Page 24 of Beautiful Storm

“Come on. Don’t bullshit me.”

“Okay, fine. I hate the idea. The last thing I want is someone digging around in my private life.”

That’s what I figured.“Then why agree to help them?”

“I made a deal. I said I’d help if they kept me out of the spotlight. I’m more than happy to be featured when I’m here at the stadium, or for anything to do with the game, but my personal life is off-limits.”

“Fair deal, but…do you really think you’ll get much pushback?”Other than Dylan who’s probably thinking the same thing Thomas is.

Thomas raises an eyebrow. “I can name a few.”

“Well, I am not one of them. I have nothing to hide. Let them see it all.” I spread my arms wide, letting the world know I’m an open book, laughing to myself. But when I glance back at Thomas, he has a strange look on his face, making me pause until I register what I said. “Shit. I didn’t mean that you had something to hide. I—”

“Relax, I know. This expression,”—he waves his hand in front of his face—“is one of a man who does not want tosee it allwhen it comes to you. Why does it feel like you’re about to become famous for all the wrong reasons?”

I bark out another laugh while a knot forms in my stomach. “Because, my friend, I was born for this.” And the past is firmly locked in the past. I’m sure of it.

“God, what have they done?”

I try not to focus on the tension in my middle as we walk together to the locker rooms, and with the team all abuzz with the news, I easily push it from my mind. Then the second we run out onto the field, my focus shifts to where it should be…football.

Pre-season has barely begun, but I can already tell it’s going to be our year. When Thomas joined the team a few years back, the Super Bowl talk revved up, and since then, we’ve been getting stronger by the day. If it’s going to happen, I’d put all my moneyon it happening this year. Which, now that I think about it, is probably why they’re making a show about our team and why the bigwigs, as Wyatt called them, agreed to it. The networks get a boost to their ratings and we get more exposure. It’s a win-win.

As soon as I get home after practice, I dump my bag in the hall and head straight for the sliding door leading out back. “Shadow?” I call out into the yard, listening for my energetic black Labrador retriever, smiling as I anticipate her bound around the corner.

Only I’m met with silence.

“Shadow. Where are you, pup?”

Silence again.

Turning around, I groan as I walk back into the house, collecting my phone on my way to the living room.

I know exactly where she is. That pain-in-the-ass sister of mine has pup-napped my dogagain. She lived here for a few months, and now she thinks we’re co-parenting or something, and it drives me crazy.

I’ll admit, I got Shadow on a whim, and sure, it took me a little while to get used to the commitment, but now she’s my world. The only female I’ll let sleep in my room. My lifelong companion. And I want her back.

I dial Lainey’s number as I fall onto the couch.

“Chipmunk,” I whine when she answers. “Have you taken Shadow again?”

Lainey groans at the new nickname I’ve given her before confirming my suspicion. “I have. When’s the last time you walked her?”

“Yesterday.”

“Yesterday? Bullshit.”

“No bullshit. We went for a run along Edger’s Beach. She helped me meet a—”

“I don’t want to know about your hookups. And dammit, Shadow, you hustled me.”

“Shadow hustled you?” I question her slowly, not bothering to tell her that I didn’t actually hook up that time. It’s more fun to make her squirm.

“She did. I walked over to say hi and she was all sad with her puppy-dog eyes gazing longingly out the window. I assumed she’d been stuck inside.”

I try hard to hold back my laugh, but it bursts out of me. “Okay, yep. She most definitely hustled you.”

“I know,” she complains.

---