Page 35 of Run the Play
“Ah, so I do know you.” I thrust my hand out toward him. “Thank you,” I say, letting my hand hang there.
He reaches out and shakes it hesitantly. “What for?”
His tone tells me he’s pissed, but he’s willing to see where this is going. I’m sure he assumes for transferring to the Rampage, but he’s sorely mistaken.
“For messing things up with my girl here. I never would have had my chance otherwise.” If it were possible, I’d be seeing smoke coming out of his ears right now. His eyes narrow, his face turns beet red, and he fists his hands at his sides. That’s fine. If this motherfucker wants to swing, he can swing on me and not Rowan.
“I was talking to my girlfriend,” he says through gritted teeth.
“Your girlfriend? Bud, she left you. She’s mine now.” Rowan steps closer to me, and I move my hand from her shoulders to around her waist, holding her close. I can feel a slight tremble inher body. This fucker is lucky we’re at our place of employment, or I’d be tossing him on his ass just for scaring her like this.
It kills me to think about what she must have gone through being with him, with no one in her corner.
“Rowan, a word?” he spits out.
“We were just going to grab something to eat.”
“Thanks for waiting for me while I talked to Sinclair,” I tell her, falling in line with the ruse. “You ready to eat? It smells incredible.”
She nods, smiling up at me, but it doesn’t reach her eyes.
I turn us so that we’re walking toward the food and away from him. “See ya!” I call out, raising my hand in the air but not bothering to look back. Sure, I could see the anger on his face. I know he’s pissed, and that’s fine as long as he turns that anger to me and not to her.
We each grab a walking taco, a huge stack of napkins, and a couple of drinks and move to a table that’s set up in the far corner of the makeshift dining area. I wait for her to sit before taking the spot next to her.
“This is bad, Landry. So, so bad,” she says, biting down on her bottom lip.
“Hey.” Reaching over, I place my hand over hers. “It’s all going to be okay. He thinks you’re with me. He’s not going to try anything and get kicked off the team and lose his contract. This is a good thing.”
“Landry, we’re not together.”
I shrug. “Then we pretend that we are.”
“What?” she asks, her mouth falling open.
“What’s the big deal? We’ll pretend like we’re dating, and he’ll leave you alone.”
“You don’t know him like I do.”
“I don’t, but I do know that if we make it known that you’re mine, and he does try something, the team will step in. Thismight be exactly what we need to get something on him. He doesn’t belong here, Rowan. You do.”
“There are policies and steps to take.”
“And we’ll take them.”
“I can’t let you do that.”
“Babe, we just started dating, and you’re already trying to control me.” I laugh. “What if I give you a back rub later?”
“Landry, this is serious,” she says, but I can see some of the tension leave her body.
“I know it is, Roe. Trust me, I know. I promise this will work.”
“You have to pretend to be my boyfriend.” Her cheeks instantly turn a bright shade of pink.
“I can handle it. Can you?”
“After life with Chaz? Yeah, I can handle it.”
