Check out this excerpt from Maggie Rawdon’s “Wild Card,” the third book in the Seattle Phantom Football series! Read my review of the book as well — it’s out now!
Wild Card by Maggie Rawdon Excerpt:
“Stay away!” I scream, but they keep coming.
So I do the only thing I know how. I run through the wet grass on the side of the road screaming for help.
I don’t make it far. My foot catches on a rock and I stumble, tripping forward and desperately trying to regain my balance. Apparently, thirty is as far as I’m going to make it, and I’m going out like this—murdered face down in a muddy ditch on the side of the road. I start to scream one last time, just as arms wrap around my waist and pull me back up. A hand slams over my mouth half a second later.
“Jesus, Scarlett. I know you’re drunk but calm down!” If the booming voice doesn’t let me know who it is, the scent of his cologne is a dead giveaway.
I turn around, ripping out of his grip, and shove him back with my hands.
“What the hell, Tobias? Why didn’t you say it was you?”
“I said it was me, twice!”
“Too quietly! I couldn’t hear you over the rain! I thought you were a murderer. You were supposed to be Xander and Harper. Where are they?”
“I told them I’d come to get you so they didn’t have to go out.”
“Jesus. She and I are going to have a talk. Like I need you rescuing me twice today.”
“That’s funny. That didn’t sound like a thank you.”
I glare at him, and he just silently raises his eyebrow in return.
“We just gonna stand out here in the rain then because you’re too stubborn to say thank you?”
“I am not too stubborn, and I always say thank you.”
“And yet…”
“You make it very hard.”
“Likewise, Spitfire.”
“Stop calling me that!”
“You done throwing a tantrum or you want us to get completely soaked out here?”
“I’m not leaving with you. I’ll call another car. I should have done that in the first place.”
“You’re going to call another car and wait out here in the dark and pouring rain for it?”
“Yes. So go home or off with your little blonde, okay?”
Then he does the last thing I’m expecting—he laughs, full and loud and wild. Two seconds before he grabs me and throws me over his shoulder.
“What are you doing?”
“Taking you home.”
“You are not. Put me down!”
“Nah. We’re done doing things your way now.”
“If you don’t put me down, I’ll…” I trail off. I have no idea what I’ll do. Before I can think of a plausible threat, we’re already at his car, and he’s opening the door and pulling me down off his shoulder.
“You’ll what?” He pins me against the car.
“I hate you.”
“I know. Now get in the car.”
“No.”
His teeth grit and turn into a saccharine smile.
“Scarlett, you get in the car, and you put your seatbelt on, or I will grab the bands I have in my gym bag, tackle you in the mud when you try to run again, and hog-tie you before I throw you back there. Your choice.”
“You’re insane.” I glare at him, but the glimmer reflecting off the headlights in his eyes tells me I’m right. “You’d do it,” I mumble, realizing I’m going to lose this fight whether I like it or not.
“I would, and I would enjoy every single moment of it. So what’s it going to be?”
***
“Personal Foul” (Plays & Penalties #3) — ARC
“Reverse Pass” (Plays & Penalties #4) — ARC
buried in a bookshelf 