Page 108 of False Start

“If they’re anything like Frances, yes.” Her eyes slid over to him even as I pulled her down the staircase.

“My friends call me Frankie.” He opened the passenger side door, holding out a hand to help her inside. As he shut the door, he shot me a cocky wink that made my blood boil.

“Hands off, Vigil,” I warned him, but the smile didn’t slip from his face on the way into the backseat.

We drove out of the city and into the suburbs. Coach Simmons lived in the palatial hills overlooking the ocean. The views were amazing, but there was nothing on this side of Norwalk other than golf courses and early dinners. I preferred the buzz of the city, but after nearly burning his coaching career to the ground, I understood better why Coach Simmons preferred to keep his life quiet.

“So, Frankie, Trent tells me you spent the spring in Puerto Rico.”Kit adjusted her dress over her knees as she shifted to face Frankie in the backseat. I tried not to let the quick view of flesh distract me from driving but she caught my eye, giving me a guarded grin.

“With my family. It gave me a break from Trent.” He leaned forward, his head inserted between us.

“I can understand that,” she teased.

“He’s a little much, but easy to love.” Frankie squeezed my shoulder, his eyes fixed on Kit.

I pulled up to the valet, handing over my keys as I slid out the car. Kit’s gaze wandered up the widest staircase to the McMansion that Coach Simmons bought his second season as coach for the fledgling NFL team.

“Wow,” she breathed.

“Not exactly the type of houses we grew up in, huh?” Frankie elbowed her side before taking her arm. She grinned, leaning into Frankie as he led her up the steps. Fucking asshole.

“How do you know what kind of house Kit grew up in?” I asked, bristling at the easy familiarity between the two after knowing each other for barely an hour.

“This definitely isn’t anywhere close to the type of house I grew up in.” Kit ignored me, focus entirely on myformerbest friend. “We lived in a rented duplex most of my childhood. Wemoved into an old two-story in town when I graduated middle school.”

“Our family of eight lived in a three-bedroom house my grandfather owned. It was…cozy.”

I bit my lip, waiting for the opportunity to slip into the conversation.

We walked through the entrance and out through the kitchen into the backyard. A line of grills sat on the far edge of the pool, chefs in white hats and jackets sweltering in the summer sun. Frankie pulled Kit toward the bar on the opposite end of the pool, past the staff, coaches and teammates I’d spend way too much time with in the coming months.

“Trent! What the hell have you been up to?” Diego Salazar stopped me, his voice booming.

I turned to find him splayed out on a beach chair. My eyes traveled over our star quarterback to the woman in a black bikini beside him.

“Hey, Cas.” I smiled brightly, the heat of Diego’s glare easing some of the anxiety Frankie had caused. “I heard you and Cas traveled through Asia during the break. How was it?”

Cassandra sat up, eyes bright and body pitching over Diegotowardme. “So much fun. We had a blast. I was hurt you didn’t want to come joinus though.”

Her pink lips puffed out in a pout meant to needle Diego. And judging by the frown, it was working wonders. I rounded his chair to sit beside Cassandra. “Diego didn’t pass that offer along. Had I known, I might have blown off hanging around Norwalk.”

She gave me a good-natured shove. “Sure. Don’t act like you ‘hung around Norwalk’ all off season. I saw your other social media account. You went on a car rally with a cutie!”

My eyes darted back to the line for the bar. “She’s here, and she’d be super uncomfortable if she heard you calling her that.”

Cas’s brown eyes widened, searching the crowd. “Seriously? She’s here? It’s been a month and she’s still around?”

“She’s just a friend.”

Alright, a hell of a lot more than a friend, but I didn’t need to tell Cassandra and Diego that. They’d seen the parade of models and influencers I’d bought extra tickets for during the season. None of them lasting more than a couple of weeks.

“Is she?” Cas bit her bottom lip, exchanging a look with Diego that spelled trouble. “So, are we going to meet her?”

“I’d love to introduce you, but currently Frankie is hanging all over her.” He had a hand at the small of her back as they ordered drinks at the bar, and I pushed back an impulse to stand up and swat it away.

“Oh.” Cassandra sat up from the chair, eyes on the bar. “Frankie! Over here!”

She waved wildly, throwing her voice over the kids yelling in the pool and the general conversation.

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