Page 41 of Playoff
“Like what?”
“Like this is a booty call. It better not be.”
If only… But no. Not doing a sister again, especially not JJ’s. I stepped back. “No, fun as that would be, it’s too big a risk even for me. Come on in.”
She walked in, toeing her shoes off without asking. I led the way into the apartment. Her head pivoted as she looked the place over. She passed the living room, looked into the kitchen and down the hallway. “Same layout as we have.”
Not a big surprise. “Fitch has the bedroom on the right, I’m on the left.”
“Third bedroom is an office?”
“Right now it’s empty. I think he’s got plans to do something with it when the season is over.”
She came back to the living room and leaned a hip on the chair Fitch favored. “So what do you want to talk about concerning Justin?”
I sighed, trying to order my thoughts. “He’s got issues with me that are bleeding onto the ice. I want to know what all that’s about. You said your lives blew up—that’s gotta be more than losing some cash.”
I heard the front door open. Had to be Fitch, since no one else had the key. Jessica stared at me with wide eyes for half a second and ran. By the time Fitch was in view, she’d slammed the door to my bedroom.
Fitch was favoring his right leg, carrying his bag of goodies. He stared down the hall at my door, looked back at me and smirked. “Something you want to tell me?”
“Not particularly.”
“If you wanted to bring someone back here, you could have just said so. You’re single, so no judgment here.”
Better he thought I had a hookup than what was really going on. “She’s shy.”
He looked down the hall again. “No kidding.”
“So, why the hell are you here?”
He shrugged. “I went out to wait for my Uber and slipped on the damned ice.” That explained the limp. But of all the shit timing. “Sorry to mess with your plans, but I’m going to put up my foot, ice it, and watch the skills competition here.”
Fuck.
“Don’t worry,” he continued, “I won’t hear you unless you’re very, very loud.”
“Good to know.” How the hell was I going to get Jess out of here?
He limped into the kitchen and opened the freezer to grab an ice pack. I finally got my head straight. If he was hurt, he should be resting his leg. We didn’t need another injured player.
“Let me.” I moved toward the freezer. I could get him his damned ice pack.
He waved me off. “I’m good. It’s not serious, but this isn’t the time to take chances.”
He took his beer, his pretzels and his ice pack into the living room, settling into the chair Jessica had been leaning on moments before. “Want to pass me the remote?”
I picked it up and gave it to him. Then I stood, mind circling through ideas to get Fitch out of that seat. How long would it take him to use the can once that beer did its job?
He cocked his head. “Don’t you have someone waiting for you?”
Right. “Just making sure you’re okay.”
He clicked the TV on. “Tell her I can keep a secret. She doesn’t have to hide out all evening.”
Yeah, Jessica wasn’t coming out while Fitch was sitting here. There were secrets, and there were secrets.
I grabbed a couple of water bottles from the fridge and headed to my room. This was going to be…interesting.
