Page 86 of Say Yes to the Death

In spite of the awkwardness of playing against her ex-boyfriend and the man who saved her life, Claire’s competitive spirit began to emerge. This was something she had control over. She couldn’t keep strangers from trying to kill her, but she could sure as hell run fast enough to rip off some flags and take Luke down a peg.

Kyle snapped the ball to Luke again, who hesitated for a moment, seeking an opening.

“Luke, I’m open!” Sawyer said from Claire’s right.

She edged sideways to cover him, but Luke seemed to be pretending that he hadn’t heard. Sawyer’s jaw hardened as he jogged down the field.

“It’s cute that you think you can cover me,” Sawyer said nonchalantly.

“Whatever,” she said, eyes still on the ball.

Kyle sprinted past her at full speed, and Luke released a perfect spiral.

She sprang into action, sneakers pounding into the grass as she moved to cover the space between them. Sawyer’s footsteps fell behind her. She pivoted and turned into the path of the ball, stretching her hands above her head. The ball slammed into her hands, and Claire winced as it nearly left her fingertips. She managed to snatch it from the air and tuck it into her side, exactly like Roy had taught her.

Just as she secured the ball, something smashed into her right hip, sending her sprawling to the ground. She fell with a heavy thump onto the grass and groaned. Sawyer’s weight abruptly collapsed on top of her, knocking the wind out of her.

“Oof,” she whispered. Were those her ribs cracking or had she accidentally brought a carton of eggs to the field day?

“Shit. Sorry, Claire. I couldn’t stop,” Sawyer said. He rolled away and leaned over her, crouching down and blocking the sun with his head. He reached down and swept away some of the hair that had been loosed from her ponytail. “Are you okay?”

Claire had just opened her mouth to respond when an angry voice interrupted.

“Last time I checked, this was no-tackle football.”

Oh, boy. The testosterone fest that had been simmering all morning was about to come to a boil.

A familiar hand reached out and shoved Sawyer. Sawyer stood with impressive speed for someone of his size and whirled to face Luke. “It was an accident. I apologized. Sorry again, Claire.”

She waved faintly from the ground.

“You could have seriously hurt her.” Luke’s eyes narrowed. His face was flushed, and a vein was visible in his forehead. This was not good. A groomsman fight was not on the agenda for field day.

“Really? Because I’m pretty sure the expert on hurting Claire is standing in front of me,” Sawyer said, danger in his toffee eyes.

If she clutched the football any harder, there was an excellent chance it would pop.

“You son of a bitch.” Luke took a step toward Sawyer. His hand was already clenched in a fist.

A shrill whistle blew.

“Gentlemen,” Nicole said loudly, coming to stand between them. “This is a friendly game of flag football. If you two can’t cooperate, you will be removed from the game. And I don’t think you want Kyle to face all three of us by himself.”

Luke swore under his breath and turned around, striding off to the sidelines.

“Wow, he is super threatened by Sawyer,” Mindy said quietly as she lifted Claire to her feet.

“No kidding.” Jealousy was not a good color on Luke.

The rest of the game was uncomfortable at best. The tension between Sawyer and Luke was palpable. The joyful banter and wisecracking had ceased, and the girls won without difficulty since the groomsmen were too busy infighting.

“Well, that was a disaster,” Nicole said as she packed the last of the flag football belts into the tote.

“I’m so sorry, Coli,” Claire said, putting away the remaining orange slices she had brought. Her cheeks burned. She had ruined a bridal event, something she swore she would never do. And worse, it was for her best friend. “I never thought Luke would act like that.”

“Men,” Nicole said, tutting in disgust. “Oh, shit. We have bigger problems,” she said, staring off into the distance.

“What?” Claire asked, immediately scoping out Rosie. Her furry best friend was still lying in a patch of grass, furiously licking peanut butter out of a treat ball.

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