Page 253 of The Reluctant Hero

“Too true,” Jake agrees easily.

“Shut the fuck up, all of you,” Cade bites out and paces away from them.

Before he can get far, Ace hauls back and launches the football at him. It hits him in the center of his back and bounces over his head to land in front of him. His feet freeze. I can see the building rage on his face. He’s looking right at me. I take a breath to put a stop to the teasing when his eyes move to the ball, and his expression becomes coated in pain. It’s entirely emotional. He looks ready to crumble at the sight of one ball rolling around at his feet.

Shit. I thought this might help. Me and my dumb ideas.

I set Jakob on the table and stand up, taking two steps toward him, when his eyes jerk up to meet mine. He takes in my expression, whatever it is, and his brows start to furrow. The confusion slowly morphs into surprise as he eyes my frozen form. My hand is lifted as if I could stop his crumbling from a distance.

Cade looks back at the ball and swiftly picks it up with one hand, his grip sure. When he straightens, he points it at me with a sly smirk.

“Sit down and get ready.”

I blink in surprise, my hand dropping to my side.

He turns his back on me and runs a finger along his left ear. For some reason, the move excites Jake.

“Cade’s team,” he calls and gets into position.

I’m expecting Ace and Mikael to trounce them. They’re both powerhouses against the two younger men. Ace has a menacing grin as he gets ready. Mikael looks perfectly calm, his eyes on Cade. Jake is watching Cade closely. He’s grinning, butunderneath it, I can see his laser focus on the man, taking apart whatever he’s thinking before he even settles his feet.

As they begin, several things become apparent.

Jake and Cade move like a well-oiled machine together. Ace and Mikael are the same but slower. More mass means more weight. Jake dances away from Mikael with a purpose, shooting away and glancing back. Cade dodges Ace and rears back to launch the ball. I’m expecting it to fall short. Jake is a lot farther away than I thought he could be in mere seconds. The ball sails in a perfect arc and lands in Jake’s hands as if it was magnetized.

I gape as Jake jogs back, and they get ready to do it again. My eyes meet Cade’s as he retakes the ball. He smiles and winks at me. My damn heart stutters at the surprising attention, something that isn’t coated with sly charm at all. Just a man flirting with a woman he likes and strutting around like a peacock because he knows damn well he looks good.

I settle back to enjoy the show.

Ace takes a turn launching the football, and I’m hysterical as both Jake and Cade focus totally on Mikael. They both plow into him with heavy thuds and hang off of him like rabid dogs. Mikael just keeps running, stumbling sometimes but hauling them anyway. They’re so focused they don’t realize that Ace faked them out and is casually walking to the imaginary finish line. Mikael doesn’t stop until it’s too late.

A lot of cursing follows the play.

“There’s work to be done.”

Gabriel’s cold voice washes over me from behind. My laughter slowly dies. Behind me is a man frozen into work mode. In front of me, there are four men taunting each other like best friends.

“Oh yeah? What’s going on?” I ask him without turning around.

He hesitates and then says, “We don’t have anything yet.”

My lips firm at that. This asshole just straight-up lied to me. I could smell that bullshit from a mile away.

They have something, and they’re leaving me out of it.

I knew they would before they even had a chance to think about it. I’m not going to let it ruin me. I have my own team to work with.

I watch the rest of his team play around, mocking each other. Slapping each other on the back to celebrate until the lines between the two teams blur. Cade is good enough that all three of the others turn on him in a snap, dragging him down while he laughs.

“We need to focus.”

“Cade needs this,” I answer him flatly. My hand moves to pick Jakob off the table and settle it in my lap. I don't know why I need it for this conversation, but it helps shore me up.

“He could have this later,” he replies as if he’s a robot.

I blink, hurt by his refusal to see the people having a simple morning together. Enjoying themselves. Does he have to freeze out everyone else, too? Can’t they have something that isn’t all doom and gloom?

“Sometimes later isnever,” I bite back and stand, turning to leave. He ruined my enjoyment of this. This time, I’m the one walking away in disgust.

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