Page 127 of Comeback
“What if I talk to her?” he asks. “I could explain everything about Graham.”
“No.” I shake my head. “You’ve done enough. I’ve got this. Okay?”
It takes a second, but he nods reluctantly.
The rest of the apartment is quiet as we leave his room. London and Brogan must be sleeping in. In the kitchen, I flip on the light.
“Are you sure you don’t want to stage a fake breakup?” he asks, stepping into the room behind me. “It wouldn’t be that hard to hide it from him. You could even still go to the games. Though you’d probably have to pretend like you’re there for Brogan instead of me.” He winks.
“Not a chance, Holland.” I place my hands on his shoulders and jump. He catches me, holding my legs up while I wrap them around his waist. “I want him to know you’re the man giving me multiple orgasms and making me deliriously happy.”
A groan from the living room makes my body go still. I glance to the couch as a man I don’t recognize sits up and runs a hand through reddish-brown hair. I jump down from Archer’s grasp and place a hand to my chest.
The stranger slowly blinks and then gives us a one-hand salute. He’s broad and muscular, and not wearing a shirt.
Archer looks at the guy with much less alarm than I had. “Right. I forgot to warn you. Flynn showed up last night. He’s crashing here for a while.”
“Your younger brother,” I say, voice unsteady as I struggle to calm my racing pulse. It’s easy to place him now that I’m not panicking. Between the games I watched with Archer and the family resemblance, I’d like to think I would have eventually put it together on my own. “Nice to meet you.”
Flynn stands with what looks like a lot of effort. “You too. I’m guessing you’re the infamous secret sister.”
“This is Sabrina,” Archer tells him.
Flynn wanders into the kitchen with us and opens the fridge. When he pulls out a beer, Archer steps over to him and takes it.
“It’s not even noon.”
“I’m on vacation.” Flynn snatches it back. He cracks open the tab and takes a seat on one of the barstools. It’s uncanny how much he looks like Archer in certain ways. Same straight nose, same full lips and half smile. Flynn’s reddish-brown hair curls around his ears. And he still has a bit of a baby face, even though he’s taller than Archer, and I know he’s nearly twenty-one.
“I had the weirdest dream last night. There was this little girl—a princess—and then in walked this smoking hot blonde chick wearing a black dress that hugged her curves perfectly.”
“You met Olivia and Greer?” I ask, looking from Flynn to Archer.
“That wasn’t a dream,” Archer tells him. “We were babysitting Greer last night and Olivia came by to get her after you crashed on the couch.”
“Olivia,” he says her name slowly. He glances at me. His eyes are still only half-open either from sleep or being hungover, I’m not sure, but I can tell the color is a lighter brown instead of hazel like Archer’s. “Is she a friend of yours?”
Before I can answer, Archer interrupts. “Does Knox know you’re here?”
All playfulness leaves Flynn’s face and in its place is a tight jaw and serious expression that makes him look older. “I told you, I don’t want to go back there yet.”
“That’s fine. You can stay as long as you like, but he’s blowing up the group chat this morning wondering if anyone’s heard from you.”
The emotions that cross over Flynn’s face are a mixture of guilt and frustration.
“Did you tell him I was here?” Flynn asks.
“No, but you should. He’ll worry about you until he knows where you are.”
“He’ll worry either way,” Flynn grumbles as he gets up and heads back to the couch. He glances back, then adds, “I’ll text him today.”
“Good.” Archer wraps his arms around me and kisses my shoulder. “I need to shower before practice. Are you going to the studio today?”
“Yes, and I work at Lilac tonight,” I remind him.
Despite wanting to spend every second together, we both have a lot of mandatory things on our schedules.
“I’ll try to stop by this afternoon, but I have a receiver meeting after team practice.”
