Page 56 of Wild Catch
“You’re the whole meal, baby,” she says with a nod.
“Erm, thanks.” My lips twitch. I put my hands on my hips. “Anyway, are you sure you don’t want to join us? We might need your dry humor to oxygenate the overly perfumed air of the WAGs.”
“Hard freaking pass.” Audrey points at her iPad, at her feet on the ottoman and the cozy blanket wrapped around her. “My life goal is to be a burrito, not a WAG for anyone.” She shudders delicately.
“Anyone?” My eyebrows rise. “Like players only or everyone?”
“Everyone. Guys suck.” She presses her lips.
Normally I’d agree with my whole chest, but my lips stay glued.
“Unfortunately, we have to go,” Hope reminds us. “The guys have been waiting for us for like ten minutes.”
I cringe. “Maybe we should’ve let them in.”
“My bad, I wasn’t mentally prepared for boy cooties today. Can I now go back to my cozy game?” Audrey asks, eyes wide and pleading.
“Fine. Don’t wait up for us, grandma.” I blow a kiss at her and she waves her hand in the universal shoo manner.
Hope is a bit ahead of me so she opens the front door and—there’s some hooting and whistling immediately.
“Va va boom! You’re gonna set my truck on fire, darlin’,” Cade calls out from the driver’s seat, the passenger’s window rolled down for his shenanigans.
“Oh, shut up you weirdo.” But Hope’s words lack any bite, especially because she’s giggling up a storm as she jogs down the way to the truck.
From the backseat, I can spot Logan running a hand down his face like he’s embarrassed to be in the vicinity of the other couple. It makes me want to give him crap.
As I hop on the backseat next to him, I tease, “Do I look so bad that I don’t get any sugar?”
Logan Kim, famous mastermind of the Orlando Wild, does a whole double take and mutters, “What? No, you look fine.”
Well, ouch.
“Fine?” Cade exclaims, twisting around to look at us. “Dude, that’s not how you woo a lady.”
“Woo?” Logan scoffs and looks out the opposite window. “Look at you using big words when we all had to help your ass get together with Hope.”
Completely not stung by that, Cade bobs his head and says, “That’s true, but what you did was give me wings to bring on my flirting A-game. You may not have needed help getting the lady, but clearly you need helping keeping her.”
Logan, who has had his arms folded all along, squeezes them hard enough that I’m worried for his circulation. Cade’s comment might’ve hit home, either because Logan’s aware that I’m not a real girlfriend to keep around, or because maybe his past relationships haven’t been super great.
I rack my brains, trying to remember if I’ve ever seen him on a long term one and I can’t. What’s clear though is that I have to change the topic.
I fasten my seatbelt. “Anyway, what else are we waiting for here? Let’s go!”
“Yeah, let’s. I am so excited that I could barf,” Hope comments with sarcasm dripping from her words.
“It’s going to be great.” Cade keeps his left hand on the steering wheel, his right one traveling over the middle console to—and here I stretch to the side to see—grab Hope’s thigh. Quite high, if you ask me. “If the evening sucks, we’ll escape and go get pizza.”
“No pizza for you,” Logan grouches from next to me. “Only when you play a perfect game.”
“But—”
“No.”
“Hope,” Cade whispers in a far too loud tone. “Why did you invite him?”
She answers in kind. “I thought it’d be more fun if it was a double date.”
