The Boys

Mascen Wade, star pitcher of the Aldridge University baseball team, is a lot of things. Rich. Hotter than sin. The campus’ reigning bad boy. We knew each other once upon a time, but even if I’m named after a princess, it doesn’t mean my life is a fairy tale. My plan is to keep my head down, get my degree, and leave this town. But the moment Mascen Wade recognizes me, all my carefully laid plans come crumbling down. He’s decided he wants to make my life a living hell, but I’m not so easy to push around.

When I agreed to be his roommate, I had no way of knowing that Cole Anderson was one of my father’s star players. Having transferred to Aldridge University for my junior year, I wasn’t familiar with anyone on campus. If there’s one rule I’ve always been supposed to follow, it’s don’t date a basketball player. Cole is different, though, and I don’t want to stay away. But when he finds out I’m the coach’s daughter, I might not have any say in the matter.

I’ve heard the whispers on campus of what a player Teddy McCallister is. Most girls on campus are vying to be the one, but guys like him don’t settle down. When he overhears that my tuition has been pulled and I’m going to basically be a college reject, he makes me an offer I can’t refuse: be his fake girlfriend until graduation so he can get his inheritance.

I’ve been nothing but a failure to my parents my entire life. I know I’ll never live up to their level of perfection, but it doesn’t matter. Especially when I’m about to fail the same class twice. It seems like I’m doomed until my professor tells me he knows the perfect guy to tutor me—if he’ll agree.

Off-limits. That’s what Jude is to me. My older brother doesn’t trust me with his player of a best friend, which is totally fine, because I’m not interested. As Jude and I reluctantly become friends, I start to see that there’s more to him than others notice. But I still won’t go there, not when I have a crush on someone else. But Jude’s the perfect person to help show me the ropes when it comes to the opposite sex, besides it’s not like he’ll get attached to me. Except he does. And the thing about broken boys? They’re way too easy to fall for.

Once upon a time, Daire Hendricks was my childhood crush. He was always there, saving me from his annoying brothers. He was my rock, my safe place from my overbearing family. Until he wasn't. Imagine my annoyance when we end up at the same university, and I have to see his smug, too-handsome-for-his-own-good face all over campus. Every time we cross paths, we spew hateful words at each other, so imagine my surprise when he seeks me out and utters the most surprising question. "Marry me?"