Page 57 of When to Call a Blitz

“You’re not telling me what you said yet,” Mila says, always straight to the point.

I think about it for a second. “You know, I don’t even really remember what I said.”

Silence. “You’re kidding me, right?”

“Nope. No idea. It was an out of body experience.”

Mila sighs. “I assume you want me to assemble the girls.”

“That would be lovely.”

“If he had his hands around you in any way, he wants you,” Isla nods, taking a sip of her martini.

Briar nods beside her. “Sweetie, why don’t you go play in your room?” she tells Elara, who’s sitting at the coffee table pretending to do a puzzle but is very much tuned in. Leo was off doing some press for the team tonight, and she didn’t have anywhere to take her.

“The boy has issues,” Briar sits back on her couch. “But it’s because he has a big heart that he has them. He barely lets anyone in, trust me, I know that. But once you’re in, you’re in.”

Mila starts shaking her drink in the kitchen. She had called an emergency meeting and considering our place was completely covered in, well, anything and everything, we decided it would be easier to go to Briar’s.

The TV plays a random romcom in front of us while Champ, their dog, sleeps peacefully in the corner of the room.

Elara rolls her eyes. “I know you’re talking about Uncle Emmett, mom.”

“That’s exactly why you should go find something to do in your room,” Briar tells her, reaching over to run her fingers through her daughter’s hair.

“But—”

“Uncle Emmett deserves some privacy, don’t you think? Let’s get you set up in your room,” Briar says finally.

One of the first things Briar asked when I got here before everyone else was how Juniper was doing, since both the girls have been acting up lately. Briar doesn’t know if it’s because of their age or if something else had been happening in school, but she and Emmett had been talking about it and trying to get to the bottom of it all.

Although I’ve absolutely seen Juniper misbehave, I haven’t heard much about how she’s been at school other than what Emmett had told me when he first hired me.

“I feel like you need to just, I don’t know, really show him exactly what he’s missing. Why he needs you in his life.”

I consider this. On one hand, it’s always nice to be chased. To have someone who knows that they want you so badly that they’ll do anything to make it happen. On the other hand, Emmett and I have a special connection because of life experiences, and I understand his pain.

I understand what he could lose.

“How would I even go about doing that?” I ask more to myself than anything.

“You blitz him,” Isla says, her face stony.

“I what?”

“You blitz him. If there’s one thing that boy knows more than anything it’s football.”

I look around at the three women curled up on the couch, all looking at me like I should know exactly what they’re suggesting. “What?” My voice somehow comes out an octave higher.

Briar bites her lip. “I think she’s right. A blitz is a defensive move where there’s a lot of defensive players rushing the other team’s quarterback. So I mean,” she pauses, shrugging while taking a sip of her drink. “Emmett’s your quarterback. Blitz him.”

I open my mouth, but no words seem to come out. My brain feels like it’s buzzing in my skull.

Mila smiles. “I mean, they have a point Heidi. Just be around him all the time. Take out your tits. You have amazing ones. Do the bend-and-snap in front of him. I don’t know. Just make sure that he can’t stop thinking about you.”

Briar and Isla nod enthusiastically, and Briar adds, “Exactly. I mean the whole point of the tactic is to force the quarterback to make a mistake. Well,” there’s a pause, “Or they get sacked. So, I mean, as long as everything is consensual, you guys will win either way.”

I have to fight back the smile. “I guess I’m just worried that he’s going to hate that. Or that I’ll look desperate.”

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