Page 12 of Playing to Win

“Yeah?”

“How does it feel?” I look at him, wondering what he’s talking about.

“How does what feel?”

“To fall in love, fucker. Welcome to the club.” He doesn’t stick around for my answer. The asshole hightails it back to Fawn like he didn’t just drop a bomb in my lap. Damn if he’s not right. Danica has me all tied up in knots, and I’m finding I don’t mind it all.

EIGHTEEN

Danica

“I’m not movingin with him,” I tell Nessa, Millie, Fawn, Amelie, and Mallory. Never in my life have I had this many people in one room surrounding me. It feels strange yet nice. Theo dropped a bomb on me this morning before he walked out of the hospital room stating he had to go to a meeting but would be back before the doctor made his rounds to release me. I was moving in with him, or he’d move into my apartment with me. Fucking caveman. The next thing he’s going to do is carry me out of the hospital over his shoulder. No doubt the only thing stopping him is my concussion.

“Then I guess he’s moving in with you.” Fawn shrugs her shoulders, a slight smile on her face. She knows that I know that won’t be happening.

“It’s not a bad thing, you know. We all fell for one of the guys, hard and fast. Now look at us. We love them, they give great orgasms, and well, we’re not complaining,” Millie says matter-of-factly.

“Hold off on the orgasms. You’ll be on concussion protocol for a few more days before you can have all the fun you want,” Nessa says before taking a sip of the coffee Millie brought all of us along with bagels, pastries, and cake pops.

“Don’t be a buzz kill,” Millie retorts.

“Ugh, he’s not moving in with me either.” And I’m not staying in my apartment building ever again. Which means, damn it to hell, I’m moving in with Theo until I can figure out where I’ll move next, and I’m sure he figured that little scenario out long before I did.

“Dani, you’re more than welcome to stay with me,” Mallory offers. I love her, but I love her penchant for cats less, as do my allergies. Mal is the epitome of an older cat lady. She currently has six indoor cats, and who knows how many she feeds outside.

“Thank you for the offer, but sadly, I might die from an anaphylactic shock if I stay with you.” I went to her house once, and even though she keeps her house cleaner than most, my body said nope, causing me to leave five minutes after I arrived.

“Then I guess you know what you’re doing,” Mallory finishes, smearing the cream cheese on my bagel. I’m obsessed with any type of cheese, but add cream cheese to the mix, and I love it even more. Thankfully, she knows my love language and has a healthy amount of the white goodness lathered on both sides of my bagel before handing it to me.

“Ugh, don’t tell the caveman that yet. I want to keep him on his toes, and I do like to yank his chain.” I shrug and sit up in my hospital bed. Millie brought the coffee and bagels. Nessa brought the doctor early this morning saying as long as I continue not to have any issues, I’m free to leave later this afternoon, but he wanted me here a full twenty-four hours. My bill is going to be through the roof even with insurance. Fawn and Sly brought a change of clothes and my toiletries. Funnily enough, my laptop was missing, as well as my phone. Theo must really be taking the no electronics thing seriously. And Mallory, my best friend, turned consort with the man who is stealing more than my attention. He’s making me rethink every single nuance of my life, and she’s right there egging him on, along for the ride, so to speak.

“Your secret is safe with us,” Nessa says proudly. None of these girls can keep secrets. Parker let me in on that when he dropped Nessa off this morning, and Boston smirked because the exception to the rule is Millie. Before we started talking about my issues, each of them told me how they met. Parker and Nessa at a charity event where Parker paid a significant amount for a date, like a whole lot of zeros behind the dot kind of amount. Ezra met Millie at the coffee shop, and he almost screwed up but thankfully pulled his head out of his ass, her words, not mine. Boston and Millie were different. Boston was down in New Orleans for work, became entranced, and they fell for one another. Only Boston’s dad is a grade-A douche canoe, and he came home to New York to keep him away from her. When Boston finally returned to New Orleans, he found out she’s pregnant. Sylvester and Fawn, well, she was hired to be his secretary at his law firm. Apparently, her dad and Sly worked together, and he’s older than her, significantly. The same can be said for Theo and me. What can I say? Clearly, we have all have a type, but don’t tell anyone I’m admitting that even to myself. I’m still coming to terms with it myself.

“Speaking of secrets, anyone know how long this meeting is going to last?” I ask the room. Yesterday, once everyone left and food was ordered and delivered, New York’s finest men in blue came to question me. I gave my statement as swiftly as possible without leaving anything out. Theo was pissed at me having to recount the events. Then they left. Now, mysteriously, none of them are here. Something smells fishy.

“No idea. When all five of them get together and it’s about work, well, it can last for hours. Usually, we’ll all go out to eat afterwards. Too bad Nurse Ratchet over here won’t let you flee the coop.” Millie points at Nessa.

“Please, as if you would,” Nessa counters.

“They’re on their way back now. Boston just sent a text, which means we need to wrap up talking shit about the guys and eat what we want before they devour everything in sight.” Millie takes a bite of the cheese Danish. I didn’t realize how isolated I was from the outside world. The world is a lonely place when you only have one true friend—Mallory. It’s no one’s fault except my own. I chose to stay closed off. Now that I have this group of friends, I’m realizing maybe being so alone wasn’t such a good thing after all.

“That didn’t take nearly as long as last time.” Fawn shrugs her shoulders. She’s probably used to long hours and appointments when working with Sly.

“Nope, what, three hours this time?” Millie asks.

“Dang, they’re getting faster. Pretty soon, it’ll be two hours. We won’t even have time to get our nails done without them horning in on our girl time,” Amelie adds.

“They better not. We’ll have to ruffle some feathers to keep them talking like a bunch of cackling hens,” Vanessa mutters, and we all laugh at her description of the five guys. They’re worse than most women, especially us.

NINETEEN

Theo

“Brian here likesto push his weight around. It came to my attention this morning before he was bailed out of jail that this wasn’t his first time assaulting a tenant in his building,” Sylvester states. This is news to me. Though, I’m not really surprised.

“What are you going to do to me?” Brian asks. His hands are behind his back, handcuffed. His ankles are zip-tied to each leg of the metal chair he’s in.

“No worse than what you’ve done to others,” I say. The baseball bat I came to use as a form of torture feels good in my hands. I’d have much rather kept this to a party of three—Sylvester, Bellamy, and myself. That would have never happened with this group. We’re tied together in a way where our bond is thicker than blood. All of us grew up in one form or the other watching one another’s back. Parker and Ezra in childhood and the rest of us in college. Bellamy has a stake in this now, too. Danica has wedged herself inside his heart like she has mine. Except she’s so far burrowed that I’ll never let her leave.

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