Page 9 of Play Me

“I have a feeling that’s not true,” Gianna says, biting her lip to keep from smiling too wide.

Ignoring her, I reach for my sangria.

“Sometimes I worry about the two of you.” Audrey sighs.

“Information is good to have,” I tell her instead. “And when you’ve been in a dry spell as long as I have been, you have a heightened sense of curiosity.”

Audrey groans. “You wanna talk about dry spells? Let’s talk about dry spells.”

“I keep telling you two that I can lead you to the oasis.” Gianna winks, far too entertained for anyone’s good.

“There’s a party on a houseboat next weekend.

You’ll receive a colored wristband upon boarding, representing your interests.

” She looks at Audrey. “Fetishes, kinks—that kind of thing. Not sewing or making cupcakes. Although making guac might count …”

I snort.

Audrey rolls her eyes. “I gathered. I’m inexperienced, not incapable of understanding context clues.”

“Just making sure,” Gianna says, bumping her shoulder playfully.

“Are you going?” Audrey asks her.

Gianna shrugs. “We’ll see. If you guys want to go, I’ll happily be your tour guide.”

“I don’t think I’ll be buying a ticket to that tour, but thank you for the invitation,” I say.

“I think you’d love it, Astrid,” Gianna says.

Audrey makes a face at me, expressing her disagreement.

“Don’t get me wrong,” I say. “I’m all for meeting a man and hooking up. But I need there to be more than a colored bracelet involved.”

“Yeah, we know,” Gianna groans. “You’d have so much fun if you could just relax and trust me.”

“Trusting you isn’t the problem.” You two women are really the only people I trust at all. “I’ll live vicariously through your wild tales. That’s enough for me.”

I hope .

Audrey shifts in her seat. “How was your week, Astrid? Anything exciting happen to you while I was gone?”

I grab my glass and take a long slug of my sangria.

The alcohol heats my cheeks, sending a welcome warmth through my veins.

I wait for it to hit the bundles of stress in my body before I even consider discussing yesterday.

I’ll have to handle it carefully, or things will fly off the rails before I know what’s happening.

Audrey will take this situation with Gray and turn it into an impending love story fit for the big screen.

Gianna will concoct all the ways Gray and I could dispel our growing hatred for one another, and she’ll remind me that, in her opinion, hate sex is the best sex.

This thing with Gray is the farthest thing from either of those things as it can get.

“My week was fine until yesterday,” I say, feeling the tension in my jaw again.

“What happened yesterday?” Audrey asks.

“Renn called me into his office and asked me to take on another project.”

Gianna’s dark brows pull together. “He did? You didn’t mention that to me.”

“It happened after I talked to you.” I heave a breath, pushing the air past the tightness in my lungs. “I’m not happy, to put it mildly.”

“What’s going on?” Gianna asks. “It’s rare that you’re annoyed by Renn. Or did he finally assign you to Tate?”

I snort. “I begged to work with Tate. Let that sink in.”

Audrey’s eyes widen, and Gianna makes a face in surprise. Yeah. It’s that bad. They know how opposed I’ve been in the past to working with Renn’s baby brother. My admission isn’t lost on them.

I shrug, feeling the weight of the world on my shoulders. “I’ve just been assigned a giant man-child with a horrible personality to ‘assist’,” I say, using my fingers for air quotes, “for the rest of the rugby season.”

Gianna fights a grin. “You’re assisting a rugby player?”

I fire her a look, knowing damn good and well where she’s going with this—right to the gutter.

“What’s his name?” she asks coyly.

“Gray Adler.” I sigh dramatically, crossing my arms over my chest as Gianna leans over Audrey’s shoulder to see her phone again. “You’re going to see all kinds of headlines that say he’s an asshole and?—”

“ Oh my God .” Gianna’s jaw hangs to the table as she faces me. “He’s hot as fuck, Astrid.”

I groan, glancing around to ensure no one can hear her. “Lower your voice. This is a public place.”

“We were just talking about avocado dicks,” Gianna deadpans. “I’m pretty sure the line was crossed back there, not here.”

“Even his name is hot.” Audrey continues to swipe across her screen. “Have you seen him with his shirt off?”

Gianna moans. “I can think of many, many ways I could assist that man. Holy shit.”

Despite knowing this would happen, it still irritates me. I don’t want them focusing on his looks. I’m sure women do that every day and give him a pass because he has a sexy smirk and a body chiseled from marble. I want my friends to be on my side—to hate him because I do.

“He’s a top-tier jerk,” I say.

“Of course, he’s an asshole,” Gianna says, waving a hand through the air.

“He’s a professional athlete. They’re supposed to be all testosterone-fueled, sweaty, alpha males.

” She peers at Audrey’s phone again and gasps.

“Look at his legs. And he has a thigh tattoo .” She pauses to whimper.

“I never want to hear you complain about work again. Ever.”

“But you?—”

“ Ever ,” Gianna says, holding up a finger. “I don’t know why God loves you more than me, but put in a good word for me, will you?”

“We want weekly recaps of everything that happens while you work with him.” Audrey glances up for the first time. When her eyes meet mine, she turns off her phone, and her gaze softens. “Because I want to know every mean thing he does to you so I can be mad, too.”

Thanks, Audrey.

I smile at her as Kim sets our plates in front of us. She checks our drinks, we thank her, and then she disappears again.

“For the record,” Gianna says, picking up her fork. “If he hit on me, I’d turn him down and hurt his feelings with dramatic flair just for you.” She looks up at me and winks. “But he is hot. If you get a Bring Your Friend to Work day, I call dibs.”

“Can we talk about something else?” I groan, rolling my eyes. “Please?”

“Let me use this to segue from rugby booty to pirates’ booty.” Gianna giggles. “I saw this thing online about this island where men dress up as pirates and … Hold on. Let me pull up the article. You have to see this for yourselves.”

I lean back, my shoulders relaxing, and breathe a sigh of relief. Audrey catches my eye and offers me a sweet smile.

Although I didn’t want to talk about him at all, I knew that I’d have to, and I’m glad it’s over without me having to get too in the weeds about it.

I’m tired of replaying my interactions with Gray and dissecting every word, gesture, and look we exchanged.

And God knows I’m tired of worrying about what the next couple of months will entail.

This is a new predicament for me because I generally avoid men like him. Moody, spiteful, arrogant men. That’s why being forced to work with him is very discombobulating. I don’t understand how I got here or why this is happening to me. Who did I piss off in my last life?

I can only do my job to the best of my ability, enjoy that raise in salary, and let the chips fall where they may.

I only hope that isn’t at my feet in a million little pieces.

“So they were pretending to be pirates?” Audrey asks.

“Role-playing pirates.” Gianna shrugs, looking at me for help. “You want to take this one, or should I?”

I laugh, grateful for Audrey’s naivete. “I’ll take this one.”

It’s the perfect silly thing to take my mind off the real-life pirate trying to plunder my happiness.