Page 84 of On Merit Alone

“Hello,” Ry said as we stopped before him, his eyes bouncing between us curiously. He looked as if he wanted to say something but decided to hold back. Thinking better of it, he stood up straighter. “You two keep touching… a lot.”

Merit crossed her arms over her chest, spearing him with a sassy glare. “Congratulations, Ryan. Welcome to the party.”

He sliced her with another familiar look. “And this is why we needed to throw you a likability party, Jones.”

His words were harsh. Like really harsh, considering how sensitive Mer was about this sort of thing. But when I glanced at her to share a look of incredulity, she was hiding an amused smirk.

Okay, that’s it. Stepping forward, I faced Ry. “Is there something I need to know about here?”

Ryan just rolled his eyes.

“Cool it, King, I’ve known her since she was nineteen. She’s like a little sister to me. That’s it.” Those eyes moved over to Merit and lingered. “Which is why I’m quite surprised since I’ve asked her to tell me everything, and she still doesn’t.”

“That’s impractical, Ry.” She crossed her arms. “I bet your real sister doesn’t even tell you everything.”

“She does. I make her.”

“Well, I tell you the important things,” she said. “I just thought you already knew this one. Everyone else seems to.”

He just hummed, panning a look my way that I’d never gotten from him. I felt my eyebrows draw together. Ry had never looked at me like I was an adversary before. But now, I suddenly felt like an outsider to the two of them as his eyes speared down to where my hand met Merit’s back.

He looked at her again. “And this is important?”

She smiled, her teasing seeming to sober. “Yeah, Ry. I’ll tell you all about it over lunch soon.”

“Hold on, you two get lunch together—” I was cut off abruptly by an arm prying Merit and me apart. Ryan’s touch was that gentle fingertip thing I’d noticed before with Mer, but a sharp, jabbing elbow toward me .

He spoke only to Merit as he ushered her toward the door. “Go on ahead, headache. I need to speak with your little boyfriend for a brief moment.”

She looked at him wearily. “No weird protective stuff, Ryan. We’re at work, remember?”

He smiled down at her with a sneer. “Exactly what I’d like you to remember before you take shots before your shift. You smell like tequila. Go rinse your mouth with that sugar water you like so much. We’ll talk some other time.”

Like she had no choice, Mer cast a glance back at me and gave an apologetic shrug before heading inside. I immediately felt the loss of her presence, which had me turning to the man who’d sent my Merit away in annoyance.

“I no longer get involved because she’s an adult,” Ryan said as he turned to me with his hands in his pockets and a dark look on his face. “But she was nineteen when she first wandered into my office. She was confused and completely alone and sad . And she’s like family now. I care about her.”

I narrowed my eyes. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen you like this.”

He narrowed his eyes right back. “Jealous?”

“Sort of.”

Surprisingly, he huffed a small laugh. “You left before I got my hands on that pencil-neck reporter who made her cry. Otherwise, you might have seen me a lot worse.”

For a moment I delighted in the thought of the havoc Ry might have wreaked that day. I remember the way he stormed in, but after that it had been all Merit. I wish I could have seen it.

I guess now I knew why she’d searched for his help that day. He was all she knew. I should be grateful for him, not jealous. Suddenly, I was.

“She’s not sad anymore,” I declared, just in case he was wondering. Worrying.

“And you expect me to believe that’s because of you? ”

“No. It’s because of her,” I said, eyes sliding over to him.

“I mean, yeah, she’ll always be vulnerable about her family.

But she was never weak because of them. Not since I’ve known her.

And she maybe needed protecting when she was younger and being approached by all these new scary things.

She may have needed you, Ry, but I can assure you I am not something she needs to be protected from.

And I am more than capable of taking over the protecting from here on out. You can stand down.”

He looked at me, quietly surveying while I stood strong and determined in my statement. I didn’t know as much as I wanted to, but if he really was a pseudo-brother to her, then I would give him confidence that she was okay with me while also standing my ground and making my intentions clear.

As clear as I could right now anyway.

But Ryan being Ryan, I saw as the puzzle pieces snapped one, two, three into place. His eyes narrowed at me the more he made his realizations. Taking a step back, he huffed out a long sigh of frustration. And then he spat under his breath, “You know what you want now?”

“Yup.”

“But you’re not going to tell me?”

“Nope.”

“I cannot do my job effectively if you don’t tell me everything, King.” I gave him nothing. “What are you going to do?”

I shrugged. “Nothing crazy.”

I honestly think he groaned, a very not Ryan-like noise, as he tipped his head back. I couldn’t help the grin that spread across my face, and that just pissed him off more. “A girl is all it took, huh?”

“Not just any girl,” I said.

Done with this conversation, he pivoted hard, murmuring as he stormed toward the door. “You two had better marry each other.”

I couldn’t agree more.

“Shit! Does my straw look shorter?” Stephens asked, holding the small black chute up to the dim blue light of the ballroom to examine it.

Kivvey yanked his arm back down. “No dummy, it’s the same size as the rest of them.”

“Oh,” Stephens said in a voice that indicated he was actually disappointed at not drawing the short straw. Looking around, he said, “Who has the short one, then?”

“Probably the only one too busy making eyes across the room to bother paying attention,” Kivvey murmured, directing his chin in the direction of Merit who had her back turned to everyone and was waving and making goo-goo faces at my nephew as they sat at a table behind us.

We were drawing straws to see who went up on the podium with me after dinner.

We’d been here for more than an hour. The first hour was eaten up quickly by talking and mingling and schmoozing all the bigger donation givers present.

The next half was occupied by introductions and formal announcements of the team rosters.

And finally, a dinner in which we finally got a break and got time to hang out with our charity team.

We spent the majority of it goofing around and cracking quiet jokes about our opponents and Rogers, who were sitting across the room.

Now that the night was winding down, I would normally love nothing more than to have Merit attached to me for the rest of it, especially since she seemed to have bloomed into a social butterfly in the confines of these doors without the cameras and questions.

But the two captains of the charity team and another player would be going up in front of the whole room to do just that, and I didn’t want to ruin her big day with something that would unnecessarily stress her out.

Laying a hand over Mer’s thigh, I squeezed gently to grab her attention. When she looked back at me, her eyes lighter than any chandelier in this room, I felt a shot to the heart.

“What is it?” she whispered over her shoulder.

“You pulled the short straw,” I informed. “Are you sure you can handle being in front of a crowd like this?”

To my surprise she just shrugged as she lifted her eyes to scan the room. “Yeah, I can do it.”

I eyed her suspiciously. “They’ll be asking questions.”

She nodded. “Okay.”

“They might ask you something personal. Especially since it's you and me up there,” I pressed.

She shrugged again. “Let them.”

“Okay, who are you and what did you do with the woman who literally tried to run away from me on the carpet tonight?” Looking around dramatically, I raised my voice slightly, joking, “Did somebody get my girl drunk?”

“Stop.” Laughing, she grabbed onto my arm and pulled on me as I half-stood out of my seat. “ Stop that , crazy.”

I lowered my voice as I spoke again, “Seriously, Six. I don’t want you uncomfortable.”

She was as cool as a cucumber, though, shrugging again. “I’m comfortable with you. Out there, I was mortified by the excessive PDA, but never afraid. Never uncomfortable. Not when I’m with you.”

I looked at her, trying to find the lie or the crack in her features, but there weren’t any. So I did the right thing and believed her. “Alright then.”

Someone cleared their throat causing Merit and I to look over our shoulders and view the rest of the table who were all staring at us, various degrees of happy disgust on their faces.

“We’re going to have to deal with this lovey-dovey shit forever, aren’t we?” Kivvey asked out loud while staring at us.

“Looks like it,” Stephens answered in a deadpan manner .

“And they don’t care who else is around or what they happen to be eating while they do it either, huh?”

“Looks like it.”

“And they are actually this disgustingly in love, aren’t they?”

“Looks like it, man.”

Merit pressed her lips together in a soft laugh while I leaned in and pointed a mock stern finger at them. “Hey. That is my player you’re talking about. I’m a professional here. I take my position very seriously.”

“You could be in a scandal,” Stephens suggested. “Dating your player in secret.”

I opened my mouth to protest but thought better of it as I looked over at Merit. “Now that’s kind of hot.”

The table erupted in groans at the same time Mer and I doubled in laughter.