Page 58 of Broken Player

He chuckled and snatched his phone out of the cupholder, scrolling through the messages he'd missed. He tapped frantically on the glass before sliding it into his pocket and flinging his door open. I followed, hopping down out of his truck and feeling the shock of the impact of my heels on the parking lot's hard-packed dirt. We started walking toward the building as my sister's car pulled into the lot.

I turned to Quinn. "Is he okay?" I didn't have to clarify who I meant, Quinn knew.

He sighed. "Not really, Lancelot. He really thought you'd change your mind by now. To be honest, I thought you would, too. You know how fucked up this all is, right?" he asked gently.

My eyes stung, but I blinked and forced the tears back. If I let them out now, I wasn't sure I'd ever be able to stop. "I know," I whispered, keeping my eyes on my sisters approaching. "But I don't know what else to do."

"Give in to what you really want. Don't make him suffer, but more importantly, don't makeyousuffer. You deserve better than that asshole and his stuck up family, even if it's only temporary. Who knows what kind of shit he might try to pull once you sign on the dotted line?"

I bit my lip because I hadn't thought about that. Would Yates go back on our agreement if the marriage worked for what he needed? What if I couldn't get out once we were married? Shit.

I didn't have a chance to talk about it anymore because my sisters finally made it over to where we were standing by the front door.

"I don't know about you three, but I'msoready for a beer," Charlie declared, pulling the door open. I let out a sigh of relief as the cold, air-conditioned air rushed out the open door and smacked me right in the face.

We found a booth and slid in, not wasting any time ordering a sample of every beer the brewery had on tap plus burgers, fries, and onion rings. Quinn looked like he'd died and gone to heaven. I was so nervous about this morning. I hadn't eaten anything for breakfast, so my stomach was growling loudly, and my mouth watered as the waitress set my burger down in front of me.

I raised one of my glasses of a light-colored beer with little bubbles rising up inside of it. "Thank you guys for being here with me. It means so much that I don't have to do this alone," I toasted, lifting my glass up and toward the middle of the table. The three of them lifted their glasses and clinked with mine before we all sipped.

"Now that we've all eaten and had a beer, I want to know what the hell is going on," Charlie demanded, leveling me with a probing stare.

"I second that," Justice echoed.

Quinn's eyes jumped to mine, but I wasn't sure what he was trying to communicate to me. "What do you mean?" I feignedinnocence, blinking a couple of times and looking back at my sister with what I hoped would pass for a curious if not blank expression.

Justice scoffed and folded her arms across her chest. "This is how you're going to play this? Seriously?"

"Play what? I'm getting married tomorrow. It's not exactly a secret." I glanced down, picking at the chipped nail polish on my finger. I couldn't remember when I last painted my nails, and it suddenly dawned on me that I should probably do something about that before tomorrow.

Charlie leaned forward over the table and lowered her voice. "There's no goddamn way you love Yates, Ryan. We know you better than that. Remember how you always used to talk about Maddox? How whenever he came around when we were kids, you paraded him around because you were so smitten with him you couldn't stand to keep it to yourself?That'sthe real you. This?" She gestured at me. "There's something not right about this. I can see the dread in your eyes. There's something you're not telling us."

Justice's gaze softened, and she leaned forward, too. "We can get you out of this, Ryan. You don't even have to tell us what's going on, but please don't marry some guy you don't love. It's not fair to him, not fair to you, and not fair to the guy who actually loves you."

I shot a withering glare at Quinn because only he could have told my sisters about Maddox. He held up his hands. "Don't look at me."

Justice laughed. "Don't kill Quinn, mom told us."

I lowered my head into my hands and groaned. "This family is horrible at keeping secrets."

"Is that such a bad thing?" Charlie asked.

"Yes! This right here is why I can't tell you two what's going on. Just know that what I'm doing tomorrow I'm doing for all the best reasons," I promised, hoping they'd take that and let it go.

"You're really not going to tell us?" Justice questioned.

"Nope," I said, popping a fry into my mouth and washing it down with a sip of the dark beer I'd moved onto. It was much more my speed.

"Fine, keep your secrets, but the offer still stands. We'll drive the getaway car if you need it," Charlie finished, leaning back in her chair. My body relaxed as I realized the interrogation was over.

"Personally, I'm rooting for Maddox," Quinn chimed in with a sly grin.

Both of my sisters laughed. "I think we all are, Quinn," Justice agreed.

"Anyway," I cut in, not wanting to continue that line of conversation. Maddox was my weakness. He always had been. My resolve was weakening by the minute to go through with this sham. If I allowed my mind and heart to open up to the possibility that he could be mine, this whole thing would be over before it really began. "Who's up for mani-pedis?"

With a pretty decent buzz, a full stomach, and most of my favorite people at my side, I felt ready to face the rest of the day. Or at least the next hour.

The four ofus had gone shopping after hitting up the nail salon because I needed an outfit toimpresstonight. I didn't really give a shit what Yates's family and friends thought of me, but he'd been texting me all day about how important it was to him to keep up appearances. We weren't going through with thisbogus wedding just for me. He needed something out of it, too, and I agreed to hold up my end of the bargain.

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