Page 69 of Play the Game
“I’ll be too busy to talk irritated to you when I’m piled under the hours of busy work I’m sure Austin left for me because I deigned to take New Year’s Day off.”
“Gross,” Hannah says, wrinkling her nose. “Maybe it’s time for a new job. Sorry,” she says quickly. “I didn’t mean that. It’s just that your boss sounds awful, and I hate that you have to worry about what happens after you tell him you’re pregnant, and that he’s giving you the grunt work just because you happen to have two X-chromosomes.”
I sigh, turning to Hannah. “I know. It sucks. But the thing is, I love the work. I love it so much. Like the company we’re representing now? It’s a small pharmaceutical company that was started by a heart surgeon. He discovered a specific cellular signature for pediatric heart transplant rejection and has been working for almost a decade on an anti-rejection drug that is likely going to be groundbreaking for heart transplant kids. Kids who ordinarily wouldn’t survive are going to live because of the work he’s doing, and I get to make sure that he can keep doing it.”
“Wait, back up,” Jordan says, looking at me intently. “Are you talking about Pierre Pharma?” He shakes his head. “Sorry, you don’t have to tell me if that’s confidential or whatever.”
“It’s okay,” I say. “This litigation has been all over the news, so it’s public knowledge that we’re representing the company. How do you know Pierre?”
Jordan tightens his arms around Jo, and she leans back, pressing a kiss to his jaw and covering his hands with hers as if she’s giving him a little extra support. I don’t understand it until he starts to talk again. “My late fiancée was a pediatric cardiothoracic surgeon. She died a couple of years before Jo and I got together, but she followed Pierre’s work closely, and she was sure that one day their drugs were going to be miracles for her heart transplant patients.”
“I didn’t know,” Cooper says quietly, and when I turn to him, he’s looking at Jordan, whose eyes are filled with emotion. And then all four brothers are looking at each other, some kind of wordless communication passing between them full of understanding and support and a palpable kind of love that has my throat tightening with emotion I see mirrored in Jo, Amelia, and Hannah, as they each hold onto their guy just a little tighter. Without consciously thinking about it, I reach out and take Cooper’s hand, and he lets out a breath, lacing his fingers with mine. “Jord, I had no idea.”
Jordan smiles. “Of course you didn’t, but it’s kind of cool, don’t you think?”
“It’s so cool,” Jo says with a grin directed straight at me. “We’ve always been a real tangled web, and this is just another piece of it. You met Cooper at work, and you guys got together and are having a baby while you’re working on this case that’s connected to Allie. It’s like it was all meant to be.”
I’m not so sure about themeant to bepart of it, but I leave that alone for now. I unwrap a cherry Jolly Rancher from the pile on the table and pop it into my mouth before I continue. “Anyway, that’s why I put up with all the shit. Because I love the work. It’s work I want to be doing, and I’m really good at it, even though working with the assholes makes me ragey.” I shrug. “That’s why I started writing fanfiction. It’s a way to channel my rage into something creative and fun.”
The room goes silent for a beat, and Hannah grabs my hand. “Did you just say you write fanfiction?”
Oops.
I huff out a laugh, pressing my other hand to my stomach when the baby kicks again. “I don’t know what it is about all of you Wyles that makes me spill all my biggest secrets.”
Cooper presses his hand on top of mine, and I can practically see hearts shooting out of Jo, Amelia, and Hannah’s eyes. “We’re magic, Rhodes.”
I shrug, smiling a little. “I do, in fact, write fanfiction.”
Hannah grins at me. “That’s fucking awesome. Like, so completely badass. What’s your fandom? Your OTP? Tell me absolutely everything.”
I glance over and see Amelia and Jo also watching me with rapt attention and figure, what the hell. This is a safe place. “Gilmore Girls, but my OTP is actually an OT3. I write why choose fanfiction. Like, what if Rory couldn’t choose between Jess and Logan? What if she kept them both? I can never choose a team, so I figured maybe she wouldn’t have been able to either.”
“No fucking way,” Hannah breathes, looking at me with something resembling awe. “Are you GGTeamBoth?”
I laugh because what the hell are the chances? “You read my fics?”
“Read them?” Hannah asks on a laugh. “I fucking worship them. I’ve been reading your work for years. Your stories are brilliant. You guys,” she says, turning to Jo and Amelia. “I’m sending you the link later. You have to read them. It’s why choose romance at its absolute finest. You too,” she says, twisting around to look at Noah. “You’ll love them.”
Noah grins. “I’ll love them more if you read them to me, Gorgeous.” He winks at her. “Sounds like our post-midnight plans are well and truly set.”
Hannah flushes a little, but her grin widens. “I can’t believe this! It’s so awesome, holy shit.”
“You can’t believe this?” I ask with a chuckle. “I can’t believe this. You know you’re, like, my favorite author ever, right? And you’re telling me you read my stories? I’m having a real moment here.”
“See?” Cooper says from behind me, running a hand down my back. “Totally meant to be.”
As I glance around the living room at these people who have accepted me right into their center, with no questions asked, I can’t help but think that maybe, just maybe, Cooper might be right.
“Oh my god, it’s almost time!” Jo pops up and grabs the remote, turning up the TV where I’m shocked to see it’s already two minutes to midnight.
“You gonna kiss me at midnight, Rhodes?”
I turn on the couch so I’m facing Cooper, one knee propped up against the back cushions, and cock my head to the side, studying him. His lips are curved into a smile, his blue eyes bright with happiness and fun. His wavy brown hair is messy, falling over his forehead in a way that has me a little weak in the knees. His jaw is lightly stubbled in that sexy, forgot to shave for a day way, and with his crimsonHarvard Lawhoodie, he looks so cozy I want to curl up right in his lap and wrap myself in all of that comfort. “I don’t know, Cooper. What’s in it for me?”
He lays one hand over mine, cupping my neck with the other, his face turning serious. A little intense. “Anything you want, Ev. All of me is yours.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Mine, huh?”
