Page 21 of Risky Play

NO! Get your shit together, Callahan. She is off-limits. Very much so.

But she couldn’t answer because she turned to Ari, and I mirrored her movement, only to find Ty with his tongue down Ari’s throat.

I rubbed a hand down my face. Goddamnit, Ty. “Bro, come on!”

Ty pulled away and gave me a grin. “Come on, Cally, you know what they say. ‘The best way to get over someone is to get underneath someone else!’ Right, Ari?”

Ari gave him a flirty laugh.

“Must be nice,” Maddie muttered into her beer.

I frowned and gave Ty a look, but he shrugged and went back to kissing Ari.

I blew out an annoyed breath. “I’m sorry.”

Maddie laughed. “For what? They’re both single and can do what they want.”

I shook my head at my best friend’s antics, annoyance clawing its way up my chest. Maddie picked at the label on her beer and avoided my gaze. The awkward silence between us felt like it could stretch on forever.

“What were you helping Dinah with today?” I asked.

I needed to change the subject to anything that would get me to stop thinking about her lips on mine again.

Maddie brightened. “Oh! I’m helping market her books. She’s awful at it.”

“Oh? You know anything about doing sponsored content? My agent set me up with an athleisure brand. I’m supposed to post stuff, but I keep forgetting to do it.”

“MATT!” she chastised. “I can help. Did they give you photos or ad copy to use in your posts? What are the guidelines?”

I rubbed the back of my neck. “Uhhh.”

I was pretty sure that was in an email my agent sent me that I was ignoring. He kept yelling at me about it. I wasn’t even sure why this company reached out to me. I wasn’t big like Noah or TJ. Or even Riley. My agents said some buzzwords about breakout younger players. Whatever that meant.

She pulled out her phone and began typing away. “I can help. I’ll come over tomorrow before you leave for the game and set something up.”

I blinked back at her. “Really?”

She nodded. “I’d love to work for a PR firm or do social media. I work with a lot of them for books, but this could be great practice for my future career.”

I had no clue what she was talking about, but it was cute to see her face light up when she talked about it. The sexiest thing of all was when someone was passionate about their work.

“Hey,” Ty interrupted. “We’re getting out of here.”

I gave him a warning look, but he gave me that goofy grin of his.

Maddie had a perplexed look on her face, and I saw her mouth, ‘are you okay?’ to her friend, who nodded back at her in confirmation. Ty and Ari left hand in hand, leaving Maddie and I at the crowded bar with matching confused looks on our faces.

“Did we just get ditched?” I asked.

She shrugged. “Good for her. Her ex was a dick. He broke up with her because she came out as bisexual.”

“Fuck that guy. One of my teammates is bi. Who gives a shit?”

“Right, Blaise. And so is Rox,” she reminded me.

“And Rox,” I agreed, and I downed the rest of my beer.

Maddie set her empty beer on the bar. “I better get going.”