Page 65 of Off Camera
“It makes me happy that you’re happy.” Maven smiles and lets go of my hand. “Am I allowed to say the thing I’ve been thinking since you all figured out who you were talking to online?”
“You know I’ll tell you anything,” I say. “What do you want to know?”
“I can’t help but wonder how much better the sex with Reid would be now. You all have tension and history. Emmy told mehate sex is the best, and I’m kind of jealous I’m never going to get to experience it.”
“Don’t be jealous. You have a man who worships you, Mae. You don’t want to know the kinds of things that are out there. The alternative is scary,” I say. “Besides, I wouldn’t know. I’m never going to have sex with that man again.”
A string in me pulls taut at the thought of Reid on his knees again.
Being pushed against the shower wall as he looked up at me with a shy smile on his mouth.
Another bouquet and my hands on the headboard as he whispered my name.
I don’t like him, but fuck if I don’t like the thought ofthat.
TWENTY
REID
“Didyou really have to wear all black?” I look Maverick up and down and sigh. “You look fucking ridiculous.”
“Of course I had to wear all black. This is a special operation. I couldn’t show up in fucking blue.” He switches the bag he’s holding to his left hand and smiles at the Thunderhawks intern walking us through the stadium. “So, Barry. You like football?”
“Yes, Mr. Miller, sir. I do. I also really like hockey. And basketball too. All sports, I guess. I want to work for a team full-time one day.” Barry holds the jersey Dallas signed close to his chest. “My brothers are going to be so jealous I met you. We’re diehard DC sports fans. I’ve been going to Titans games since before I could walk. They didn’t have any positions open when I wanted to apply, so I came to the Thunderhawks.”
“We really appreciate your help,” I say. “Avery is a good friend, and we wanted to celebrate her anniversary with the team by decorating her office before the game.”
“I wish I had an office. I clock in and stand in a corner until halftime.” Barry leads us down a hallway and turns left. “I still make it fun.”
“I bet you do, Bar.” Maverick messes up his hair, and Barry beams. “Now, look. This is a surprise, so can you do us a favorand not mention it to anyone that we were here? It would ruin the dramatic effect, and if there’s one thing you need to know about me, it’s that Ilovedrama.”
“Of course, Mr. Miller.” He stops us in front of a door and taps his keycard on the reader against the wall. “Take as long as you need. When you’re ready to head out, you’ll go the same way we came in.”
“Do you have a card with your information on it?” I ask. “If you email me your résumé, I can pass it along to HR.”
“Wow.” Barry pulls a wrinkled piece of paper from his pocket. He jots down his name, number, and email, and hands it to me. “Thank you so much. You two are so nice. Avery is lucky to have such great friends.”
“Yeah.” Maverick throws an arm over my shoulder. “She really is. Especially Reidy Boy here. He knows how to treat her right.”
“I’m going to kill you,” I say out of the corner of my mouth, shrugging him off. “Thanks, Barry. We appreciate it.”
I open the door and step inside Avery’s office. It’s small, about the size of my office at FedEx Field, and overlooks the twenty-yard line. There’s a desk in the middle. Pictures on the wall and a stack of personal development books on a small bookshelf.
I see her everywhere; the cardigan draped over the back of her chair. The vase of sunflowers and lilies. There are fifteen different pens spread out across a planner, and a whiteboard shows all the content she has planned for the next month.
For half a second, I wonder if I’m making a mistake by invading her personal space. I wonder if I’m violating some unspoken boundary in our game by storming into her safe haven and causing chaos.
“What’s wrong?” Maverick takes a seat on the leather couch under the window. A groan slips out of him, and he drops hishead against the wall. “Fuck, this is comfy. And she has a blanket too? I wonder if she sleeps here.”
My chest pinches tight.
I don’t like the thought of her being here alone. Late at night and curled up on a piece of furniture that’s too small, even for her. I don’t like the idea of her working herself to the bone. I don’t like imagining a world where she doesn’t take care of herself when the season starts, putting others first instead.
“Nothing.” I shake my head and clear the cobwebs. “Okay. We have two hundred ducks, but the goal isn’t to hide them all. I’ve numbered them, and we’re going to put a random number in random places. The idea is that she’ll think she’s found them all, but then the next duck will have an even higher number than the last one. She’ll have no clue how many she’s searching for, and it’s going to piss her off.”
“This is a good prank,” he says. “How many do you want to put out?”
“Sixty-five. It won’t be so obvious at first that she’s going to find a ton.”
