Page 8 of Love on the Waiver Wire

I gape at him. “I haven’t even researched anything about the players this season, Leo.”

“I mean, you’re first overall, and I figured you’d pick me first like you used to,” he states, walking across the room to take a seat on my couch.

“What kind of draft is it?”

“Snake”

“Leo!”

“What?”

I groan, throwing back my wine before filling the glass again. “You do know that means that I’m picking first overall in a league I’ve never played in, with players I don’t know, and then I don’t pick again until the twenty-fourth pick, right? That’s a lot of time for me to just be sitting here at my laptop twiddling my goddamn thumbs, right? I can’t pick you in the first round.”

“You used to!”

“Because we were playing with people who didn’t know what the hell they were doing. Mom used to pick a kicker in the first round, Leo. The first overall pick made it all the way to the 8th round the last year we played.”

He weighs my words, his arms folded over his chest.

“You’re going to be okay with whatever you do, just please?”

The thing is, I know that I don’t have any other option. When Leo asks something, he’s persistent. He’s annoying. He’s like a little tiny pest under your skin, and he’ll keep asking and asking until he eventually gets what he wants.

It’s how it’s always been.

“Fine,” I tell him, annoyed, as I turn to grab my laptop.

“Yes! Thank you, Isla, you’re seriously saving my ass.” He gets up, ready to head back out, when he pauses, turning back on his heel to look at me. “I have one more thing to tell you,” he says.

I nod, hoping he’ll go on and stop looking at me with guilty eyes.

“Well, I told the guys your name is Ian. You work with the team.”

Tossing back my head, I let out a loud groan. Why does everything he does have to be so complicated? Why can’t things be simple?

“Why would you do that?”

“Because I said that all the players have to be on the team, and I didn’t want to bend the rules that bad, but also because I don’t want any of them flirting with you.”

That’s just—there’s no reason he should be concerned about any of the players flirting with me. I’ve been around them plenty, and all I’ve felt is sibling love from them. Well, from almost all of them.

“Why do you care so much?”

He throws up his hands. “Because I don’t want to deal with one of them hurting you and then having to play with them like everything is fine, okay? Not only would I be pissed at them, but I’d be upset at myself for not stopping it so that you wouldn’t get hurt. Most of those guys are players.”

“Like you?”

“Exactly like me.”

“Well, don’t worry because I’m not going to fuck your buddies.” I open my laptop with a huff, pulling up the fantasy website before turning the screen to him. “Sign me in commish.”

5

OWEN

Leo’s apartment smells like grease and the strongest body spray you can possibly imagine. It always does when he has everyone over. Some of these guys haven’t learned how to actually apply that stuff without overdoing it yet.

“Want some pizza?” Cooper asks from behind the counter as he passes out plates.

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