Page 261 of Well Played

“Is there anything else you’ve already set up for me that I’m not aware of?”

Patrick sighed. “I could let you do all of this yourself in a week, you know that? Here I am trying to make the transition smooth for you and you’re giving me grief.”

“You could have warned me this was coming. I don’t know, maybe given me a chance to fight for myself and my spot on the team.” He was still processing everything and annoyed over it.

Patrick leaned forward and steepled his hands before he spoke. “There was nothing you could do. This is a financial decision and a test. They want to see that you can make it a season without another injury before you get back on the team.”

“Strictly business,” Grant muttered. “What’s the pay cut?”

He didn’t spend lavishly, so it wouldn’t matter, really, but it was going to bruise his pride. Might as well get all of the bad news out of the way at once.

“There isn’t one. You’re on loan.” Patrick sat back with a smile, clearly proud of himself. “Pay will be discussed after you prove yourself. If you’re injured again, then there’s a chance you could be out of a contract.”

“So stay healthy and out of trouble, easy.” Sarcasm dripped from his words. He hadn’t injured himself, anyway. It had been a result of getting tangled up with another player, not like he was looking to get hurt.

“You have the option to opt out of your contract now with no penalties.” Patrick reminded him.

That wasn’t an option. He wanted to play, so he’d do what he had to, and they all knew it about him. “I’ll be there in a week. Send the apartment information.”

Grant walked out feeling more defeated than when he’d been injured and got the news from his doctor that he’d be out for months and miss most of the season. This sucked.

2

Cassie rolledher eyes at her brother as he rambled on behind her. They were at her apartment and he was talking about how much work needed done to the outside of the building. The same thing all her brothers and father had done every time they came over.

It wasn’t bad, not really, anyway. Sure, they needed to do a better job with the bushes and the place could use a pressure wash or seven, but it kept her rent low so as far as she was concerned, she didn’t care.

“I’m telling you, it’s ridiculous that you pay to live here and they aren’t even doing the bare minimum, Cass.”

She took a deep breath at the top of the stairs and turned to face him before he could take the last few steps and be taller than her again. “I don’t care about what it looks like out there. Either fix it yourself or shut up about it.”

“I’m just looking out for you.”

“By complaining every single time you come over here? Speaking of which, you didn’t need to come over here, anyway.” He’d followed her home after family dinner and let her know he was going to work on her drains before they got bad.

“Wrong. I have to come take care of all your hair in the drain before it gets bad and one of us has to take care of it after there’s six inches of water stuck in your shower.”

“It wasn’t six inches,” she muttered as she dug her keys out of her purse.

“Keep telling yourself that.”

Just then, a man walked up behind them, two brown moving boxes in his arms. It looked like she was getting a new across the hall neighbor. Just what she needed tonight.

The man set the boxes down to fish his own keys out of his pocket. Cassie studied him, completely distracted, trying to figure out where she knew him from. He was tall, fit, clearly athletic, with brown hair and eyes. There was something so familiar about him, but she couldn’t place him.

“Dude,” Jack, her brother, said, jarring her from her stupor.

Cassie stopped staring and stuck her key in the doorknob. “Come on,” she said to Jack.

“Are you Grant Pope?” Jack ignored her in favor of the newcomer.

She knew that name. As she registered it, she turned to take in the new guy as he answered.

“Yep.” He didn’t look over at her.

That made sense as to why she knew him. He was a soccer player and her whole family followed soccer the way that most families followed football.

“No shit. You’re moving in here across from my sister?” Jake started. “That’s crazy. Wait until I tell my brothers.” He was giddy, pulling out his phone.

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