Page 3 of Well Played

“Okay. Stay on the line, and see if it’s safe to maneuver around him and get outside.”

I nodded. Realizing I was still naked, I tugged the sheet from the bed and wrapped it around me. Then I took one hesitant step and waited to see if the man moved. He didn’t. So I took another step, and then another until I was close enough to lean to one side and get a look at the intruder’s turned-away face.

I gasped.

“Presley? Are you still there?” the 9-1-1 operator asked. “Is everything okay?”

“Oh my God!”

“What’s going on, Presley?”

“I think it’s Levi!”

“You know the intruder?”

“Yes. He’s Tanner’s brother.”

“And who’s Tanner, Presley?”

“He’s my ex-fiancé.”

“What’s Tanner’s last name?”

“Miller.”

“Miller?”

“Yes.”

“Okay. So the man on the floor is Levi Miller, then?”

“Yes.”

“The same name as the football player?”

I shook my head. “No, not the same name as the football player—theactualplayer. I think I just killed the Super Bowl MVP quarterback.”

***

“I’m fine,” Levi growled at the paramedic from the other room.

The police had separated us, asking me to take a seat in the kitchen and keeping him in the adjoining living room. I peered around the police officer sitting across from me to see what was going on.

“Sir, you lost consciousness. There’s a good chance you have a concussion. Plus, you need a few stitches.”

“I’ll walk over to Doc Matthews’ house down the block. He’ll stitch me up and check me out.”

The paramedic frowned. “That’s not a good idea. We need to take you to Memorial.” She fussed, trying to wipe his head with gauze.

The police officer sitting across from me finished writing notes in his pad and shut it. “So you didn’t know it was your ex-fiancé’s brother when you attacked him? You didn’t recognize a famous football player you’ve known all your life?”

“I didn’t attack him. I told you. I was dancing, and he walked in on me. He has a full beard now, and I’d never seen him with one before. I got scared and picked up the first thing I could grab and threw it at him. It was an accident. I thought he was a robber or something.”

“And you were dancing…naked?”

“Yes.”

He flipped open his notepad and started to write again.

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