Page 72 of Hard to Take

I’m disappointed she’s not coming back tonight.

More than that, I’m worried about her. She’s acting tough but I want to know what she’s not telling me. If she was here, I could coax it out of her.

I want to touch her, to look her in the eyes. As if it will somehow reassure me that I’m right about the stand I took in front of my friend and point guard.

“Jay’s not coming, huh?” Rookie asks.

“Probably not.”

Jay was supposed to join us, but I’m guessing since he found out about me and Brooke, we’re out.

I shift back and drop the phone my side.

Rookie turns to face me, face tight with worry. “You think tomorrow’s going to be more or less weird than the ride home?”

The flight back from Miami on BearForce One was awkward as hell. Jay was at the one end of the plane with Atlas and Clay, me at the other with my headphones in pretending to nap.

“Can’t believe you went there with his sister.” Rookie’s voice has me looking up.

“She’s not his sister.” I mash the buttons on my controller. “She is,” I go on at his expression, “but she’s more than that. It was a long time coming.”

“So I never had a chance?”

The possibility drifts through my mind, making my lip curl. “Not if you wanted to live.”

He turns that over as we go back to the game.

“We were going to tell him after the road trip.” I need a damned massage because my shoulders feel like one big-ass knot.

“This going to fuck shit up for the team?” Rookie asks. He’s a confident guy, but he’s also twenty-one and needs a contract next year.

“I won’t let it,” I promise.

21

BROOKE

“It’s got to be here.” Chloe rifles through the back of her sleek white SUV.

“What are we looking for?” The back is piled high with clear bins, but because there must be a dozen or more, it’s hard to find one in particular.

“A box of special edition uniforms the guys wore last month. Worn merch always makes the most at the charity auction.”

I wrinkle my nose. “I get that fans want original jerseys, sweat and all—but clearly none of them grew up with a basketball player leaving gross dirty clothing everywhere.”

When I found out that Chloe was organizing the charity gala, I promised to help. It took my mind off things with Miles and my brother.

The jerseys turn up in two separate bins, and we carry them into the hotel via the back entrance.

Members of the Kodiaks organization, including the players, are distributed amongst tables for dinner. Chloe already had my brother sitting with an avid outdoorsman so they could talk about their love of camping, but I noticed that Rookie and a local CEO had attended the same college, and suggested it made more sense to put Damon, the new recruit who was boasting about his new microbrewing project, with the retired pharmaceutical exec who spends his winters skiing in Colorado and his summers at his vineyard in Sonoma.

The gala is in a massive ballroom. Staff are completing a final review of décor just as caterers are starting to circulate with canapes and VIP guests are arriving.

It might not be the worst idea that the players are split up. I see my brother on the other side of the room in what looks like a tense conversation with a couple of other players.

Not going there.

Next, my gaze lands on another tall, athletic form that’s almost directly opposite my brother.

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