Page 1 of Her Devils

1.

Bad Boys And Good Girls

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Peyton

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“LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, meet my wonderful wife, Gina DeLaurent-Cox.”

I shake my head, sure I must have misheard what my dad just announced to a room full of stunned people.

I still have Lenley’s hand in mine, and I squeeze it instinctively when I feel her fingers tremble.

The reactions to the bombshell Dad and Gina just dropped on us are different around the room—it simply depends on whom you look at.

Naturally, the ones with the loudest reactions are the Penn siblings.

Anna squeals with delight, wrapping Gina in a tight hug. “Oh my god! A wedding! That’s why you have a white dress! And what a surprise! You need to tell me everything, Gina! I didn’t even know you were dating anyone.”

I didn’t even know that Anna Penn was close to Lenley’s mother. I find the idea surprising because of how openly Anna shows her hatred of Lenley.

But if Anna sounds excited about the idea of a secret wedding, then her younger brother has an equal but opposite reaction.

“You married the owner of our rival team? Our biggest rivals? What does it mean for Cove Angels and me?” he bites out aggressively.

I don’t even pay attention to the way his own father, and co-owner of Cove Angels, scolds his son. The only thing that matters is that they both look as surprised as I feel.

Judging by Lenley’s stunned silence, I’m pretty sure she was just as in the dark as I was about our parents being involved in a romantic relationship.

I look at my best friends as Lenley’s mother pulls her daughter into a hug, and I have to let go of her hand.

They obviously look surprised, and while Jameson is intent on listening to whatever Kyle Penn is saying to his rude, dumbass of a son, Channing was caught off guard by the news, considering his mini taco is still held midair in front of his open mouth. It takes him a second to let go of his food and deposit the plate on a side table next to an expensive-looking lamp.

“I guess congratulations are in order, Ken.” He smiles, clapping Dad on the back after wiping his hands on a napkin.

Dad’s hazel eyes finally land on me, and my feet move in his direction as if they were on autopilot.

I hug my old man like I’m supposed to, and then I speak some kind of congratulatory platitude because I know this is what everyone expects to hear.

I mean, fuck, the news might have taken me totally by surprise, but I’m not an asshole like Penn.

And, truth be told, I don’t even know how the fuck I feel about this. I obviously wonder if this means anything for our team. I have to admit that I was surprised by how friendly Gina had suddenly become toward us after almost an entire year of indifference since we made the move to Star Cove.

Now it all makes sense.

The professional side of things, however, isn’t what occupies my thoughts in the immediate moments after hearing the news.

My eyes keep landing on Lenley, worried about how she feels about this crazy turn of events.

I look at my dad and wonder how this all happened. I mean, Mom has been gone for over twelve years, and I certainly didn’t expect my father to stay celibate for the rest of his life—he’s only in his mid-forties, after all—but I have to admit that I haven’t been paying attention to his dating life, assuming that he didn’t have one.

Like I once said to Lenley, it’s hard to think about our parents as sexual beings, despite the fact that our mere existence proves that they are, or at least that they once were, but I’d be lying if I said that I’m not surprised that he actually married someone. I thought my mother was the love of his life, the kind of love you meet just once in a lifetime.

When the private chef hired to cater this dinner comes to announce that everything is ready, I follow everyone outside to the backyard.

There’s a long, wrought iron table with a white tablecloth and white fairy lights everywhere, but the rest of the decorations are either in sky blue, the signature color of Cove Angels, or crimson red, the color of Cove Devils, my team.

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