Playing For Keeps (4 page)

After last night she was through with
getting pushed around and intimidated. She was sick of missing out
on things because she was too scared to do anything about it. She
was a grown woman, damn it, and if she wanted to party it up at her
first kegger then she was damn well going to do it and she was
going to have fun doing it. Even if it killed her, and judging by
the mascara glare being sent her way that was a good
possibility.

"Let me just take those off your hands
so you can grab yourself a beer," Jason said, taking the plate from
her, gazing down at it lovingly as he stepped back inside the
house, leaving Haley to follow him.

"Hey, those look good! Can I have
one?" a man she'd seen hundreds of times around Jason's house
asked, reaching out to take one.

"Back the fuck off! She brought them
for me, you bastard!" Jason snapped.

Haley automatically took an anxious
step back, fearing getting caught in the middle of the fight that
was most definitely about to happen. But instead of yelling at
Jason or getting mad like she'd seen a lot of guys do in bars over
less the man just rolled his eyes and turned his attention to
her.

"Hi, my name is Brad," he said,
holding out his hand.

After only a slight hesitation, she
hoped he hadn't noticed, she took a step forward and shook his
hand. "Haley."

"Haley, it's nice to meet you," he
said with a charming smile. "I apologize for my friend's rudeness,
he just learned how to walk upright last year," he said dryly,
earning a soft chuckle from her and most everyone around
them.

Jason threw him a dirty look before
making his way towards the kitchen, making sure to glare at anyone
that came within touching distance of the brownies.

Brad gestured towards the kitchen.
"There's pizza, chips and plenty of drinks in there as long as
Jason doesn't get to it first and a volleyball game going on in the
backyard and of course video games in the living room until the
game comes on. Make yourself at home," he said with a warm
smile.

"Thank you," she murmured,
taking it all in. This was it? she wondered as she took in the
laidback party. Something must have shown on her face, because a
few seconds later Brad leaned in. "Were you expecting
Animal House
?" he asked,
chuckling.

"No!" she said quickly, too
quickly. She had in fact been expecting something along those
lines. She definitely hadn't pictured any of this.
This
she could definitely
handle.

He chuckled. "Come on outback with me
so I can introduce you to my wife," Brad said, smiling. "I promise
you'll have a good time."

For the first time since she walked
over here she thought she might just fit in with Jason's
friends.

**************

"Who's the hottie kicking Mitch's
ass?"

Without looking up from loading his
plate with pizza he said, "Amy." At least he hoped it was Amy. Her
clingy behavior was getting a little annoying and he hadn't missed
the bitch act she put on for Haley or the dirty looks she'd been
sending his shy little neighbor all night. He knew when he saw her
heading towards his house earlier that he should have sent her
away.

"No, the cute little thing with the
glasses."

Frowning, Jason looked up and followed
Pete's eyes towards the couch where Haley was sitting next to
Mitch, playing a game on the Xbox.

"She's my neighbor," he said, not
liking the expression on Pete's face one bit.

"Is she here with anyone?" Pete asked,
never taking his eyes off Haley.

"No."

"Good," Pete said, looking back over
his shoulder, grinning. "I won't even bother asking to use your
room since we can just mozzy on over to her place."

Jason sighed heavily. It seemed he was
going to have to save Haley from two douchebags in one
day.

Pete turned to look at him. "What was
that about?"

"What?" Jason asked
innocently.

"That little sigh you just did," Pete
said, gesturing lazily towards him.

"Nothing," he said with a shrug,
returning his attention to piling food on his plate, "I just didn't
think you were into that, that's all."

"Into what?" Pete demanded, sounding a
little unsure. Considering the man's reputation there probably
wasn't much that he wasn't into, which was why Jason decided he
would not do for his shy little neighbor. It took him five years to
get Haley to climb out of her shell. He wasn't about to let this
jackass send her back there for good.

"Just forget I said anything," Jason
said, grabbing a cold soda from a cooler on the floor.

"But-"

"I don't want to get involved in
this," Jason said, cutting him off. He moved to step past the man
only to pause. "Just....just make sure she takes her medication and
you should be safe, I mean fine." Jason quickly walked away before
he burst into laughter at his friend's horrified
expression.

Damn that felt good. He should have
done this years ago when he spotted the first asshole sniffing
around Haley. Did this make him her wingman? he pondered that
thought over as he walked over to the couch and shoved Mitch off so
he could sit down next to his new little project. That was fine
with him, he decided, because by the time he was done with her
she'd be living a much more entertaining and asshole free
life.

Chapter 4

Haley took a deep breath and said,
“I’m gay.”

“You’re gay?” the obnoxious guy who’d
been sniffing around her and bugging the heck out of her in line
for the past ten minutes repeated. “Are you sure?”

She bit back a laugh. The guy looked
truly upset. She hated pulling out the gay card, mostly because she
wasn’t, but sometimes she had no choice. If he’d been nice when he
was hitting on her she would have politely declined, but no, he had
to be a complete pig the entire time.

He actually used the old line, “That
dress looks great on you, but it will even better crumpled on my
bedroom floor in the morning.” Yeah. It was truly sad, especially
since they were in a coffee shop and it was barely half past seven
in the morning. Between dirty comments, overcrowding her and
staring at her breasts she was starting to get a little irritated.
Plus his B.O. was really turning her stomach. If she didn’t need a
caffeine fix so badly she’d leave, but she did and couldn’t or she
was pretty sure she'd die.

Jason and some of the guys had been
over last night to watch the game and since it went into extra
innings and she was a dedicated fan she stayed up until two in the
morning and of course she had to watch the post game wrap up. With
barely four hours of sleep here she was practically getting mauled
by the poster boy for deodorant.

After three weeks it was still funny
how she went from being completely intimidated by the man to
thinking of him as an oversized teddy bear. She felt silly for her
behavior. Jason could still be a pain in the ass, but a really nice
pain in the ass. He still “borrowed” things from her classroom, but
now he left her funny notes that had her laughing until she was
crying, scaring the heck out of her students.

She couldn’t help but wonder how many
good friendships she’d missed over the years because of her
shyness. Part of it of course was because after years of building
up defenses she’d been judging people a little harshly like Jason.
He was still a bit wild and a ridiculous flirt, but he was a big
sweetie as well. He treated her like his buddy. It was actually
rather nice to be treated like one of the guys. That being said
though sometimes first impressions were dead on, like with her
current problem.

“Yes, I’m sure.”

He looked thoughtful for a moment.
“Well, do you think the two of you would want to-“

“No,” she said firmly.

“But what if I-“

“No.”

“Come on, you won’t let me finish. I
have this camera-“

“No.”

“It would be fun-“

“No.”

“But what if-“

“She said no,” Jason said as he cut in
line and threw his arm around her shoulders in that lazy way of
his.

“Hey! I thought you said you were
gay!” the man said accusingly.

Without missing a beat Jason said,
“She is. I’m just her bitch.”

The man sent a narrowed glare at
Jason’s arm and then to her. He sent another glare at Jason and she
could tell the man was deciding whether he wanted to push it any
further. Based on the man’s small size and Jason’s large muscular
build he wisely chose to drop it.

“So, what are you buying me this
morning?” she asked Jason.

He scoffed. “Me? Why am I
buying?”

“Because I helped you win fifty
dollars off Brian last night.”

He rolled his eyes. “I would have won
it without your help.”

“Uh huh,” she said absently, stepping
up to the counter to place her order. She added a chocolate chip
muffin, knowing Jason was going to steal hers. He seemed to have a
thing for stealing her food.

“I would have. I didn’t need your help
you know,” he said more firmly.

She grabbed her order while he was
waiting for his and headed for the door. “See ya.”

“I won that bet on my own!” he called
after her, making her smile. Sometimes he was like a big child. It
was rather cute.

**************

Jason bit back a smile as he watched
Haley tell Headmaster Jenkins that she couldn’t chaperone the dance
tonight. A month ago his little shy friend would have simply stared
at her coffee and nodded no matter what her plans were. Now, she
was telling the man no, firmly yet gently.

He took some pride in it. It was
because of him after all. It took some work, but she was coming
along rather nicely. Who knew there was a little tigress beneath
all that cuteness? He sure hadn't, but it was nice to see her stick
up for herself for once. The staff might bitch at his methods and
his easy going relationship with the kids, but at least he never
ganged up on a woman like Haley and took advantage of her making
her chaperone this or organize that.

“But, Haley, we really need you to
chaperone. John has tickets to a play tonight.”

“I’m sorry, Tom, but I have plans
already tonight. I really wish I could help you out, but I can’t
break my plans at the last minute. You understand,” she said
politely yet firmly.

Her self-esteem was clearly on the
rise and it made the whole package even better and he wasn’t the
only one to notice either. Other teachers were showing her more
respect and the men were definitely noticing her. Oh, he took a
hundred percent of the credit for his little protégé. Yup, he was
the master. It was probably about time he used his greatness for
good.

He spotted the table where she left
her coffee and muffins as well as three men, losers in his opinion,
who were eying the seat next to hers. Without any hesitation he
sauntered past them and sat down at her table, earning killing
glares from the other men. Too bad. In his opinion if a man didn’t
have the balls to make a move he didn’t deserve the woman he
desired. Not that he desired Haley. He didn’t. She was his buddy
and turning out to be one of his best friends. No, what he desired
was that piping hot chocolate chip muffin with extra butter he saw
her buy earlier.

He sighed happily as he fished the
muffin out of the bag. “When will she ever learn?” he mumbled as
prepared his ill-gotten muffin.

“Please, help yourself,” Haley said
dryly as she sat down and added a sugar to her coffee.

“Thank you, I think I will,” he said
happily as he slathered more butter onto his muffin.

“What are these amazing plans you have
for tonight?” he asked between bites.

“Date,” she said.

“I guess that means our love affair is
over,” he said with a pout.

“I guess so.”

“I’m hurt.”

“You’ll survive….with therapy of
course,” she said with a wink and a grin.

“Is this another loser?”

She looked away and mumbled
something.

“I’m sorry I don’t speak mumble,” he
said while eying the piping hot apple muffin with streusel topping
that she just took out of the bag. Hell, how had he missed that
delicious little morsel?

His hand seemed to have a life of its
own as it crept towards that tasty little treat. With a gasp,
Haley’s hands came down to protect her muffin.

“Control yourself!” she hissed as she
broke off a small chunk and ate it. His eyes went back to the
muffin. He knew he was pouting when Haley rolled her eyes and
continued to eat. Damn it, where was the love? He was a hungry man.
With a sigh he opened his bag and pulled out one of his three
coffee rolls and began eating all while keeping his eyes on that
muffin.

“You’re pathetic,” Haley muttered with
an eye roll. She pushed the last half of her muffin over to him.
With a huge grin he popped the large half into his mouth and
savored it. It really was as good as it looked.