Page 232 of Vegas Heat

“Nobodyeverlistens to me.”

“I’ll listen,” I offer. “And you know what? I didn’t have a brother growing up—or a sister—so I don’t know what it’s like to feel what you’re feeling right now. But it wasn’t exactly fun having all the attention all the time, either.” I wrinkle my nose.

“It wasn’t?”

I shake my head. “Nobody to blame. Nobody to throw the attention to. Nowhere to hide. But you’ve got a lifelong friend in your brother. Only you two know what it’s like to grow up with your mom and dad. You two share a bond nobody else in the world has, and that’s pretty darn special, don’t you think?”

He twists his lips. “I guess.”

“Pick out your candy, and we’ll take it up to pay,” I suggest. “Then we get to go on the big Ferris wheel.”

“Do we have to?” he asks.

My brows crinkle. “You don’t want to?”

He shakes his head as he blanches a little. “I’m scared,” he whispers.

“Then I won’t go either. We’ll hang out here in the candy shop.” I lean in and lower my voice to a whisper. “Or even better, I saw an ice cream shop by the wheel.”

His eyes grow round as he draws in a loud, excited breath. “You did?”

I smile and nod as he picks out chocolate pretzels next, and we head up toward the register just as Marissa comes bursting through the doors.

“Oh my God! Jacob Joseph Noah, you are in big trouble!” she cry-yells at him, grabbing him up into her arms like she’s never going to let him go.

I bring the candy up to the register. “Add a little weight to the raisins, please. We sampled a few,” I say to the cashier as I set the bags down on the counter.

He nods and rings me up while Marissa smothers her boy, and then we head back toward the wheel where the rest of our group waits for us.

“You’re a hero,” Cooper whispers into my ear, his voice warm and proud.

I grin, and then the rest of them head toward the wheel while Jacob and I hang back to get our ice cream sundaes, Cooper’s words wrapping around me like honey the whole time.

CHAPTER 16: GABBY

The weekend goes far too quickly, and suddenly it’s Monday and I’m back at the stadium—earlier than usual since it’s the week of final exams and I don’t have class this morning.

“I’m back!” Joanie says with a little too much glee as the interns gather around the table in her office. “And I’m here with your final competition for those of you still interested in the full-time social media position. Once we tally the points after this comp, we’ll select our top three candidates to interview.” She does a great job avoiding eye contact with me, something I appreciate considering she just told me the other day that I’m a lock for the position. It seems like the rest of this is just a formality.

“We’ve done a variety of challenges over the course of this competition, from profiles on our players to scavenger hunts for free tickets, and I’m so excited to see what you come up with for this final challenge. The winner will be awarded ten points since it’s the final one, and just to remind you, we have a tight race for the top three,” she says.

I glance over at Dylan ready to smile, and I spot him glance away from me just as our eyes meet.

My brows dip a little.

Is something wrong? Is Mia mad at me?

I haven’t spoken to her in a while, and I get the sudden feeling that something is off.

But it’s something I’ll have to deal with later since Joanie continues on.

“For the final challenge, your goal is to come up with a pitch for a single day promotion by Wednesday. This can be a gameday promo or something you put together in the off-season, but the goal is building a community and your theme isHeat Wave.” She glances around the interns with a touch of glee. “Any questions?”

Chase looks monumentally confused. “Heat Wave?” he repeats, his brows drawn together.

Joanie nods. “Take it and run with it. Whatever that means to you.”

He makes a funny face. “Okay,” he says, drawing out the word, and the rest of us laugh. I can’t wait to see what it means to him.

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