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I haven’t seen him in ages.
I want to hang out with him.
He’s my best friend.
But I don’t want to hang out with him at the expense of having to act like I haven’t fallen for his sister.
“You look gorgeous, as always,” I say to Rachel, and she leans in for a hug.
“Oh, Victoria’s here,” Ava says, and she nods in her direction. “I’m going to go say hi.”
I nod. “Excuse us,” I say to Beckett, and I walk over with her to shoot the shit with my neighbors.
I slip my arm around Ava’s waist, and she glances over at her brother. Instead of leaning into me the way she usually does, she leans a bit away from me. It’s a little disconcerting given how close the two of us have gotten, but we’re riding a bit of an odd line here where we want to make it believable to Beckett that this is still fake.
We mingle with my new teammates—in particular the ones who I’ve gotten close with during our workouts and practices—and I introduce Ava to the coaching staff. We chat with Lincoln and Jolene for a while, and we touch base with Asher, who showed up solo tonight with the hope of finding someone single to take home.
We run into my dad, and my mom made the trip out for the ball, too. Jolene’s parents are here, and I catch up with them. Apparently at this same ball last year, Jolene’s dad and my dad got into a public spat. I missed out on that one since I was in LA at the time, but so far this year, it seems like the two men are going to be civil. Or, at the very least, they’ll ignore each other instead of interacting at all, which is probably preferable since one’s son is the team’s head coach and the other’s daughter is married to the head coach.
We dance, and I hold her close as we sway to the music.
We’re seated for dinner, and I’m at a table with other guys on defense, while Beckett and Rachel are at a table clear across the room.
It’s after dinner when Beckett corners me at the bar.
“Is there something going on with you and Ava?” he asks me. “Because I have to be honest, Gray. I’ve never known you to be that good of an actor, but you’ve got everyone here fooled. And seeing you dancing with her…I can’t help but wonder if there’s something going on you’re not telling me.”
Dammit. I should’ve known his lawyer instincts would kick in.
He’s always been good at reading people, but I’ve never really been the one he was reading before.
I’m not sure I like it.
And I’m even more sure from his tone that I can’t admit the truth to him.
He’s accusatory—maybe borderline angry. I can’t tell him I’m banging his sister. I can’t tell him I’ve fallen in love with her.
He knows better than anyone how I fuck up everything that’s good in my life. He knows I hold immense power in my hands—the power to hurt her.
It’s still my biggest fear. I still don’t believe I won’t.
But every day we spend together, I’m a little closer to believing we will figure out some way to make this work.
“What? Ava? Are you kidding me?” Tone it down, Grayson. You’re overacting. I clear my throat. “She’s still fifteen to me, bro. You know I’m just hanging with her to keep the media off my ass and keep my nose clean in Vegas.”
“Is that so?” a voice beside me says.
I glance up to find Austin Graham standing behind me.
Oh fuck.
He’s going to blow this for Ava and me. He’s going to tell Beckett that Ava moved in with me, or he’s going to tell Kelly what I said, or he’s going to do something devious because that seems to be who he is.
He’s going to…
Walk away?
He walks away, and I’m left confused.
