Page 93 of Play the Game
“Preach,” Rio mumbles, and Chris wraps an arm around his waist. Chris might be my parents’ golden child, but they have always been hyper-critical of Rio. He’s a ray of sunshine andmostly lets it roll off his back, but I know that his favorite place is anywhere my parents aren’t, and Chris knows it too.
Rio gives Chris a calculating look. “Evan has to do something she doesn’t want to do, and Cooper is making her waffles later. I don’t want to be at this ball either. What’s my prize?”
Chris gives Rio a sly smile and dips down, whispering something in his ear. Rio’s eyes flash, and he gives Chris a wink. “That’ll do.”
I wrinkle my nose. “Ew, no. Absolutely fucking not. You don’t get to do that in front of me.”
“Do what?” Chris asks innocently, grinning and tossing an arm around Rio’s shoulders.
“Be all sexy. You’re my brother, and if you guys would ever get around to getting married, Rio would be my brother too. I don’t need to know about the sexy stuff.”
Rio rolls his eyes. “You know we would never do something as conventional as getting married. I’m your brother whether Chris and I have a stupid piece of paper or not. And also, are you honestly telling me you’re not getting up to the sexy stuff? With a man who has all of that going for him?” He waves a hand at Cooper, and Cooper snorts out a laugh.
I give Chris a sly smile of my own because payback’s a bitch. “Oh, we are. So much sexy stuff. All the sexy stuff really.” I glance over at Cooper, and the mischief in his eyes spurs me on. “I mean, just last night he did that thing with his…”
“Okay, no.” Chris cuts me off with a grimace. “Absolutely not. I definitely don’t need that visual in my head.”
I smirk at him. “That’s what I thought.” Glancing at the hotel entrance, I sigh. “I guess we should go in.”
Chris nods. “I’ve got your back, Ev.”
“We’ve got your back,” Rio says, sliding his hand into Chris’s and lacing their fingers together.
“All of us,” Cooper murmurs, kissing my head.
I take a deep breath and square my shoulders, even as anxiety tightens my stomach. “Okay, let’s get this shitshow over with.”
Cooper whistles under his breath as we walk into the ballroom. “Holy shit.”
“I know right?” Chris and Rio got waylaid by some rabid baseball fan who wanted to kiss Chris’s ass, so it’s just Cooper and me as we take in the scene. The usual movers and shakers of Boston’s high society are drinking, laughing, dancing, and wheeling and dealing around the glimmering ballroom. Massive, ornate chandeliers hang on the ceiling, and the space is decorated to resemble a classy winter wonderland with branches adorned in twinkle lights, oceans of flickering candles, tall, dome-shaped centerpieces of white hydrangeas, roses, and greenery, and gold accents everywhere. The whole thing is tasteful elegance and looks exactly like my mom. “Kathy Rhodes doesn’t do anything halfway.”
Cooper slides an arm around my waist, squeezing. “It’s pretty, but it’s got nothing onScandal, pajamas, and waffles for dinner.”
I blow out a breath as my heart thuds against my chest, wishing I was sitting on Cooper’s couch right now doing all those things. “Let’s get this over with so we can go do that.”
Cooper tugs me to the side, out of the way of guests streaming into the ballroom, and turns me to face him, framing my face with his hands. “You say the word, and we get the fuck out of here. Anything you want, Ev. Whatever you need.”
You, I think.I just need you.
It’s simple and also my truest thing, and when the baby moves, jabbing some tiny body part into my stomach as if to sayDuh, Mom, took you long enough to figure it out, I laugh a little.
Mom.
For the first time, my brain doesn’t immediately reject that word. Standing here facing Cooper, with his hands on my face and his eyes only for me,momfeels like something maybe I could be, but only if he’s here beside me while I try.
“Evangeline, finally! I thought you would never get here.” Iinhale sharply at the sound of my mom’s voice behind me, and Cooper’s thumbs stroke my cheeks, his eyes telling me without words the only thing I need to know.
I’m here.
I nod, and with a deep breath I turn and cleave my life in two. The time before my parents knew I was pregnant, and the time that comes after.
My mom’s perusal of my body is nothing new. It’s been such a constant since I was old enough to dress myself that I barely even notice it anymore. The furrow of her eyebrows as she takes in what I’m wearing. The downturn of her lips when she finds it wanting. And finally, the shrug and sigh as if to say,You did the best you could.
Except that’s not what happens now.
Now, her perusal stops halfway down and arrows in on my stomach. I watch with an almost detached sort of calm as she blinks, looks, and blinks again, as if she can’t comprehend what she’s seeing. But detached turns to dread the second her gaze snaps to mine, her eyes filled with an angry disbelief.
“Evangeline, what on earth is going on?”
