Total pages in book: 85
Estimated words: 79850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 79850 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 399(@200wpm)___ 319(@250wpm)___ 266(@300wpm)
There’s no chance to respond.
To defend Brooke’s honor.
To come up with a really plausible lie.
Or perhaps to defend myself if Claude Perron decides to use those meaty fists of his on me.
“He’s my fiancé,” Brooke blurts out, and I’m so stunned I can’t even move. There’s no more snap in my neck. I can’t even take my eyes off her father and his look of disgusted shock over this news. I try not to cringe as Brooke steps back up to me, moving right in close to my body. She loops an arm around my back and gives a little shrug as if to say oops. “Surprise.”
“Fiancé?” Coach Perron growls menacingly at his daughter and she stiffens, as if she’s afraid of him.
That doesn’t set well with me, yet I’m too freaked out to even slip an arm back around Brooke with any type of gallantry.
“Daddy,” Brooke says solicitously as she lets me go and holds her hands out in front of her to beg for his patience. “I know this is a shock and we wanted to tell you, but well…with everything going on and all, it just didn’t seem the right time.”
I finally get some feeling back in my body and manage to stare down at her. She cranes her neck to peer up at me, and I see all kinds of begging and pleading within those whiskey-colored eyes.
“This makes no sense.” Coach Perron has eyes only for his daughter, and they are deeply troubled indeed. His voice is no longer laced with fury but sounds oddly confused. “How could I not know this?”
“We were trying to be sensitive,” Brooke offers.
Sensitive to what, I have no clue.
“When?” he continues with no more signs of aggression in his demeanor, and perhaps I imagined earlier that Brooke was afraid of him. “How? I mean…how do you even know each other?”
“It’s a long story,” Brooke says placatingly.
Not sure that was the right thing to say, but it definitely seemed to jolt her father somewhat. He looks down at his watch and his face reddens with what looks once again like good old anger. His eyes come to me and pin me in place. “We’ve got the team meeting to get to.”
I don’t respond. Not sure my voice would even work if I tried.
Claude turns to his daughter and says, “I expect both of you at my house at 6 P.M. for dinner tonight. And you two better be able to explain this shit.”
I cringe internally and Brooke starts to wring her hands. Claude merely spins on his heel and marches out of her office, leaving the door wide open.
“I am so sorry,” Brooke whispers, dragging out the o’s in the word so.
My head turns slowly to stare at her, and I can feel my neck getting warm with righteous anger. “That’s your father? And why the fuck would you tell him we’re engaged?”
“I’m sorry,” she says again, this time urgently. Her hand comes to my forearm. “It’s a lot to explain, but my dad is really protective of me, and we’re really close. I’m all he has after my mom died this past year, and well…I moved here to be with him because he hasn’t been taking her death all that well.”
“But why lie to him?” I blurt out. “I mean…yeah, it was embarrassing he caught us like that, but we’re adults, Brooke. That was idiotic to tell him we’re engaged.”
Brooke pulls her chin inward and looks at me with disbelief. “Did you not see the look on his face when he walked in here? He was furious.”
I just stare at her. So the fuck what?
“At you,” she says jabbing a finger into my chest. “I was helping you out.”
“Helping me out?” I scoff.
“Do you really want to start this season with a new coach hating your guts?” she asks. “And you have never played for my father before, but I’m sure you have heard all about his style. He’s a hard-ass. You add to that what I was trying to tell you about my mom dying, and he’s not been doing well, and it’s a recipe for disaster. He was going to make you suffer. It could even impact your standing on the team.”
“So what?” I ask sarcastically, throwing my hands out to the side and dislodging her hand from me. “We’re just supposed to fucking get married or something?”
To Brooke’s credit, she looks as horrified as I feel. “God, no.”
“Then what?” I growl at her, completely frustrated my first day on the new job has turned into such a clusterfuck.
She lets out a sigh and her shoulders sag. “Let’s just let it play out for a bit. In a few weeks, we can tell him the relationship died. I’ll take the full blame for it, of course. I’ll work something out that leaves you in good standing with my dad.”