Page 56 of Playbook
That has the guys all laughing again, and Brogan steps back to my side. If he’s going to die, I guess he’s taking me along with him.
Slowly, each of their gazes slides to me. I don’t usually blush, but I can feel my face warming and I have to fight the urge to use Brogan as a shield.
“This must be her,” the giant says. “I thought you were putting us on. Damn, she’s beautiful. What’s she doing with your ugly ass?”
Brogan scoffs. “I’m a fucking catch. Right, London?”
My eyes widen and I open my mouth to speak but I have no clue what to say. Luckily, it doesn’t seem like he’s really expecting an answer.
He continues, unfazed, “But you’re not wrong, she is gorgeous.”
My face is officially on fire.
“These are my teammates,” Brogan says, bringing a hand to my lower back. The light touch keeps me from bolting, but just barely.
“I could have guessed,” I say with a small laugh. I smile and let my stare travel quickly over all of them. “Hi.”
The giant is the first to approach.
“I’m Slade,” he says. “Nice to meet you. Sorry I roughed up your boy.”
“I’m sure he deserved it,” I say, surprising myself with how easily the words tumble out. Then second-guess myself. Maybe I should be quicker to defend my fake boyfriend.
Slade lets his head fall back and he lets out a laugh that makes my insides shake.
“I like her.” He winks at me and smiles at Brogan.
Another guy edges in front of him. “Tripp. Glad to see the rookie here finally screwed his head on right.”
I have no idea what that means so I just keep smiling and lean into Brogan a bit like I’m snuggling up to him, but actually I’m just trying to keep myself upright. These guys are a lot.
“We better get to our spots before the head of PR comes looking for us,” another guy says. “Nice to meet you, London. I’m Cody. Let me know if the rookie needs to be kept in line.”
“Will do,” I promise.
Brogan takes it all in stride. A few of them cuff him on the shoulder as they head off.
One player hangs back. He’s the one that had the curious expression earlier. He has dark brown hair that has a reddish tint in the sunlight and hazel eyes that seem to see through me. He isn’t as tall or as broad as Brogan, but he’s still both of those things.
“London, this is my brother, Archer,” Brogan says with more affection in his tone than earlier.
“Oh.” I glance between them. They don’t look that much alike, though they are both handsome in their own ways. Brogan has a more playful air about him while Archer appears more serious, almost broody. Though he smiles at me now, and I’m rethinking my initial assessment. Charm must run in the family. “Hi! It’s so nice to meet you. I didn’t realize you played for the Mavericks too. That’s rare, right? Two brothers on the same team?”
Archer glances at Brogan and then me. I feel like I’m missing something, but I don’t know what.
“Well, I’m not doing a whole lot of playing lately.” Archer glances toward his right leg and when he does, I notice the hearing aid. When he looks back up, his hair falls back over it. “I’ve been struggling with an ankle injury,” he says. His smile falls and then reappears, though not as believable. “You two were pretty convincing walking in here. I don’t think anyone will suspect it isn’t for real.”
A flare of panic rises, but as quickly as it comes, it goes. Brogan said he told Archer, and it is nice to have one more person I don’t have to pretend in front of.
“Of course not,” Brogan says. “I told you we could pull this off.”
I wonder what those conversations were like between the brothers. Does Archer think this is a terrible idea? If he does, he doesn’t say so now.
“Ready?” Brogan asks, and he looks almost giddy about spending the day pretending to be my boyfriend in front of all these strangers.
“I guess so.” I am not nearly as giddy. Brogan is great, but I am way, way out of my element.
The three of us walk toward the event together, but we’re stopped by a man in crisp black dress pants and a red polo shirt with the Mavericks logo on the left side of his chest, and a lanyard like the ones we were given. He has that frantic energy about him of someone in charge. The clipboard in his hands also is a telltale sign.
