Page 22 of Plays Well With Others

With that settled, I turn back toward home, upbeat music from my sister’s favorite playlist blasting in my ears.

Along the way, my phone flashes a reminder—The meeting with Maddox is TODAY, you stud. In 1.5 hours.

When I near Alta Plaza Park, I’m a block away from my street, so I slow my pace to a walk. My heart pounds and sweat slides down my back, making my T-shirt stick to me, and my thighs scream with a good burn. The post-workout feel is the best. There’s nothing—except sex—that I enjoy as much as exercise.

When I reach my home, Monroe’s standing on his terrace next door like a stern daddy, tapping his watch, the tats on his forearm visible with the sleeves rolled up. He’s a man of contrasts—he wears a cardigan like a professor but his arms are covered in ink. He’s also in his mid-thirties but unfairly looks like he’s still in his twenties. The dude has gotten carded on two or three occasions when we’ve gone out with the guys. It’s ridiculous, especially since the fucker has an MD.

“You’re like a dog now, aren’t you?” I call out.

“I can tell time by my need to caffeinate,” he says.

As I bound up the steps, I hold up a finger. “Gimme two minutes to fire up the Slayer. Need to stretch the hammies first.”

He makes a show of setting a timer on his phone. “Fine. You’ve got two minutes to tell me about the party.”

Oh, boy. Here goes. “So, I guess there was a little role reversal in a thrift shop,” I begin as I bend my right leg and reach for my toes.

“Now, by role reversal do you mean she was wearing the secondhand PJ bottoms and you were wearing the tops?”

With my free hand, I flip him the bird. “Anyway, I needed a new shirt for…reasons,” I say, glossing over Rachel’s tears. Monroe raises an eyebrow, but he lets it slide, and I rush on before he changes his mind. “I was changing and stepped out of the room when I didn’t have a shirt on.”

“How thoughtful of you.”

“And it became this thing,” I continue. “You know how you said to joke about what had happened? Later at the party, she joked about it, and then I joked about it, and everything was defused…well, for a while.”

His eyebrows lift. “Sixty seconds. Keep going.”

Might as well skip to the good stuff. “And to make a long story short, right before I left the party, she said she wanted to get back on the horse, so I volunteered.”

Monroe straightens then just stares at me like I’ve lost it. “Well, that’s not really putting things behind you, is it?”

I hold up a hand. “Now wait a sec.”

“Sure. You’ve got forty-five more seconds on the clock.” He crosses his arms.

“I had to help out. This dealer dude was hitting on her. She clearly wasn’t into him. But when she said she wanted to get back out there, he threw his hat in the ring.” I sneer at the thought.That guy. How dare he. “And I was likeno fucking way.”

“Ah, I see. You were simply white-knighting.”

Now he gets it. “Rachel was giving off serioussave mevibes. It was the only thing to do.”

He sets a hand on his heart. “How very noble, offering to bang your hot bestie.”

“Relax, doc. I’ll see her soon and sort it all out.” Once I’m inside making him a cortado, I turn over his last words. Does Rachel think I was trying to get with her?

Shit. I’m going to need to fix this sooner than Tuesday. But first, I have to have a talk with my agent about Date Night. Too bad I can’t forget this meeting.

Before I hustle out of there, I rip the word of the day from my calendar.Jouissance. French origin, meaning pleasure or enjoyment.

Even my calendar is calling me out.

* * *

I don’t usually wear my rings. They’re big and tend to draw attention. Which is the point of winning the biggest game of the year, I suppose.

But there are two places where I like to wear the twins. One is when I meet my football buddies at the gym because my team, the Renegades, has won more Big Games than our cross-town rivals, the Hawks, and I’m friends with guys on both teams.

The other is on the golf course because I might run into the team owner there. And since he owns the golf course, too, there’s a better than even chance of our paths crossing.

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