Page 70 of Sweeper
“That you’re a manwhore flirt, and you’d probably wink at a streetlight.”
“Ouch,” I pout but can’t help but laugh. She’s sweet and savage. It’s a strangely sexy combination.
“Sorry, but am I wrong?” She looks at me sheepishly.
I harrumph my disapproval. She makes me sound like a horndog who would hump any nearby leg. I like to think I have some standards. “Just keep your distance, and we should be fine,” I grumble, annoyed that it seems like I’m the weak one when it comes to our attraction to each other.
She pats me on the arm and moves to get out of the car when a rush of dread shoots through me. I grab her hand and stare at our fingers interlocked together. I shouldn’t be using her like this. I shouldn’t have guilted her into inviting me today. She’s way too nice to be taken advantage of like this. And I really shouldn’t be going to these sorts of lengths to figure out if Vaughn Harris is my actual father. I turned my whole life upside down because of a stupid fucking letter that may be complete bullshit. What am I fucking doing?
My body is trembling when I feel Daphney’s cool hand touch my cheek as she turns me to look at her. “Hey, calm down. I’m sorry I said that, okay? I don’t see you like that. Not really. And I’m glad you’re coming today. I’m sure it’s hard for you to be here in London all alone so soon after losing your dad. But this will be good for you. It’s healing to let people in. To find new connections. It’s going to be great. The Harrises are very welcoming.”
I swallow the knot in my throat. “I don’t think I should be here.”
And byhere, I don’t mean Vaughn Harris’s house. I mean…here, here. Playing for his club, living in his son-in-law’s apartment building, inviting myself to a family dinner. Having sex with a girl who has no idea who I even am. I’m making moves right now that I’ll never be able to un-move.
“Of course, you should be here,” Daphney says, offering me a soft smile that’s so full of hope, it makes me ache inside. “We’re not just neighbors with benefits. We’re friends, right?”
I lick my lips and move in to kiss her. I didn’t realize we’d become friends in all this, but the fact that she sees me like that makes me feel human again. I know I have Jude back in the States and Knight and Link here, but since losing my dad and well, basically my mom too, I have felt so inherently alone. And this girl right here, this neighbor I bumped into? She somehow seems to brighten up the dark spots inside me.
Our lips are just about to connect when a loud smack jerks us apart. Daphney gasps and we both swerve our eyes forward to see a small brown-haired little boy spread across the windshield. He opens his mouth and smushes his nose and tongue against the glass as he emits a horrific high-pitched squeal.
“Teddy!” a voice booms, and I look over to see it’s Booker. He jogs down the driveway and opens the gate before grabbing the boy off the car. He waves at Daphney and me inside. “I’ve been looking for him for almost twenty minutes now. Thought I lost him forever!”
Daphney and I break apart and quickly hop out of the vehicle as Booker clutches Teddy to his chest and offers me a smile. “I heard you were crashing the family dinner today. I should have invited you weeks ago.”
“Oh, it’s okay,” I reply, gripping the back of my neck. “This one yours?”
“I’m afraid so.” Booker laughs and gives Daphney a quick kiss on the cheek. “Come on in, you guys. It’s freezing out here.”
Booker lowers Teddy to the ground, and the little dude instantly comes running toward me. He pulls his leg back, swinging his boot straight for my shin. I lift my foot just in time, and his entire body swings backward when he misses, and he totally yeets it and falls flat on his back.
He lets out a loud squeal, and horror rains down over me. “Shit, I’m sorry, little dude!” I exclaim, reaching down and picking him up to see if he’s okay. It takes a second to realize he’s not wailing in pain. He’s actually laughing. He’s laughing so hard, he can barely breathe. He stumbles over to me and wraps his arms around my leg. I look up at Booker and Daphney completely confused. “Is he okay?”
Booker nods and smiles. “He likes you. And that’s saying a lot because Teddy hates everyone.”
“Okay,” I state, watching Booker and Daphney walk through the gated entrance and up the gravel drive. I point down at the kid still wrapped around my leg. “Should I just…? Okay, I guess I’m giving you a ride to the house.”
“Giddyup!” Teddy bellows, and I shake my head, finally allowing myself to laugh at this super fucked-up moment.
Vaughn Harris’s home is a large three-story mansion with stately pillars, and a bright yellow double-door entrance. A giant staircase greets us when we walk in the front door. Booker points upstairs and tells me this is where his sister and his brothers all grew up as kids and laughs when he remembers all the girls Tanner snuck in through the window.
Booker leads Daphney and me down the long-marbled hallway before turning left through a swinging door to enter the kitchen. Although, at first glance, I can tell it’s a lot more than just a kitchen. It’s one of those rooms where everything happens. And not just because it looks like mass chaos with people everywhere.
On the left is the kitchen with high-end appliances and a long countertop and barstools. On the right is a grand dining table in front of an entire wall of windows and doors that open out onto the large patio. The backyard is surrounded by a wooded area, and I spot a gate that leads into the forest. Looking around at everyone, I can tell there are more people than there are chairs. And the volume of the voices all talking at once is so deafening, I’m not sure I can hear my own thoughts.
Vaughn is in the kitchen next to a blonde woman in an apron who’s screaming at a kid that’s currently standing on the countertop. He spots me and gets a big smile on his face. “Zander! Booker told me you’d be joining us today. Come in, son!” He walks around the counter and greets Daphney, then me. His eyes lower to my leg, where Teddy is still very much attached. “Did you make a new friend?”
I shrug. “I skunked him outside, and apparently, he likes a challenge?”
Vaughn laughs and bends over to peel Teddy off my leg. He screams and kicks but then finally gives in. “My grandson wants to be a striker, don’t you, lad?”
Teddy nods and eyes me. “What do you play?”
My brows lift. “I’m a defender.”
“He’s a sweeper,” Vaughn states. “He protects your daddy when the midfielders muck it up.”
“My daddy doesn’t need protecting,” Teddy exclaims, then wriggles out of his grandfather’s arms and takes off toward the backyard where a couple of other kids are playing on the thin layer of snow that’s just fallen on the grass.
