Free One More Shot (Hometown Players #1) by Victoria Denault

towel out of the bottom of the hamper and raise it to my face, gingerly rubbing off the little bit of blood I can feel crusted to my lip. Luc walks over and grabs the towel from my hand.
    “This thing is disgusting,” he scolds me. “You’re going to get an infection.”
    He opens the bedroom door and heads out of the room. I drop back onto my bed and put my hands over my face, trying to calm the screwed-up feelings raging through me.
    “Who did you fight?”
    “Chance Echolls.”
    “Shut up!” Cole’s hazel eyes grow wide and he grins. “He’s a little shit. I hope he looks worse than you.”
    “I think he does.”
    “Good.” Cole grins as Luc walks back into the room with a clean, damp facecloth and another towel wrapped around some ice from our kitchen freezer. “He fought Chance.”
    Luc’s eyes land on me, but he’s not nearly as excited about the news as Cole was. “Over Jessie?”
    I take the wet facecloth from him and walk over to the full-length mirror behind the closed bedroom door. “Sort of. Yeah.”
    “Did he start it? Did he find out about you two?” Luc asks as I carefully clean my face.
    “You two?” Cole pipes in, completely confused. “As in you and Jessie? As in…like a couple thing?”
    “I started the fight. I went over to see Jessie. She was at work. And when she got home, he was with her.”
    “You didn’t talk to her all day? She was a virgin, man,” Luc reminds me. “You can’t do that and then bail on her.”
    “She was a virgin? Who, Jessie? And she’s not a virgin now?!” Cole interjects, and jumps up from the bed. He puts his hands out, palms up flat begging us to stop. “Wait! Wait! Wait! Who banged her? You or Chance? It was Chance, right?”
    “I didn’t bail on her, Luc.” I shoot an angry look to my best friend. “I was at her house to tell her that. But he was there and he got her flowers. And I freaking lost it.”
    “No, seriously, who slept with Jessie?!” Cole asks again, his voice rising with frustration.
    “Shut up,” I snap, and turn back to Luc. “It’s all messed up now.”
    Cole grabs my shoulders. “Jordan, either you answer my questions or I go downstairs and tell Mom about your screwed-up face. And then you can answer her questions.”
    “Cole, don’t be a dick,” Luc scolds him, giving him a shove so he stumbles back and lands on his bed. Luc turns back to me. “Call her. Talk this out…”
    Suddenly there’s a tap on the bedroom window. All three of our heads spin toward it. Luc is the closest so he pulls back the green curtains. “She’s here,” he whispers, and I step forward and see the top of Jessie’s head visible in the darkened backyard. “Fuck, she must really like you.”
    “Speaking of fuck…” Cole starts.
    “Shut up,” Luc and I command in unison.
    Luc unlocks and opens the window. I step forward and lean my whole frame, from my waist up, out the window. “Come here.”
    She reaches up, grabs my hands and lets me lift her through the window. When her feet reach the window ledge, she puts her arms on my shoulders and I put my hands on her waist and place her softly on the floor in front of me.
    The feeling of her waist under my hands and her arms around my neck makes me instantly hot. I take a step back to quell the feelings, but she reaches out and touches the cut on the corner of my mouth.
    “Cole, let’s go to my room,” Luc suggests quietly.
    “Hey, Jessie…I was just curious…Did you have sex with my brother?” Cole blurts out, his hazel eyes focuses on Jessie.
    Jessie looks stunned. I turn to face my brother, reach out and cuff the side of his head.
    “Ow!” he cries. Luc grabs him and yanks him out of the room, closing the door behind them.
    Alone, two feet from each other, I stare at her. She looks like she’s been crying, and it makes my chest ache. “Are you back together with Chance?”
    “Does it matter?” she asks quietly, glancing up to catch my eye.
    “Yeah, it matters! I…I