Page 51 of Hard to Break

He went to the opening of a new amusement park. There’s a woman hanging off him. Commenters are saying how cute they look.

It’s not as though I wanted him lying on his couch devastated. If getting out is helping him feel better, then I’m relieved, but I’m not sure an amusement park outing is what he needs right now.

Maybe I made the wrong choice by putting space between us. This relationship is new. What if we’re not close enough to handle this?

The text comes in while I’m still thinking of him.

Miles: Drug test came back clean.

My heart lifts. Hell yes. I do a fist pump in the air because no one’s watching but it still feels good.

Brooke: I’m glad.

Miles: Thanks, Princess. Me too.

So, if the drugs weren’t Miles’s, which I knew for myself even if others didn’t, whose were they?

I’ve been turning over the possibilities in my mind.

Miles is beloved in the league and in this city. The Kodiaks, on the other hand, have a bullseye on their backs.

What if the accident in Vegas gave someone the idea to target him?

“Brooke?!” My mom’s voice is louder this time.

I shove the phone in my pocket and head to the dining room where my parents are already seated, plus my brother.

“Wow. Big happy family,” I observe.

My mom and dad have the TV on, which features soundless commentary of my mom’s campaign, then they do a split screen with a video of Miles and me at the all-star game.

I flinch. “What is that?”

Mom clicks off the TV. “The news cycle. Someone always finds something to pick at. We'll make it through. Ellis women, after all. We don't give up without a fight.”

I’m grateful for her saying it.

“How was your game?” Dad’s the one to ask Jay, not me.

“It was okay.”

“You lost by twenty, got your asses handed to you,” I observe, earning a dirty look. “Good thing Miles is back in two more games. Is there any word on what happened?”

“Nothing official.”

“Right. Because that’s why I’m asking my brother on the team instead of reading the news.”

Jay rolls his eyes.

“No more talk about basketball,” Mom decides.

I shift in my seat. “Oh good. Let’s talk politics.”

“Kevin’s family is making progress on their merger. It will become one of the largest firms in the state.”

“So sorry I couldn’t marry into them,” I say under my breath.

“Our image could use the polishing. They’re up for an ethics award.”

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