Love Match Page 5

  Maya tried mimicking his actions. Soon there were almost as many blue laser beams as red. “I’ve never played it before.”

  “Me neither,” Diego said. “But it was a long ride from the airport.”

  “Diego—” Maya threw a glance in Travis’s direction. He just shrugged.

  “They’ll wait,” Diego said as he mowed down a line of enemy robot soldiers. “I’m worth the wait.”

  Maya put down her controller. This was not the same kid she’d met down in Rio. This was a Nicole King in the making, and Maya wasn’t about to go down that path again. “Yeah, well, I’m one of the people you’ve kept waiting, and I’m not waiting anymore. I’ll be inside where it’s warm and there’s food.”

  Diego’s robot exploded and the screen went dark. “Maya, hold on!” he called after her as she opened the door. “I’m sorry. I just don’t want to go to this party.”

  “You think I do?” Maya said. “Welcome to the Academy.”

  It was exactly the kind of thing Cleo would say and it seemed to work. Diego followed her out of the car as Travis brought up the rear. Nails greeted the three of them warmly, with the slightest uptick of a smile in her direction.

  Maya stared into her punch. The electric purple color of the drink didn’t exist in nature. She suspected it was some kind of energy beverage from a company that had a special deal to force people to drink it at all Academy functions. The only other options were wine, beer, and water. She should have gone with the water.

  Maya tried to figure out the point of her being at the party as she gazed into the purple void. Sure, she’d gotten Diego out of the limousine, but Nails swooped him up immediately, introducing him to his new coaches. She hadn’t talked to him since. She hadn’t talked to Travis either. None of the faculty or coaches wanted to chat, which was fine by her. She was content letting herself be hypnotized by the ripples she made in her punch.

  “You’re not really drinking that?” Travis asked as he took the purple concoction from her and abandoned it on an end table.

  “Thank you,” Maya said. “I was dying over here. Never knew you were so popular with the faculty.”

  “I’m not,” Travis said. “They think if they cozy up to me, it will help them when they need something from Dad.”

  “That’s horrible.”

  “Not really,” Travis said. “Comes in handy when I need some extra credit.”

  Maya knew Travis well enough to realize he was joking. He would never exploit his relationship with his dad like that. Besides, his grades were good enough on their own. He didn’t need an assist.

  Maya nodded toward the other side of the room. “Looks like Diego is popular too.” The soccer coaching staff had their new recruit surrounded. Diego looked about as bored as Travis had when the faculty had him cornered.

  “Poor guy,” Travis said. “I can’t imagine that’s how he planned to spend his first night here.”

  “Better than my welcome to the Academy sucking in bus fumes,” Maya admitted.

  Travis nodded. “Yeah. Dad has to work on that. We have a big welcome thing in September, but so many students are added randomly throughout the year that we should do something special for them, too. We’re good about getting students to the school, but we need to work on what to do with them once they’re here.”

  “We?” Maya said. “I didn’t realize you work in administration.”

  Travis’s laugh had an edge to it. “I grew up on this campus. I’m more a part of it than most of the staff.”

  “Is that what you want?” Maya asked. “To run this place one day?”

  “That’s the plan,” Travis said. “I’ll be a first-round draft pick, get onto a top team, have a stellar career, then retire and take over the reigns from Dad.”

  “But is that what you want?” she asked again.

  “That’s the plan,” he repeated.

  A muscular hand came down on Maya’s shoulder and a matching hand landed on Travis. “Mind if I speak with the two of you for a moment?” Nails asked.

  Before either of them could answer, Maya felt herself being gently steered out of the living room and into his private study. Nails closed the doors, cutting them off from the small party.

  “Maya, I wanted to thank you for your help earlier getting Diego out of that limo,” Nails said.

  “It was nothing,” Maya said. “I think he was—”

  “Don’t underestimate your skills at managing situations. That will come in handy as your career grows.”

  “Thank you,” Maya said. She’d learned years ago that when adults didn’t want your opinion, a simple “thank you” occasionally peppered into the conversation kept it moving along.

  “I was hoping to see those management skills in practice again,” Nails said. “At the Academy Exposition.”

  “You want me to play at the Expo?” Maya asked. The Academy Exposition was the talk of the campus. Every year, the Academy opened its doors to the public for a major exhibition in which the students played against celebrities who’d donated money to the school.

  To Maya it didn’t sound like much of a showcase. She’d have to hold back a lot if she played against some celeb who had never picked up a racket before. But that was beside the point. She’d get to meet celebrities. Her first Hollywood star encounter hadn’t gone so well. She still had nightmares about her horrible movie audition with Peyton Smith. This was a chance to put it all behind her.

  “You playing in the showcase goes without saying, after this weekend,” Nails said. “But, I’d hoped for something more. I’d like you and Travis to be Student Ambassadors.”

  “Absolutely,” Travis said without hesitation. “Thanks, Dad.”

  Maya wasn’t sure what he was asking. “Ambassadors?”

  “You’d be the public faces of the event,” he explained. “Make sure everything is running smoothly. Handle any problems that come up.”

  Maya wasn’t afraid of work, but that sounded like a major undertaking. Managing all those celebrities and their egos? To say nothing of their own classmates.

  “Don’t worry, Maya,” Travis said. “The school publicity team is really in charge. They’ll deal with all the big problems. We’re just the first line of defense.”

  “Any real issues, you’ll bring to me,” Nails said. “But I’m hoping for a pair of students who can minimize the need for me to be involved.”

  That wasn’t very reassuring. It sounded like he wanted Maya to be in charge while not giving her the power to do anything. Still, Nails had already made it clear that when the Academy asked something, it was not her place to say no. At least, not yet. Once she was a big star like Nicole, she’d be able to decline any request she wanted, even though she knew in the back of her mind that she never would.

  “Okay,” Maya said. “Sounds fun.”

  “That’s great,” Nails said. “Now that that’s taken care of, you two go back to the party. I’ve got some work to wrap up in here, but I’ll be out soon.”

  Maya suspected that Nails was making an excuse to get away from the reception for a few minutes. She couldn’t be the only one who was bored out of her mind.

  As soon as they were out of the office, Travis pulled Maya into a hug. “Maya, this is awesome. Do you know how big a deal it is to be Student Ambassador?” Truly, she had no idea. “I mean, I expected Dad to ask me, but you only being here a couple months … Maya, you have arrived!”

  Maya felt like she’d “arrived” before. She’d felt like a big shot when she was chosen to audition for that Peyton Smith movie. And see how that turned out.

  As they came out of their embrace, she was surprised to see Diego right beside them. “I thought you two abandoned me,” he said.

  “No,” Maya said. “Nails needed to talk to us.”

  “Let me guess,” Diego said. “He wants you to make a toast in my honor just to make this whole thing more awkward and uncomfortable.”

  “No,” Maya said. “It wasn’t about you at all, a
ctually. Nails would never ask us to make some toast like we were welcoming royalty. That’s his job.”

  Travis’s face scrunched up, which Maya noticed immediately. “Travis? Are you making a toast later?”

  “Just a short one,” Travis said. “Welcoming Diego on behalf of the students. It’s not like Dad asked me to prepare a speech.”

  “Doesn’t matter,” Diego said. “I won’t be here. It’s my first night in the States. There’s got to be a party or a club opening or something we can go to.”

  “360,” Maya suggested, before she realized she’d spoken out loud. Nails would freak if they snuck out of the party. That was not very ambassadorial behavior. But Renee had been talking about the club ever since Maya got back. Her friends were there right now.

  “We can’t go to that,” Travis quickly said. “We can’t leave.”

  But Diego was already on the scent of a party. “What is a 360?”

  “It’s a club,” she explained. “This is the only night of the week the club is open to the underage crowd.”

  “A teenybopper club doesn’t sound that fun,” Diego said.

  “You’ve never been to an underage club here,” Maya said. Not that she’d been to one either, unless she counted the Underground, which she didn’t.

  “Okay, Maya,” Diego said. “Show me the town.”

  “You can’t go,” Travis reminded him. “This whole thing is in your honor.”

  “You mean you can’t go,” Diego corrected him. “I can do what I want. As you pointed out, this thing is in my honor. And I would be much more honored if my welcoming committee took me out on the town. What do you say, Maya?”

  “I don’t think this is a good idea,” she answered honestly.

  “The fun ideas are never good,” Diego said. “You’ve served your time here. Now comes a reward.”

  Maya looked over at the clumps of teachers and coaches circled around in quiet conversation. It was probably the exact opposite of what Renee and Cleo were doing at that moment. If they stuck around at the reception any longer, they’d never make it to the club before it closed. It was a school night, after all.

  “I’m in,” she said.

  Maya and Diego turned to Travis. “I can’t,” he said. “My dad’s right on the other side of the door.”

  “Your dad is Nails Reed,” Diego said. “The guy who got his nickname from all the women he nailed in college. That guy would want you to go out on the town.”

  All the air suddenly went out of the room. “That’s not where his nickname comes from,” Travis said through clenched teeth.

  Diego shrugged it off. “All those coaches keep telling me how much you’re like your dad. Maybe it’s time to prove it.”

  Chapter 6

  Maya carefully stepped out of the Porsche Cayenne Turbo, making sure that her skirt didn’t ride up too high as she reached for the curb. The line to get into 360 went all the way down the block and every head turned to see who was getting out of the luxury SUV. Maya felt like she was disappointing them by failing to provide a genuine star sighting.

  Diego slipped out from the backseat. He let out a long, low whistle when he saw the line. “We are never getting in tonight.”

  “It’s okay,” Maya said. “Travis is probably on some list. We’ll be fine.”

  Maya sounded like she knew what she was talking about, but the truth was she’d only been to one other hot spot since moving to Florida. This experience was almost as foreign to her as Diego’s homeland had been.

  They waited on the sidewalk while Travis gave detailed instructions to the valet about the proper way to park the SUV. He wasn’t normally so specific, but it wasn’t exactly his car he was about to hand over to a total stranger.

  Travis’s Mercedes Roadster was only a two-seater. The three of them had quickly realized that they would need an alternative mode of transportation after they slipped out of the formal reception unnoticed. Since Maya was carless and Diego’s limo had gone off duty, that only left one of the rides in Nails Reed’s small fleet of vehicles. Quietly slipping out of the garage in a car stolen from his dad’s collection was Travis’s second act of rebellion that night.

  When Maya turned her attention back to the club, she was surprised to see the bouncer holding the velvet rope open for her. “Good evening, Ms. Hart. Welcome to 360.”

  Maya looked down at the rope, then up at the bouncer. “Excuse me?”

  “Ms. Ledecq is already inside,” he said. “She made sure you were on the list.”

  “Th-thank you.” Maya stepped across the invisible line separating her from the riffraff waiting on the sidewalk. It wasn’t the first time she’d gotten past a velvet rope before, but on the previous occasion she’d had Nicole King by her side.

  “Impressive, Maya,” Diego said as he followed. “You do know how to show off for the new guy.”

  They waited in the doorway beneath the neon 360 sign for Travis to catch up. “I figured there was a chance Renee put us on the list,” Maya said. “But I didn’t have to tell him who I was. He recognized me.”

  Diego smiled. “Of course he did. You’re news. I was reading about you all the way in Rio over the weekend.”

  “But … I didn’t even win.” The fact that Maya had made news wasn’t news to her. She’d seen the articles herself. She just didn’t think anyone else had.

  “Why are you hanging out in the doorway?” Travis asked when he finally caught up to them.

  “Maya wanted to make sure you could get in,” Diego joked. “Since we’re clearly not celebrities like her.”

  “Speak for yourself.” Travis took Maya’s arm. “I’m the son of Nails Reed, football hero. That makes me famous by association…. Able to get into clubs across this nation … so long as the owners remember my dad.”

  Maya laughed along with Diego even though she thought that she’d heard an unusual touch of bitterness beneath the joke. She expected that type of attitude from a different Reed brother, not Travis. Brushing it aside as a figment of her imagination, Maya walked through the doorway and into an entirely different world.

  The club was thumping. Music pounded out of the speakers and lights danced along to the pulsing beat. Bodies filled every inch of the floor. Most were moving to the rhythm, but a few were completely out of step and didn’t seem to care at all.

  Maya made quite an entrance walking in on the arm of a hot guy. Sure, they were only friends, but the girls shooting her jealous looks as they watched the door didn’t know that.

  The good feeling lasted for about a half second. Then she saw the other brother heading their way.

  “What’s the matter?” Travis asked as she pulled away from him. He held on tighter, unaware that his brother was coming toward them. “It’s okay. Friends can hang on to each other’s arms. It doesn’t mean anything.”

  “No,” Maya said. “It’s—”

  “I thought you two had some official hosting duties tonight. Did Dad give you a ‘get out of fancy reception free’ card or something?” Jake may have been speaking to both of them, but his eyes never once looked to Maya. If only the same could be said for other eyes in the club.

  The death glares Maya now got from the girls scoping the entrance almost caused her to laugh out loud. If only those girls knew the truth. Maya was standing with three of the hottest guys in the club, but it was the last place she wanted to be.

  Travis clung even more tightly to Maya. “We skipped out early. Diego wanted to see the town.”

  “Diego?” Jake asked, noticing the third wheel for the first time. “You the new competition?”

  “I thought the Reed brothers played American football,” Diego said. “Not the real thing.”

  “Oh, we play the real thing, all right,” Jake said. “Not some lame version of kickball.”

  “And why do you need those helmets? To protect your hairdos?” Diego asked, coming chest to chest with Jake.

  “Hey!” Travis jumped in. “My stylist charges two hundred fifty
dollars for this look. I have to protect my investment.”

  The guys busted up laughing, breaking the tension. Funny how Jake could joke around with his brother, but still couldn’t bring himself to look at Maya.

  “We’ll set you up at the salon sometime.” Jake reached for Diego’s head. “She could do wonders with those dark curly locks.”

  Diego ducked out of the way. “Thanks, man.”

  Jake held out a hand. “Nice to meet you, Diego. I look forward to beating you on the field of battle. Just name the sport.”

  “Poker,” Diego said as they shook. “That’s my favorite sport. So, did you come over to buy us drinks?”

  “Nope,” Jake said. “Time to go. I have practice in the morning.”

  Maya was glad that Travis had her arm. She about fell over when Jake said that he was leaving a club early because of practice.

  Jake finally noticed Maya. “I never had the chance to congratulate you,” he said, holding out a hand to her. “Nice game this weekend.”

  Maya untangled herself from Travis so she could shake Jake’s hand. It was warm and inviting, with just the right amount of pressure. “Thank you. Have a good practice.”

  “Thanks,” he said as he left. Just like that. He left. No posturing. No strained conversation with his brother. He was polite to Maya, but remote. And it didn’t seem to have anything to do with her hanging on to Travis’s arm.

  Maya couldn’t help but notice that no one was hanging on to Jake’s arm.

  Diego put his hands on Maya’s shoulders and pushed her into the crowd. “Okay, Maya,” he whisper-yelled into her ear over the thumping music of the club. “Since you already have enough guys after you, I think it’s time you introduced me to some girls before I have to make my move, too.”

  Maya laughed at the joke. At least, she hoped it was a joke. He was right about that. She was already dealing with more guys than she could handle.

  Maya was so glad she’d blown off the reception, she didn’t even care if it meant another call to Nails Reed’s office. The playlist at 360 was great, the drinks were tasty, and, best of all, everyone was having a blast. She’d been most worried about that last part. Cleo was still mad at Travis for the role he played in Nicole’s plan to break up Maya and Jake. It didn’t matter that Cleo believed he wasn’t a completely willing participant. She was angry that he would fall for one of Nicole’s schemes.