Extreme Bachelor by Julia London Read Free Book Online Page A

batted eyes
at him. “These games go pretty fast, and we’re going to play a
bunch of them until we have each side working together as a team
and get enough film to give the animators. But the whole point of
this exercise is to work as a unit.”
    His speech was getting a little long, Leah
noticed. Several whispered conversations had begun.
    Cooper seemed to know it, too, because he
clenched his jaw, then pointed at a Starlet on Leah’s team who
rarely spoke. “You,” he said sternly. “You are the leader for this
team.” He turned to the other team and pointed to Beth, a Serious
Actress who’d been mad at Leah since they ran lines and Leah had
snickered at Beth’s overwrought, over-the-top performance of a mom
out of valium. Well hell, she’d thought Beth had been kidding.
    “You’re the leader for this team, all
right?” Cooper said.
    Beth nodded and glared at Leah, who glared
right back.
    “Okay,” Cooper said. “Talk about who you
want to target. Talk to each other on the line. Listen to your team
leader and just try and communicate.”
    He and Eli made sure that the teams were
lined up properly, then stepped out of the way. Cooper raised his
arm. “Ready? Game on.”
    There was a mad scramble for the balls lying
on the center line. One of the Serious Actresses on the other side
immediately hurled a dodge ball that hit a Starlet on the leg.
“Out!” she screeched.
    “Hey!” the Starlet cried, rubbing her thigh.
“That’s not fair!”
    But apparently it was fair, because the team
across from Leah was suddenly and gleefully hurling their balls,
accompanied with triumphant shrieks that were lost only in the
shrieks of those who were hit.
    The quiet Starlet appointed to head Leah’s
team turned out to be a Commando Starlet, screeching at everyone to
pick up their feet and move. Leah was vaguely aware of Trudy
getting hit behind her when she cried, “Shit! I just had these
nails done!” But Leah was moving. She really did love dodgeball,
and it was all coming back to her—how to leap to avoid being hit,
how to throw on the run, how to stoop to catch a ball.
    She nailed Katherine
Hepburn on her first throw—that one gasped and looked confused and
hurt before slinking off. Leah aimed for Beth with her second
throw, just missing her. As she scrambled to pick up more balls,
the Commando Starlet shouted at her to shift left , shift left , then rushed the line,
hurling her ball like a missile at Tamara.
    Tamara dodged it, which
floored Leah, but then she sang out an uncharacteristic nanner-nanner at the
Starlet, and therefore missed the red rocket coming at her from the
other end of the line. A huge cheer went up from both sides when
Tamara took one in the ass.
    Within fifteen minutes, there were only
three left on each side, and Leah was one of them. She could hear
Trudy, Jamie, and Michele shouting at her from the bleachers to
stay low. Leah, the Commando Starlet, and a Serious Actress huddled
together, ready to leap in opposite directions.
    At least that was what the Commando was
telling them to do, but Leah wasn’t listening—she wanted to take
Beth down. Beth had been aiming at Leah since the start of the
game, firing off heated missiles like she wanted to see her dead.
Leah had to keep racing up and down and diving behind her teammates
to avoid being hit.
    When Beth picked up two balls and threw them
in rapid succession at their little group, Leah seized the
opportunity to run down the line, trying to catch a ball as she
went. But as she neared the entrance to the basketball court, she
caught a glimpse of Jack and another guy standing just inside the
door, watching the game. It was only a fraction of a second, but in
that teeny tiny moment, Leah thought she’d seen a ghost.
    It was enough to take her mind off the game
and long enough for Beth to hurl a ball at her. And the ball did
indeed find purchase—more like a two-fer sale, actually, because
the ball glanced off her shoulder and then hit her