Page 10 of Play Along

Walking backward, I face my buddies as I continue to follow our group to the private table of the busy club. “You have no faith. One day, you’ll see.” I throw my hands wide. “It’s meant to be!”

Without looking, I barrel into someone behind me, stepping right on their foot. I stumble but catch my balance and even over the music, I can hear their low hiss in pain.

“Oh shit.” I turn just in time to grab their upper arms, keeping them from toppling over. “I’m sorry! I’m so sorry. I wasn’t looking.”

“Clearly.”

The woman’s hair curtains her face as she babies her injured foot by hobbling on one single high heel in agony.

That hair.

Even in the darkness of the club, I know that hair. The shade is one I’ve memorized. Auburn as Cody first taught me.

Kennedy Kay Auburn as I refer to it now.

“Kenny?”

I watch her body instantly stiffen before her brown eyes cautiously lift to look at me. “Isaiah?”

“Hi.”

Her shocked expression does nothing to stop my eyes from wandering the length of her.

God, she’s stunning. I’ve never seen her outside of athletic clothes, namely the staff uniform of a Warriors’ polo and black leggings. But tonight, that hair is down and perfectly styled, her freckled arms and legs fully exposed thanks to the crisp white mini dress and matching white heels.

She looks so fucking good. Her outfit seems expensive and polished, tailored to fit her body.

“Isaiah.”

“Yeah?”

“I asked what you were doing here.”

My attention immediately darts to the foot I just stepped on. Kennedy is still keeping her weight off of it, clearly in pain. I bend down before stopping myself and realizing that checking out someone’s foot in a club is fucking weird, no matter how much I might be crushing on the person it’s attached to.

“Is your foot okay? I’ll get some ice from the bartender.”

“It’s fine. Surprisingly, my foot is more sore from wearing high heels than it is from being stepped on by two hundred pounds of muscle.”

A smirk lifts on my lips. “Keeping up on my body stats, huh, Ken? I knew you were obsessed with me.”

“Don’t flatter yourself, Rhodes. It’s my literal job to know your body stats. What are you doing here?”

“It’s our preseason bonding trip. Well, pre-regular season and post-spring training.” I gesture to my teammates, who are being ushered to a roped-off corner of the club. Cody and Travis wave to her from across the room.

It’s hard to tell with the low lighting, but Trav is shaking his head in disbelief at the same time Cody mouths, you’ve got to be kidding me.

“Oh,” Kennedy says in realization. “Everyone from the team is here.”

“Everyone but Kai. He’s at home with Max and Miller.” Motioning towards our table, I add, “You should come hang out with us.”

“It looks like it’s guys’ night.”

I scoff. “It most definitely isn’t guys’ night.”

Kennedy looks back at our table, a bit of longing shining in her eyes as if she actually wants to hang out with us. It’s a stark contrast from the immediate “no” I get whenever I invite her to do something outside of work.

“I can’t.” She throws a thumb over her shoulder to a group of girls, all decked in white minus one wearing a blindingly shiny silver dress. “I’m here for a bachelorette party.”

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