Page 50 of My Brother's Teammates

I covered my breasts while she started sponging the mixture on me. “You’re not…grossed out? By me and what I’m doing with the guys?”

She froze with her arm raised and her deep green eyes felt like they were peering through me. “Love is love, honey. Why would I be grossed out?”

I stammered and looked down. “Oh, no. It’s not love. We’re just getting to know each other. And we’re young. The guys have plans. I have plans. You know?”

“Tell me lies if you want, but don’t tell yourself too many of those.” She started patting the sponge to my skin again. “I met my Paul when I was just a girl. It was his papa who ran me out of town. When I saw my Paul ten years later, he was ready to follow in his father’s footsteps.”

I stared at her with wide eyes. “No! What happened?”

She grinned and I saw the same mischief in Axel’s eyes looking back at me. “I smacked him upside his head, told him his pa was a real gobshite, and then I stole his wallet.”

When Gran moved onto patting the next concoction on my neck and shoulder, I just moved how she wanted me so I could hear more of the story. “And then what happened?”

She threw her head back and laughed. “He tried to take me over his knee and spank me! After I spanked him back, he had no choice but to leave town with me. We got married a month later. Now look at us.”

I sighed wistfully. “Gran, that’s the best love story I’ve ever heard.”

“You need to get out more. I’ll tell my Axel to handle it.” Gran closed her purse and then motioned for me to hold my arms up while she pulled the new jersey over my head. “Have they told that handsome brother of yours yet?”

“No. I don’t know if we can. Jason… He’s just protective. It’s also reasonable that he doesn’t want me sleeping with his friends.” I stepped into the skirt, glad I’d shaved. “I imagine hearing that I’m sleeping with all three of his best friends might kill him.”

“Yet, you’re doing it anyway?”

Cringing, I wanted to hide and maybe cry a little, but I forced myself to meet Gran’s gaze and nodded. “I know. I’m not a good sister. Jason would do anything for me and I’m repaying him by sleeping with his best friends.”

“But?”

“But it’s not about him.” I lifted my chin. “It’s about me and the guys. I like them and they like me. They make me happy and I think I make them happy. I took a picture of Ryder smiling to show you. I knew you’d want a copy.”

She put her hand on mine. “Love doesn’t wait until you’re ready. It doesn’t come on a pretty spring morning when you’ve just had your hair done and your nails have no chips and you’re in your good panties. It stumbles in drunk on a stormy night, knocking things over and making a mess. It’s ugly before it’s beautiful a lot of times. The spirits talked to me, dearie, and they’re happy with you. Especially since you took a picture for me.”

I ignored the way my chest fluttered. “I don’t know if it’s as serious as what your spirits are telling you, Gran. I’ve never been that lucky before.”

She stretched up and worked with my hair for a minute before directing me to the mirror. “That new waitressing job is doing wonders for your butt. Or was this hiding in those leggings? I would murder a dozen men for a perky butt.”

I believed her and that should’ve scared me more than it did. Glancing up at the mirror, I planned on seeing the same thing I always saw, but my reflection made me do a double take. “Whoa.”

“After my stint as a pickpocket, I worked as a seamstress. I learned from a drag queen named Sparkles in Las Vegas after Paul and I moved to the States. The cut of a shirt can change your life.”

I was gawking at myself. I was in another tiny jersey top with Axel’s name on it but Gran had worked magic after seeing my sizes, apparently. The shirt hugged me perfectly and made my boobs look bigger than they had any right to look. The skirt was way shorter than anything I’d ever wear, but when I moved, it swished around my thighs and I felt sexy. She’d put another ribbon in my hair and the high ponytail was staying in place somehow. I didn’t understand her magic.

“If you make them lose the game, I’ll have to reconsider the sexiness factor. Now, let’s go. The spirits told me you wouldn’t consider wearing anything other than those ugly shoes, so it’s your lucky day.”

***Axel***

Themomentwecameout of the tunnel I spotted Jenny. Sandwiched between my mom and Gran, she looked like wet-dream Jenny. I’d stopped moving when I saw her and had nearly been run over by the whole defensive line.

I was risking Coach murdering me, but my legs carried me past the benches and to the stands. Jenny was cheering with my family and when she spotted me, her smile stretched so big that I didn’t care about what happened in the game. I’d already won.

I jumped up on the wall and grabbed the railing in front of Jenny. Holding my helmet in one hand and the railing with my other, I couldn’t touch her the way I wanted to, but that was probably best with my family watching.

She cocked her hip out to the side and flashed me another wide smile. Her whiskey eyes looked like honey in the stadium lighting and her red lips told me she’d been nervously chewing on them. She leaned forward and I got a view of her tits that made me glad I was wearing a cup. “Hey, number thirty-five, I think you got lost.”

I shook my head. “Don’t think so. This seems like a much better place for me to be.”

“Fitzgerald! What the fuck are you doing? This isn’t a social event!”

I glanced back at Coach and nodded before turning back to Jenny. “You look beautiful. You should always wear my number.”

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