Page 87 of Risky Play

She turned around in her desk chair and pinned me with a knowing look. “When do I get to meet him?”

Guilt lodged in my stomach. I hated lying to Dinah, but my brother said they had a really open relationship and told each other everything. I couldn’t tell her and expect her to keep it from him.

“I told you, when your husband learns to control himself.”

She frowned. “I talked to him about that. You’re not being fair to him right now.”

“Whose side are you on?” I grumbled.

“Both of you. He’s my husband, but I love you too. I don’t like the rift between you. I thought he was getting better about that stuff.”

“I lied to you about why I transferred,” I blurted out.

“What?”

“My ex sent my nudes to the entire hockey team after I broke up with him. That’s who Noah fought a couple of weeks ago. That’s why he did it. You know he doesn’t fight.”

“That’s why he was in that fight? Fuck that guy.” She walked over to me and sat down on the other reading chair. She put a hand over mine. “I’m sorry that happened to you. That’s not your fault.”

“I know. He was an asshole. Ma—my boyfriend reassured me about that.”

I cringed as I realized I had almost slipped up and said ‘Matt.’ Dinah narrowed her eyes like she was trying to sus something out. I pushed my hair behind my ear and tried to go back to reading her book, hoping she’d go away, but her stare bore through me.

“Maddie,” she said, her tone flat.

“Hmm?” I asked, not bothering to look up at her.

“Why haven’t we met him yet?”

“It’s complicated. He travels a lot for work.”

Not exactly a lie, but not the truth either. I couldn’t say ‘I can’t tell you because your husband will straight up kill him for breaking the code.’

Dinah crossed her arms over her chest. “He travels for work? How old is this guy? Is that why you don’t want us to meet him? Is he like your dad’s age? I’m eight years older than Noah, and granted, I had some issues with that at first, but nobody cares.”

I shook my head. “No. It’s not that. He’s only twenty-two.”

The suspicion marred her face again. “He’s only twenty-two…oh my God!”

Before she could call me out about lying to her because I was pretty sure she had figured it out right then and there, the front door opened.

“We’ll talk about this later,” she said as she walked out to greet my brother.

I had no desire to do that, so instead, I’d avoid coming over here at all costs now.

I went back to my computer and read a little more from her book. The sound of footsteps made me look up. I couldn’t help but smile when I saw Matt standing in the doorway.

“Hey,” I said.

Noah knew we were friends, so it wasn’t weird to be friendly toward him. But I couldn’t jump into his arms and kiss him like I wanted to. I didn’t want to keep this a secret forever, but I was so worried about what my brother would say. That he’d kick Matt out and try to get him off the team.

“Hey,” he greeted back. “How did your test go?”

I frowned. “I don’t know. I’m bad at math.”

“I’m sure you did fine,” he reassured me. He looked over his shoulder and then mouthed. “Meet you in a few hours?”

I nodded, and then he walked down the hallway and toward the basement where he lived.