all the ways I could screw this up.

“A few,” Tenley replies coyly, inching closer. “But I’m only interested in one guy.”

I raise my brow, her forwardness catching me off guard for a second. “And who might that be?” I ask, lowering my hand.

A smile creeps across her face before she answers, “I think you know.”

I feel the corners of my mouth curling up to match hers, and I almost blurt out some cocky offer to take her out back to the pool house. Instead, I remind myself that, despite the way she’s totally coming on to me and the fact that I am totally into it, I need Tenley to be Loren’s friend more than I need her to be my girlfriend.

But it’s hard to keep those thoughts in the forefront of my mind while Tenley’s biting her lip and staring at me longingly like this, like she wants me to kiss her. And all it takes is for her to press her ample chest to mine and fist the back of my shirt in her right hand for me to lose the ability to think at all and begin running purely on instinct.

I’m not the kind of guy who would pressure a girl into something she wasn’t ready for. But I’ve unfortunately never been very good at that impulse-control thing, as my school counselor and my doctor consistently remind me. And since the effects of my ADHD medication have worn off by now, my mind goes straight to I need to know what that feels like.

I lean down to press my lips to hers, immediately urging her mouth open and pushing my tongue inside. She seems a little more hesitant to reciprocate the kiss than I expected after all that flirting, but I’m too far gone to pull back now.

Consequences? What consequences?

She loosens up after a minute, stepping forward and allowing her body to melt into mine, and I figure she was just feeling awkward or nervous before. After all, this is probably her first kiss. But when she sighs and tilts her head to the side as she drags her hands over my shoulders to my chest, I forget she’s supposed to be the inexperienced one. Her fingertips dig in gently, and I wonder if she’s not hinting around about what move she wants me to make next.

Aaand, there’s that irrepressible urge again.

It’s not like I’m that hard up to cop a feel in the middle of this party. Seriously, I’ve gotten to second base before, and it’s great and all, but that’s not even what this is about anymore.

The idea has been planted in my brain, and I have no choice but to follow through this time.

Must. Touch. Boob.

It’s like a compulsive need now. And there I go, just as the song ends, sliding my palm up her side and cupping it around her chest. I get a full second of satisfaction before Tenley pushes away from me roughly.

“Seriously, dude? What the hell is wrong with you?” she cries out incredulously.

My heart begins racing, and I feel my face heat up in embarrassment. Because she’s right—there is something very, very wrong with me.

I should apologize.

But when I open my mouth, an overly defensive “Gah, Tenley, I thought it’s what you wanted” tumbles out instead.

“Well, it wasn’t,” she continues, glaring at me with disgust before she turns and locks eyes with one of the other kids observing our interaction. Her expression softens as they continue staring at one another, and I scoff aloud, but it doesn’t seem to faze either of them.

And now I’m even more confused, because I thought I was the jerk in this scenario. But Tenley’s already making eyes at another guy—JD Bourgeois, the younger brother of her and Loren’s classmate, Blake. I know the kid plays up in sports because he’s huge for his age, but come on.

“Look, I need to go and check on my sister,” I blurt out, hoping to break the spell between them, but the girl JD was dancing with before has already pulled him away.

“Yeah, same,” Tenley says, cringing and wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. Apparently, I really am that disgusting. I can feel the self-pity coursing through me as I turn and scan the crowd for Loren’s tiny form.

I’m still calling out for her a few minutes later when we run into JD again, who’s also hunting for his brother. Before I can question him, though, Loren and the other Bourgeois emerge from the pool house together. Her face is unmistakably flustered, and she presses her lips together guiltily when she sees me. Meanwhile, Blake looks entirely too smug for my liking.

“Oh great, you found her …” I mutter under my breath, and Tenley glares at me again. “Lo, I’ve been looking for you everywhere,” I add in a softer tone.

“You have?” Loren asks innocently.

I clear my throat. “Yeah, I hadn’t noticed you disappeared at first.”

Tenley snorts and rolls her eyes, and Loren mumbles something about being invisible. It makes my chest ache to hear the way I’ve made Loren feel so insignificant, especially since I know the feeling all too well. I open my mouth to say more, but I’m interrupted.

“I noticed her,” Blake declares, his chin lifted in a dare. “In fact, she’s been here with me the whole time.”

Oh … oh no.

One job. I had one . Freaking. Job.

Protect my baby sister and her reputation—that was my mission. But I let her out of my sight for ten, fifteen minutes, tops, and the first thing she did was make a hot dash for the pool house with the preppiest guy in her class—the kid who also happens to be gunning for my QB1 position, and he’s not even technically in high school yet.

I don’t know if I’m angrier with Blake, Loren, or myself at this point. And most of what I’m saying out loud isn’t even registering with me, because all I can think about is the way I’ve failed my father. I can only imagine the look on his face when he hears about this.

“Landry, don’t. Nothing happened, all right?” Loren pleads, bringing me back for a second, but it’s too late. I’ve already let myself get swallowed up by my anger, and before I know it, I’m standing face to face with Blake, daring him to admit that he’s been defiling my sister in front of a crowd.

I’m not sure what I’ll accomplish with this tactic, since I’m certainly not saving her reputation—unless he were to confess that he forced himself on her, which obviously isn’t the case. I can see the way his eyes keep darting to Loren, which I think means he must really care. But I’m also famous for misreading people and situations, as evidenced by my epic failure with Tenley earlier, so maybe he’s just really guilty.

“I would never …” Blake begins, cringing as soon as he says it.

“Right, because who would?” Loren fires back before she begins crying, then Tenley pulls her away as Blake stutters and struggles to save face. Meanwhile, his punk-ass little brother rejoins us, bumping my shoulder as he walks by and making me see red.

“Come on, Tessa’s on her way,” Tenley tells Loren. She shoots one last disdainful look my way and ushers my sister into the front yard, and Blake has the balls to move as if he’s going after them. I plant myself in front of him, daring him to take another step, but JD shoves me out of the way.

I barely get the chance to recover before a hard right hook slams into my jaw, courtesy of Blake, and I stumble backward in shock. I can’t believe the kid actually hit me.

Maybe he does care about Loren … or maybe he’s jealous and trying to make me look bad while he swoops in to steal my starting quarterback spot. Either way, I’m still rubbing my jaw and wondering exactly how this all went wrong as I watch the Bourgeois brothers saunter away.