Page 31 of Power Play Pursuit

“You girls go ahead. I’ll stay with this one in case he faints again,” Miles says, and they keep bickering about the car and James’ head as Marissa and I exit the apartment.

Once we’re in the elevator, Marissa turns to me. “Are you going to be okay?”

“What? Taking care of James?” I swat a hand through the air dismissively. “I’ll be fine.”

“Were you the one who offered?” she asks, her blue eyes set on me.

I stare at the floor. “Yeah, I did. Felt bad about him having to stay at the hospital because he didn’t have anyone.”

“Well, Aaron would have stayed with him, for sure,” Marissa says as the elevator chimes open.

My cheeks heat up. “Oh, right.” To tell the truth, I didn’t even think about that. Of course he would have. Half of the team would have stayed over.

“But it’s better this way. I’m sure James would prefer you taking care of him. He wouldn’t get any rest with Aaron,” she says with a chuckle.

“Yeah,” I say quietly as she unlocks her front door and pushes it open. “Honestly, I wasn’t really thinking when I offered. It just felt right, I don’t know. Plus, I’m kind of in between places.”

I almost tell her that I feel guilty about what happened, but I don’t want to invite even more prying questions. Right now, everyone thinks that fight was just the product of that stupid Sharks-Raptors rivalry, and I’m cool with that.

I grab a change of clothes for tomorrow, my beauty products, and a set of pajamas. “I think that’s all I’ll need for one night,” I say, scanning the room to make sure I’ve got everything.

She arches an eyebrow. “That’syour overnight bag?”

“What?” I say, glancing at my large tote of skincare products. “We won’t be twenty-eight forever, Marissa. Gotta take care of our skin.”

She bubbles out a laugh as she walks me back to the entrance. “Do you need help with that?”

“I’m good.” I give her a nod. “Talk tomorrow?”

“I already called Celia, and she said she can open for us. Feel free to come in whenever. Heaven knows if you’ll get any sleep with that one.”

My cheeks effectively burst into flames, and I try to stutter out a reply.

“He’s probably going toloveyou taking care of him. And I think he’ll need a lot of attention.” She winks.

“Marissa!” I blurt out, almost dropping everything I’m holding.

“I’m kidding,” she says.“But seriously, it’s two a.m. already, and you do have to keep an eye on him, so I’ll open with Celia.”

“All right,” I say, shaking my head. “See you tomorrow.”

I walk back to the elevator, my heart still pounding with every step that I take.

When I get back upstairs, their laughter carries from further in the apartment. I close the door behind me and venture inside. On the left, at the end of the hallway, is a large living area with a dining room, living room, and the most beautiful kitchen I’ve ever seen. White marble countertops, shiny stainless-steel appliances, and plenty of counter space for making elaborate preparations.

“There she is,” James says from the couch, and they both stand up.

“All right, bro,” Aaron says, wrapping him in a hug. “Get some rest, okay?” He taps my arm as he walks past me, offering a smile. “Later, Beth.”

“Here. Let me help you with that,” James says, grabbing my beauty bag. His eyes widen. “Wow, that’s heavy. What do you have in here? Is it kinky?”

I roll my eyes. “Beauty products.”

“Beaut—” He breathes out a huff, shaking his head. “What kind of nonsense is that? I’m pretty sure you don’t need half the things in here.”

“Um, I do, actually.”

He frowns, opening the bag slowly just to gauge my annoyance. Frankly, I don’t really care. “Hmm. Let’s see what we have here. Day cream, serum, night cream, some kind of weird-looking patches, serum, another serum.” He stops to gawk at me. “How many serums do you have, Elizabeth?”

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