Page 24 of Play Dirty

That’s new.

Brenna didn’t want our kids calling my teammates uncle. She said that was reserved for her brothers. Now that we’re not together, I’m not abiding by her stupid rules anymore.

“He can be so impressive,” Stevie murmurs as Connor and Effie walk ahead to the House of Horrors.

“Yeah, it’s hard to wrap my head around all the different facets that make Connor who he is.”

“Effie talks about him as this thoughtful, romantic sex machine who treats her like a queen,” Stevie says, “but all I see is an overgrown teenager who tells bad jokes and still has acne. Except that’s wrong.”

“Yeah, he’s a good kid. And so freakin’ athletic. He’s one of those athletes who’s good at everything. Golf, bowling, tennis, and from what he says, he’s a skier too.”

“Not to mention baseball.”

We chuckle.

“Where’s Uncle Connor going?” Emma asks.

“You want to go be scared in the haunted house?” I ask.

Emma quickly shakes her head and Martin scrunches his face, as if this is some kind of monumental decision.

“I don’t think so,” he says at last.

“Bummer,” Stevie says. “I love haunted houses.”

“You two go,” Saylor offers. “We can watch the kids.”

“I want a prize,” Martin says, gazing over at the ring toss game.

“You want one of those big polar bears?” Canyon asks him, scooping him up as Saylor takes over pushing the stroller.

“Yay!”

“You ready?” I ask Stevie.

“Oh yes.” She grins at me, and I hand the tickets to the attendant.

We step inside the house of horrors, which looks like theDeliveranceversion of a trailer, and Stevie moves behind me, pressing half of her body against my back.

Christ.

Self-inflicted torture at its finest.

“I love these,” Stevie whispers, “but you might need to hold my hand.”

Like I’m going to say no?

I wrap my hand firmly around hers, and we step into pure blackness.

Chapter8

Stevie

Before Damien,I loved all things scary.

Horror books and movies, haunted houses, Halloween pranks, haunted hayrides, and anything else meant to get your heart racing.

Then my life became a real nightmare, and I couldn’t do those things anymore.

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