Page 39 of Second Down Fake

“Signed a contract?”

“James thought—” I interjected.

“Oh, so James is in on this too? You’re unbelievable. I trusted you, Diego.”

“I’m not doing anything to break that trust.”

Cassandra stilled beside me, inhaling, and then setting a hand on my shoulder with a squeeze, silencing me. “You need to relax. Both of you. Becca, I wanted to do this. It’s my choice. Nothing is going on between us, obviously. We’re just friends.”

Becca softened, but the emphasis on “obviously” twisted my stomach.

“You know what you’re signing her up for.” Becca’s eyes narrowed on mine. “She doesn’t know.”

“Nothing is going to happen.” An impossible promise to keep, but what else could I say?

Becca’s jaw relaxed. She sat back in her seat. There wasn’t so much as a picture on the white wall behind her. She could have been at home, at work, or in a gym for all I knew. She sighed, eyes darting to the side as her jaw worked. After a beat, she shook her head. “You two…”

“You always said we’d get along.” Cassandra grinned into the camera.

“Yeah, like matches and kindling.” Becca blew out a breath. “Fine. It’s not like I can do anything about this, anyway. I just wish you’d given me a heads up.”

“We didn’t know it’d blow up so fast. Honest.” Cassandra drew a finger over her heart. “I didn’t even know there were pictures from the ghost tour.”

“The entire Breakers offense was there. Of course, there were pictures!” Becca grumbled. “Diego, keep my sister out of trouble.”

The tension drained from my shoulders. “I never thought you’d ask me to keep someone else out of trouble.”

“Well, between the two of you, she’s the one who’s going to cause more of it. I hope you both know what you signed up for.”

“It’ll be great!” Cassandra’s grin brightened her entire face. “I met Noa’s fiancée and Coach Mack, and I’m going to a pre-game party tomorrow. Diego’s the easiest guy I’ve ever dated before.”

“But you’re not dating,” Becca clarified.

“Fake dating.” Cassie rolled her eyes, leaning over and brushing her shoulder against mine.

Becca’s eyes traveled beyond the phone. “Davis, shoulders down!” she barked. “Listen, I gotta go. I’m right in the middle of something, but…don’t make this a thing, okay? The Breakers don’t need another Aria situation, Diego.”

I blanched as Cassandra swiveled to face me. “Aria?”

“We’ll talk about it later.”

“Alright, love you, Cassie. Diego, you’re on my shit list.”

“But I can still come to New Hampshire this summer, right?” I asked, pasting on a charming but contrite grin.

“Yeah, and I’m going to make your life miserable.”

“Can’t wait.”

We waved at the phone as Becca hung up.

“Well, that went better than expected,” Cassandra said cheerily. She drew her knee onto the porch swing, resting it over my thigh. “What now? You taking me home or expecting me to call a car? I’ve never been to a football player’s house before. I don’t know the proper procedure.”

My chest tightened, not ready to bring her home. “I’ll take you home, but how about a tour first?”

“Oh, a tour?” Cassandra leaned closer. The scent of orange made my fingers itch to pull her closer. “Is this how you get all the A-list movie stars into your house?”

“Well, usually we don’t call their sister right before I invite them in, so you’re pretty special.”

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