Play Me (5 page)

When she crossed the threshold, Brianna was on her, hugging her tight. “Kiersten! It’s been weeks since you visited. Where have you been?”

Kiersten hugged Brianna close, closing her eyes. “Busy. You know how it is being a single mom. Life gets in the way.”

Brianna looked over her shoulder at her new husband, Thomas. “I remember.”

Thomas stepped forward and hugged Kiersten, too. “She might remember, but she won’t ever see it again.”

“She better not,” Kiersten said, nudging him gently with her elbow in his hard abs. “Or you’ll answer to me.”

Thomas rubbed his stomach and grinned good-naturedly. “Fair enough, but you’ll have to wait in line. Zach has first dibs on me.”

“Good.” Kiersten laughed. “I can let him work you down for me before I pounce.”

“That might be a good idea.” Garrett stepped forward and offered his hand to Thomas. “Hello. I’m Garrett.”

Thomas shook it after a slight hesitation. “Holy sh—” Thomas broke off and looked over his shoulder.

“Swear jar!” Katelyn called from the dining room.

Thomas winced. “Man, the girl has superhero hearing.” He dug into his pocket and pulled out a quarter, his eyes still on Garrett. “What I mean to say is…
wow
, is this a real live, actual boyfriend? If so, I’m shocked. You’ve never brought a guy here before.”

Brianna laughed and took the quarter from him, then handed it off to Katelyn—who ran into the kitchen to make the deposit to the swear jar. Kiersten had donated a lot of money to that darn jar. “No. It’s just Garrett. You’ve seen him across the court at Chris’s basketball games.”

Kiersten looked at Garrett in just enough time to see his smile fade. Before anyone else could notice, though, it was firmly back in place.

How long had he been introduced as “just Garrett” in her family? Way too long. It had never bothered her before, but now she realized how unfair that was. “He’s not just Garrett. He’s
the
Garrett. The only one who matters.”

…and that was lame. How much more pathetic could she have possibly sounded?
Garrett shot her a surprised look. “Yeah, I’m friends with Mike and Kiersten. Brianna, too, though we haven’t seen each other in too long. It’s been at least a year.”

Brianna hugged him. “Make sure it’s not a year again,
the
Garrett.”

“I don’t think you have to worry about that.” Garrett grinned. “You’ll be seeing me.”

Kiersten tensed. That was way too close to admitting the truth. “Anyway,” she interjected before Brianna could ask why she’d be seeing him. “Garrett, can you come in the other room with me? I want to check on Chris.”

He raised a brow. “Of course.”

Mike immediately followed. “He’s done his homework, and he’s playing Xbox with Zach upstairs. I made sure his English report was flawless before I let him go.”

“Oh. Okay.” She waved over her shoulder, hoping he would take the hint. “Thanks.”

He kept following. “When are you going to get your car looked at? If it’s making noises, it’s telling you something. Last time you ignored it, I ended up rescuing your ass outside of—”

“Swear jar.” Kiersten stopped walking and crossed her arms. “Now pay up and go away. I want to talk to Garrett.” When he didn’t move, Kiersten added, “
Alone
.”

His brows slammed down. “Why?”

“Seriously?” Garrett shoved him into the hallway. “None of your business. Now go hang out with your other sister. The one who doesn’t want to be alone.”

Mike shot him a glare that promised a death so painful he would never recover, but Garrett didn’t look very concerned. “We’ll talk later about fools’ missions.”

Kiersten had a feeling that he was talking about her. “Fools’ missions?”

“I have no idea what he’s referring to,” Garrett said, grinning. “I’m never a fool.”

“You’re here with me.”

“Yeah.” He cocked a brow. “And that makes me the smartest man on the planet.”

Her heart fluttered. He always said the right things. “I’m sorry.”

“You like apologizing to me, don’t you?” He waited for more. When it didn’t come, he rolled his hands over each other. “For?”

So much. So many things she’d done, and probably would do. Because it was only a matter of time before she hurt him. But for now…she’d focus on here and now. “For never making you more welcome. She called you
just Garrett
. That’s…mean. I never thought of it before. You’re not
just Garrett
. You’re Garrett.”

He cocked his head. “It’s fine. I don’t care.”

“But I do. It’s mean.
I’m
mean.” Tears welled in her eyes. “Shit, why am I crying? Lately, I’ve been crying over everything. I cried at an SPCA commercial this morning when I took a break from working.”

“Swear jar,” he whispered, pulling her into his arms. He hugged her close, cupping the back of her head with his hand. “It’s the hormones. You’re going to be crying a lot in the first few months. Hell, maybe all of them. I only read up to month five so far.”

She blinked her tears away. She didn’t have time for crying, because she was supposed to be reading, apparently. God, she was a horrible pregnant woman already. “You’re reading
ahead
? I haven’t even read month one yet—and I’m in my fourth month!”

He chuckled. “I’ll read for both of us. You can ask me questions, and I’ll have the answers.”

“I might have to,” she whispered. “I haven’t even gotten a copy yet.”

He separated their bodies and settled his hands on her shoulders. “It’s just a stupid book. Nothing more.”

She swiped a stray tear away with the back of her hand. She couldn’t even remember why the hell she was crying, for the love of God. Was it because of the book? “But you’re reading it. It can’t be that stupid.”

“I’m only reading it so you don’t have to. I’ll tell you all of the important stuff. Deal?”

“Deal.” She looked up at him, holding her breath at the warmth she saw in his eyes. He might have said he didn’t care about her like he had before, but she swore she saw something in his eyes. And for the first time, it didn’t terrify her. “Thank you.”

She rose up on tiptoe and kissed his cheek. His five o’clock shadow tickled her lips. It was hard to step back from him, especially when he gripped her hips tightly as if he didn’t want to let her go, but she did move away from him. She had to, no matter how tempting it might be to curl up in his strong arms and never move. She’d done that before. Look how that had ended.

He didn’t release her right away. “Kiersten…”

“Don’t.” She bit her lip hard and shook her head. “Don’t say it. I shouldn’t have done that.”

His eyes flashed. “Why not?”

Oh, my God. The memories those simple words brought back. “Because we can’t mess this up. Our baby needs us to get along. To stay a pair. And after Pete, I’ve seen firsthand how ugly things can get. I don’t want that for us. This might actually work if we keep to the plan.”

His rubbed the back of his neck. “So no touching?”

“No touching.”

Even though she wanted to touch so badly it hurt. And even though she was starting to want things she had no right wanting. Or maybe that was even
more
of a reason to stay as far away as possible from him when they were living under the same roof.

Feelings this strong were bound to combust when brought together.

Chapter Six

The next day, Garrett slammed his shoulder into Mike, knocking him down on the court. That in and of itself was nothing too strange, as they all played rough at practices, but Garrett proceeded to plow down his other teammates Stephen and Riley at half court before scoring a three pointer. Instead of smiling in satisfaction, he picked up the ball and turned to his teammates.

He needed to sweat his desire for Kiersten out of his blood.

“Let’s do that play again. We’re playing the Golden Nugget tomorrow. It’s gonna be a rough—” When Garrett turned around, he found his teammates on the floor. “What the hell are you pansies doing on the ground? Taking a nap? Get the fuck up.”

“Okay, what the hell is wrong with you?” Riley asked from somewhere near Garrett’s feet. “You run us down all day long, and then yell when we don’t jump up in excitement for you to do it all over again?”

“Yeah, I do,” he snapped. His eyes roamed over the court. “Where the hell is Al? Did he go home to get a princess Band-Aid on his knee?”

“No, he went to get stitches,” Mike said slow and clear. “You busted open his knee. He left when you were doing your three pointer binge.”

Garrett dropped the ball on the floor, resting his foot on it, and his gaze swept over his teammates. Every single one of them was bleeding or out of breath. Remorse swept through him. They all took their frustrations out on the court, but tonight he’d gone overboard. “Shit. I’m sorry, guys.”

They exchanged looks and stood, brushing off their clothes and mumbling their acceptances of his apology. Yet they all backed away from him except Mike. “It’s fine, but I think we should be done for the night. We got enough practice in,” Mike said, wiping the sweat from his brow. “Time to go home.”

“Of course,” Garrett agreed, averting his eyes from his exhausted teammates. They were suffering because of his pent-up frustrations and fears of the future. He was going to be a
dad
. A fucking dad, to two kids.

What did he know about that shit?

He’d been trying to keep his cool around Kiersten, but inside he was panicking. He had to live with her, but not touch her. Pretend to be with her, but not be. Be a dad to two kids, but stay single for the rest of his life. He didn’t miss the repercussions of his actions when he agreed to the plan. Sure, he could fall in love and get married to another woman. That’s what Kiersten inferred.

But he couldn’t really.

If he left them and married another woman, how would the kids react? What would Kiersten do? How would their little family recover?

There were only two options available to him. Find a way to show Kiersten that maybe she could love him if she opened her heart to the idea, or stay a bachelor who only had meaningless flings when the opportunity presented itself.

He much preferred option one.

The feelings he had for Kiersten weren’t fading. If anything, they were getting stronger. But he had to find a way to make her feel the same way, and he wasn’t sure that was even
possible
.

“Go ahead, head on out,” Mike said to Riley and Stephen, who were still eyeing Garrett cautiously when he returned to the present and out of his fucked up future. “I’ve gotta talk to Garrett alone.”

Great. Just great. Everyone wanted to talk to him alone lately. And usually it didn’t involve good news. “See ya guys later.”

Riley and Stephen plodded wearily to their gym bags, whispering and looking over their shoulders as they went. Once they left the gym, Mike turned on him with a glare. “What the fuck is wrong with you tonight?”

“What do you mean?” Garrett asked, dreading what he knew was coming. He busied himself with wiping his face with the white towel on the bench. He wished he could keep it over his face so that Mike wouldn’t be able to read him so well. When would Kiersten let him tell Mike? This evasion was killing him. But she wanted to tell Chris first. Then Mike and Brianna. “I’m just energetic.”

Mike yanked the towel off of Garrett’s face and threw it across the gym. The custodian tossed him a dirty look, and then bent to pick it up. “Who is she? Do I know her?”

Garrett opened his mouth to deny there was a “she,” but thought better of it. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

“I know you’re seeing someone.” Mike shoved his stuff into his bag and then gave Garrett a once-over. “What happened with her? You look like a kid who just discovered Santa is fake.”

“How do you know I’m even dating anyone?” Garrett watched him, unable to believe that his asshole of a best friend paid that much attention to his damn feelings. “And why the hell do you know that much about my love life?”

Mike rolled his eyes. “You haven’t scored at the bar with me for months. I know you well enough to know you’re not being celibate for nothing, so it’s easy enough to figure out. There’s gotta be a girl.”

He couldn’t lie to Mike. He didn’t have to give the whole truth, but he could give a little bit of it. Withhold names or some shit like that. “There
is
a girl, but that’s not why I’m worked up,” Garrett muttered, his heart picking up speed. “I just found out that I’m going to be a dad.”

“What?” Mike blinked and sat down, looking slightly green. “Aw, shit, man. Who is she? Do I know her? Is she keeping the baby? Do you love her? Are you getting married?
Who is she
?”

The one question he couldn’t answer, Mike had asked twice. Fucking awesome. Garrett shook his head and sat beside his best friend. “She doesn’t want to be with me…but I plan on trying to change that. Yes, you know her, but I’m not ready to talk about it yet. I’ll be moving in with her, so you’ll find out soon en—”

“Wait.” Mike held up a hand. “She doesn’t want you, but you want her, and you’re moving in with her? How long have you known this woman?”

Too long
. Garrett swallowed and covered his face with his hands. “Long enough to get her pregnant,” he said dryly.

Mike leapt to his feet and paced, his face intent. Garrett groaned at the determined expression on Mike’s face and began collecting all of his stuff. Mike would go postal once he figured out who he was talking about, and with good reason. Mike was extremely protective of his sisters, and had been since their parents died.

The only person he was more protective of was Chris.

“Well then I have to know her. Who the hell is she? Is it—?” Mike broke off and choked on his words. “What is
she
doing here? Something’s gotta be wrong for her to stop by like this.”

“Who?” Garrett asked, not bothering to look as he shoved his water bottle into his bag. Any distraction from Mike’s current line of thought was a welcome one in Garrett’s book.

“Kiersten. How did she know where we were?” Mike already headed her way, his stride quick and determined. “Hey, is Chris okay?”

Garrett forced himself to take a deep breath in and out. Just because she was here didn’t mean anything was wrong with her or the baby. She could have come because she needed to talk to them about something completely unrelated to that. Garrett sprinted to her side, passing Mike. “Hey, is everything with…you okay?”

His voice must have come out harsh, despite his intention to keep himself calm and collected, because Mike shot him a surprised look. “Why do
you
care so much?”

“I’m fine. Chris’s fine, too. He’s at home finishing up his homework.” Kiersten flushed and she smoothed her hair. She always did that when she felt uncomfortable. Her eyes flitted from Mike to Garrett. “Uh, Garrett, can we talk for a sec?”

“Why do you need to talk to him again?” Mike looked first at Kiersten, and then at Garrett incredulously, his green eyes round. He backed away from the pair of them and shook his head, turning red. “You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.”

Garrett shoved past Mike and grabbed Kiersten by the elbow as he strode past. “Sure, let’s go. Quickly.”

Kiersten’s cheeks flushed and she looked over her shoulder as he shuttled her outside. “Does he know? Did you tell him?”

“No,” he ground out. “But you just did by asking me that.”

“I’ll kill you, you son-of-a-bitch!” Mike shouted, running after them looking way too alive and enthusiastic for Garrett’s liking. So he’d gotten over his shock already. Excellent.
“Get back here so I can kick your ass properly.”

“There goes my plan to tell him and Brianna over a calm dinner,” she said, her voice tight.

He looked over his shoulder. Mike closed in on them. “Yeah, I’d say your plan is ruined.”

“I know you can move faster than this,” Kiersten said, tugging on his hand. “Let’s go.”

Kiersten sped up, but Garrett dug his feet into the pavement. “I’m not running from him. He deserves a chance to yell and scream at me.”

“No, he doesn’t.” She looked at him out of the corner of her eye and paled. “He’ll kill you. He’s not kidding. Why do you think I didn’t want to tell him?”

Garrett shook his head and turned to Mike, grimacing as he grew closer. “No, he won’t. We’ve been best friends for years, so he’ll just—”

Wham.

Garrett saw stars, and hit the ground flat on his back. The back of his head slammed onto the concrete. Fuck, that hurt worse than a sucker punch. Groaning, he sat up and clutched his eye. “Damn it, Mike. What the hell? We have a plan—”

Mike picked him up by his shirt, leaning into his face, and growled, “Give me one damn reason why I shouldn’t kill you here and now.”

“I told you why in the gym,” Garrett said, shooting Kiersten a quick glance. “Remember?”

“Let go of him, Mike,” Kiersten snapped, tugging on Mike’s arm. “I’m not a little kid anymore. We’re adults, and Garrett is going to be there for me the whole way.”

Mike swallowed and flexed his jaw, not releasing his death grip on Garrett’s shirt. “I don’t give a damn.”

Garrett squinted through his good eye, trying to focus on Mike. “I’m sorry, man, but you know how I’ve felt about her since high school. This can’t be much of a surprise.”

“What?” Kiersten looked at Garrett in surprise. “What do you mean?”

Mike’s grip slackened a fraction. “Kiersten, can you give us a second alone? We need to talk. No girls allowed.”

“No way.” She crossed her arms over her chest and glowered. “I’m not leaving you with him.”

“It’s okay,” Garrett said. “We need a minute.”

She huffed and stomped to the car. Once she was out of earshot, Mike said, “She’s a little brat, but she’s my sister. And no one fucks with my sister. Not even you.”

If anyone else had called Kiersten a brat, he’d be flat on the ground. But he guessed he had to give her brother a pass. “She’ll want for nothing. I swear it.”

“And Chris?”

“Will have a father now,” Garrett said, his tone steady. “I’ll be there for him. Anytime. Anywhere.”

Mike relaxed and let go of Garrett, holding his gaze. “I’ll hold you to that for the rest of my long,
long
life. Fail, and you’ll answer to me.”

Garrett nodded. Mike would give him a chance to make this right—i.e., convince Kiersten they should be in love and married—but if he failed, or broke her heart? Mike would be the first in line to kick his ass before ripping him to pieces.

“Understood,” Garrett said. “I’m hoping to make her fall for me once I’m in the house. I’ll probably fail…but I have to at least try.”

“Damn straight you do.” Mike shoved him back and gave him one last warning look. “But it won’t be easy. She’s been hurt too many times.”

“I know, but she won’t be hurt by me. She can trust me, and so can you.”

Mike looked over at Kiersten—who glowered at him from the car. “Brianna’s the only normal one out of all of us. I don’t know what happened to her that made her so human.”

“You’re human, too. And so is Kiersten.” Garrett looked at Kiersten, too. “If I earn her trust…I can earn her love. I know it.”

Mike turned toward him with disbelief written all over his face. “I think you underestimate her pain.”

“And you underestimate my commitment.” Garrett shoved his hands in his pockets and took a deep breath of cold air. “I won’t give in until I win.”

“I think you’re insane.” Mike shook his head. “But remember this. The only reason I’m giving you a shot is because you’re my best friend. Blow it with her, and I’ll forget that small fact.”