Good Boy (WAGs #1)(83)

“You look hot. As usual.” Violet sits on her own bed with a textbook, looking blue. “You know there’s a quiz tomorrow, right?”

“Yep. I studied all afternoon. It’s going to have to do.”

“Because you have other things to do tonight. Like Blake Riley.” Violet tries to apply her usual snippy tone to this remark, but it doesn’t quite work. She watches me with jealous eyes.

“Take a study break, Violet,” I urge. “Call Keith. Have a quickie and then quiz each other.”

“He’s gone to a bar to watch the game on TV.”

“So go with him?”

She just shakes her head. Apparently her folks were less than pleased with her exam performance last month, so she’s hitting the books harder than ever these days. “It just won’t be the same around here without you.” She casts an eye over the duffel bag and two boxes on the bed. Jamie will show up any minute now to pick me up. After the game we’ll unload my stuff in the parking garage of what is now my building, too.

“Violet, you won’t miss me. Think of all the quiet you’ll get now. And nobody will eat Cup o’ Noodles on the sly and hide the evidence in the student lounge trash.”

She looks properly horrified. “Cup o’ Noodles? Gross.”

“They’re very budget friendly.”

“What’s budget friendly?” my brother asks from the doorway.

“Hey! You look great,” I tell him. “Even if that shirt is an awfully bright color for you.”

Jamie looks down at the lime-green check pattern on his shirt and smiles. “I love this shirt. Are you ready to go?”

“Born ready.” But now Violet looks stricken. “Okay, let’s hug it out, bitch.”

My roommate gets off the bed and gives me one of her angular hugs. The girl could take some lessons from Mama Riley.

“I’ll still see you in class. You know that, right?”

“Now you have to commute to school,” Violet points out.

She’s right, but it’s totally worth it. All that extra time with Blake and the puppy. “How is Puddles?” I ask my brother, releasing Violet.

He grins. “Took a couple of new pictures. Couldn’t help myself.” He pulls his phone out of his pocket, unlocks it and shows me the screensaver.

“Awwww,” Violet croons.

Puddles—named by Blake, of course—is rolling on his back on the rug like a frowsy milkmaid in a haystack. I can’t decide who I’ll cuddle first tonight, Blake or the puppy. Maybe both at once. Is that weird?

“Let’s do this.” Jamie picks up my box of textbooks. “Jesus. This is a backbreaker.”

“Sure is!” I say cheerfully. I have almost as many shiny, complicated textbooks as Violet now. I’m not afraid anymore. The work is still hard, but I can tough it out. I grab the duffel and heft my smaller box. “Come on, baby bro. Let’s go beat Dallas!”



Traffic slows us down, unfortunately. By the time we’re speed-walking through the stadium corridors, the game is already in progress.

This time, Jamie and I don’t head for his usual seats. Tonight we’re watching from the WAGS box. I follow my brother up an escalator and down a corridor to a set of shiny turnstiles. Before we reach them, Jamie digs something out of his shirt pocket and hands it to me. I look down at a plastic team ID card with my photo on it.

Jessica Canning, it reads. Role: WAGS (Riley.)

“Omigod!” I yelp. “It’s so official. That’s cuckoo.”

My brother waves his card in front of the turnstile, which springs open for him. “All part of the fun.”

I use my card at the turnstile, too, and then Jamie leads me along a curved corridor lined with fancy wooden doors, each with a corporate plaque beside it. I see boxes for Canada’s two largest banks and an insurance firm. The fourth one simply says: WAGS. Jamie opens the door and ushers me inside.

Katie Hewitt spots us first, waving her tequila bottle in our direction. “You’re late!” she hollers. “Get over here, Cannings.”

I have a sudden thought. “Jamie? Is there going to be hazing?” Since I’ve become a nerd again, my tolerance for alcohol has plummeted. How embarrassing would it be to get plastered and throw up on the WAGS my first night here?

My brother chuckles. “It depends what you mean by hazing. You’ll see.”

“Ladies! Our newest member has arrived. Get the bag.”

I reach Katie, who grabs me into a hug. “Jessica, you were holding out on us, you sneaky Pete! Blake told Eriksson who told Luko who told Estrella that his new girlfriend would be here tonight! And I was all, what new girlfriend? And then I saw they made you an ID card, so we had to hustle with your welcome packet! Why didn’t you say anything the last time we saw you?”

She puts a hand on her hip, and I’m momentarily distracted by a retina-searing flash of brilliance. It’s the four giant diamond rings on her hand.

Focus, Jess. “Well… It’s a new thing.”

Katie smiles at me, her Toronto-shade lipstick perfect again tonight. “Usually the girlfriends practically do a pole vault to get in here. We’re glad to have you, though. His last girlfriend…” She rolls her eyes. “We called her Velcro. I knew it wouldn’t last, and when he came to his senses she did not go quietly.” She shakes her head. “Blake deserves someone as sweet as you are. I could not be happier for the two of you!”