Page 10 of Play Your Part

I opened my mouth to say something, my gut churning at the devastation in her voice when Gemma burst through the door from the house.

“Oh, thank God. Kennedy,” she said as she walked toward us, “I’ve been looking all over for you.”

Kennedy Cole.That solved one mystery but left me with the other—how she could have tolerated Ward in her life for so long.

Kennedy pushed herself to her feet, spinning to face us. Her eyes grew wide when they landed on me. She forgot I was there.

“I told you I was getting air,” Kennedy said.

At the same time, I blurted, “Did you know she wasdatingJustin Ward?”

Gemma looked at Kennedy, one eyebrow raised. “You toldhim? I couldn’t even tell Matt!”

“I didn’t tell him anything,” Kennedy said, nose wrinkled. “I guess he stole it out of me. Like he stole the team.”

“I didnotsteal the team.”

Gemma placed a hand on my shoulder. “There’s no point arguing with her,” she whispered.

“Hey…” Kennedy began, hearing the words Gemma meant only for me.

Gemma took a step forward and talked to her in a soothing tone. “Why don’t we go home? I can bake cookies, and we can snuggle on the couch and watch that show you’re always telling me about.”

Kennedy transferred some of her weight to Gemma, then sniffled into her shoulder. “Really?”

Gemma nodded, draping her arm across Kennedy’s shoulders. “Alexei, can you tell Matt we’re grabbing an Uber home?” Gemma asked over her shoulder as she led Kennedy down the steps. She didn’t wait for me to agree before saying, “All right, Kens, hang in there. We’ll be home soon.”

I headed back into the party after Gemma and Kennedy disappeared. When I found Matt, I didn’t tell him about my run-in with Kennedy Cole, too exhausted—and honestly relieved—to be free of the train wreck of a situation. I only relayed Gemma’s message before heading to my own home.

I had a sneaking suspicion this was going to be one hell of a season.

5

KENNEDY

Thesoundofthedoor swinging open pulled me from a dreamless sleep. The heavy feeling in my skull reminded me of all that had happened yesterday. The breakup. Excessive drinking.

Alexei freaking Volkov invading space that did not belong to him.

My mouth felt like sandpaper, but my head pounded so hard, I couldn’t bear the thought of getting out of bed. I sighed deeply, keeping my eyes closed, hoping the originator of the sound would get the hint and leave me alone.

“Kennedy Elizabeth Cole.” The bed dipped as Gemma hopped onto it, settling in beside me.

Gemma’s expression stopped me cold in my tracks. “What’s wrong?”

She thrust her phone into my face. “Did you hook up with Alexei Volkov?”

I seized the phone, analyzing the photo on the screen. In it, I wore the sapphire dress from the party and stood on the deck in my backyard. From the angle of the photo, it looked like Alexei and I were kissing. His hands held me, and our heads dipped toward each other.

“This isn’t what it looks like,” I said, forcing a laugh, attempting to feel lighter than I actually did.

The photo was uploaded to Instagram with the captionVolk cleans up at every partyand had already amassed fifty thousand likes.Crap.

The silver lining? Alexei mostly hid my face, and only those who knew me well or saw me at the party would realize it was me. In other words, a small circle.Phew.

Gemma tapped her bottom lip. “What were you two talking about anyway?”

“Mostly how much I hate him.”

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