Page 90 of False Play
“Have you forgotten how she and Hayes get whenever they are in a room together?” Parker added. “There’s no way Hayes would try anything with her.”
Parker wasn’t wrong. Being around my best friend and my sister was exhausting. They bickered every second they were around each other. It was always best to walk away.
“Plus, Hayes knows better than to get with my sister.”
Parker perked up. “So if Hayes isn’t?—”
I shot him a withering glare. “I dare you to finish that sentence, Levi James Parker.”
“Middle name and everything?” Hayes whistled. “Count your days, dude.”
Parker had the decency to look embarrassed as he mumbled, “Sorry.”
“That goes for all of you.” I looked around the room. “My sister is off fucking limits.”
Hayes threw a piece of popcorn in the air and caught it with his mouth. “I don’t think you have to worry about that. Olivia would make half of these grown men cry.”
I smirked at his comment.
He wasn’t wrong. Which was why I was still confused as to why she was leaving New York. Olivia had never been the type to run from her problems. I also knew how much she adored working as an athletic trainer with the Jaguars. But I couldn’t lie. I was excited to have her close. I missed her.
I clasped my hands. “Enough about my sister, let’s finish this before everyone gets here.”
TWENTY-THREE
KENNEDY
I LIKED KISSING MY FAKE BOYFRIEND…A LOT.
I was temptedto tell Brad about the shit Matt pulled with one of the most important employee events of the year.
But I didn’t.
Because I knew this was exactly what Matt wanted. He was taking every opportunity to make me look bad. I had no idea what I’d done to get on his bad side, but I was so fucking over it. It was obvious he wanted the job as badly as I did, and he was playing dirty tricks to get it. But I was a firm believer in karma. In due time, his was going to arrive.
“Kenny.” Henry’s voice brought me out of my racing thoughts. He crouched in front of me with a concerned look on his face. “You okay?”
“I need this day to be over. I’m exhausted.” The words slipped out of me easily. I almost wanted to laugh at how easy it had become to talk to him.
He reached for one of my curls, wrapping it around one of his fingers and twirling it. It always messed up my hair when he did it, but I didn’t have the heart to tell him. I kind of liked it.
“I think you’re going to be very happy with what the guysand I managed to put together.” He stood to his full height, interlacing my hand with his. The touch made my body warm and instantly relax.
The plexiglass walls were taken down, and we had gathered all of the couches from our offices to make a comfortable sitting area for the kids with board games and a TV in case they got tired of skating. This event was one of my favorites to plan. It was always this huge, wild day, and the good kind of crazy.
The tables Val and I had found to put the snacks on were covered with tablecloths of the team’s colors. An assortment of candies was organized by kind—chocolates, sours, gummies. There were a lot of thermoses with hot chocolate inside, with candy canes and marshmallows of all sorts of colors next to them, as well as a few portable coolers with the Strikers logo filled with all kinds of sodas, juices, and water.
“You did this all in under an hour?” I asked, baffled.
He laughed. “Some of the guys went with me. It kind of works, doesn’t it?” His phone pinged with a text, and he quickly glanced at it. “Oh, and I ordered pizza, too. I know we usually have one of the concessions open in case people want to order food, but I assumed that was out of the question with the manager being off and all.” He typed a quick text back then looked at me with a smile. “What do you think?”
Breathing was becoming difficult as I took everything in. My stomach fluttered with an army of butterflies, and my chest was tight, but in a good way. Like I had so much happiness inside me, it was hard to contain.
I stood on the tips of my toes and wrapped my arms around his neck in a tight hug. He buried his nose in my hair and inhaled deeply as he placed his arms around my waist, hugging me just as tightly. My heart wanted to take flight at the realization that, once again, Henry Anderson took care of me without an ounce of hesitancy.
I pulled back to meet his eyes. “Thank you.”
He offered me a kind smile. “No need to thank me.”
