Read Online The Name of the Game by Jennifer Dawson - Free Book Online

expression had turned stormy, and his jaw was firmed into a hard line.
    Heat spiked across her skin and her belly jumped. Cecilia was right.
    It was because of him .
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    It was one of those crisp, sunny, early fall days and they’d been able to sit outside instead of being piled into his family’s bungalow. James sat on the back stoop with his thirteen-year-old cousin Declan and watched the intense game of half-court basketball going on in the alley.
    Shane passed the ball to their cousin Pat, teenage superstar and Declan’s older brother. Pat swung around one of his cousins and slam-dunked the ball, hanging on to the rim attached to the two-car garage, in exaggerated showmanship. The two brothers couldn’t be more opposite. James had declined playing in favor of sitting with Declan. Out of all his family members, this barely teenage cousin was the most like him, and James understood all too well how it felt not to be athletic in a family full of sports fanatics.
    Even now, with all his exercise and training, James wasn’t actually athletic ; he was merely in excellent shape. There was a difference. He could play a decent game of basketball but only because he’d been forced to play with his brothers growing up. He wasn’t good, merely passable.
    Of course, now he could outrun both Shane and Evan. But that was just putting one foot in front of the other; it took practice, not skill.
    Declan shifted on the step and James looked at him, realizing he wasn’t watching the game. His cousin stared wistfully at Gracie, who sat with a group of the girls at a round picnic table. A small smile lifted the corners of James’s mouth. Gorgeous blondes were apparently another thing they had in common. James nudged him and tilted his head toward Gracie. “She’s probably a little too old for you.”
    The boy turned a particularly bright shade of crimson and he scuffed the toe of his black Converse on the step. “Is she your girlfriend?”
    James had been taking a sip of his iced tea, and the question was so startling the liquid went down the wrong pipe, and he started to choke. He coughed, shaking his head as a strangled laugh clogged his throat. When he was finally able to speak, he asked, “Where would you get that idea?”
    Declan shrugged. “She’s always looking at you.”
    James frowned. While Gracie had acted strangely today, he was sure it didn’t relate to him. “I think you’re mistaken.”
    â€œDude, she looks at you, like, all the time,” Declan said.
    James glanced over at her, but her attention was on the table, not on him.
    He didn’t see the point in arguing when the obvious sat right in front of them. “Well, she’s not my girlfriend. She lives next door to Mitch and Maddie down in Revival.”
    â€œYou should go for her,” Declan said, his voice ringing with all the wisdom of a teenager. “If a girl like her looked at me that way, I’d go for her.”
    James squinted back at the table of women. This time Gracie was looking his way.
    Their gazes met.
    Locked.
    Held.
    She jerked her attention away.
    James rubbed his jaw. What in the hell was going on? Since she’d gotten here she’d been acting strange, almost jittery, but he couldn’t imagine what that had to do with him. Before he could contemplate the situation further, Peter, Declan’s father, came over and pointed toward the basketball court. “Why don’t you go out there and play?”
    Beside James, Declan stiffened. “I don’t like basketball.”
    Peter shook his head, frowning. “Come on, it will do you some good. Get you away from those video games.”
    James’s hand tightened on his iced tea glass. This was a common occurrence, and unfortunately it prompted a flashback to his own childhood. He remembered the awkwardness and embarrassment too well to be remotely objective.
    â€œDad,”