Page 38 of Play the Game

There is no room for regret or doubt in my life.

“Well, should we take a picture so you can post it on social media?” Emory stands with his hands on his hips, waiting for my response.

After a glimpse of the room we’re tucked away in, I laugh.

A quick marriage at City Hall with a stripper, a scowling hockey player, and a five-year-old as our witnesses is preposterous. Emory wants me to paint us out to be happily-in-love newlyweds on his socials, and he thinksthissetting is going to cut it with the media?

“What’s so funny?” he asks, deadpan expression and all.

Rhodes snorts again and puts his wiggly daughter on the floor. She bounces over to Emory, messy braids swinging behind her shoulders, and gazes up at his tall frame. “She needs a ring, dummy.”

Emory’s lip curls. “She does?”

She takes her small hand and slaps her forehead. “You may be good at hockey, but I don't think you’re very smart.”

“Ellie,” Rhodes attempts to reprimand his daughter, but a laugh bursts out of my mouth at the same time Rhodes shakes his head in disbelief. Emory’s eyes flick to mine sharply, and I cover my lips to try to hide my amusement.

Emory sighs, and I swear I feel his warm breath all the way across the room. I watch him bend down to get on Ellie’s level, and although his voice softens, I still hear him.

“Wanna go with me to pick out the ring?”

She nods so vigorously little pieces of hair fall out of her messy, woven braids. “Daddy! Can I?! Can I go pick out a pretty ring?”

Rhodes grips the back of his neck and squeezes it.

“I can keep you company while they go,” Chastity muses, half-joking.

“You’re coming with me,” I say to her, saving Rhodes from the aneurysm he’s about to have.

Emory’s jaw tightens. “And you’re going where?”

I cross my arms and raise an eyebrow at my new husband and his insolent tone.

“To get a dress.”

His eyebrows furrow. “We’re already married. Why do you need a dress?”

“For our wedding photos.”

His jaw slacks, and I sigh. I gesture to the room and land on the peeling wallpaper that’s straight out of the 1960s. “If you want me to sell our marriage to the media, we’re going to need something more than a quick city hall elopement in a room that reeks of must.”

Emory scowls, but in the end, he murmurs the wordfine.

I wave goodbye to Ellie, and she gives me a thumbs-up before mouthing, “I’ll pick out a big ring!”

I giggle softly. Emory catches me smiling, and something races across his face that I can’t decipher even if I tried.

When they’re all gone, I look over at Chastity. “You ready?”

“Where are we going to get a dress?”

I grab my keys off the table. “The thrift store, obviously.”

Eighteen

EMORY

The ringon my finger is heavy.

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