Page 14 of The Defender

No.I wasn’t going there. It didn’t matter anyway. Vincent and I would never be more than quasi-friends and temporary flatmates. He was probably just trying to fuck with me, per usual.

“Stop it,” I said.

“Stop what?”

“Stop trying to charm me.”

His eyes flooded with surprise, and I immediately wanted to snatch my words back.Shit. I’d fucked up.

A slow smile spread over his face, turning his shadow of a dimple into a lethal weapon. “I wasn’t trying, but I’m happy to hear you’re charmed.”

“Oh, shut up. You know what I meant.”

“Not really.”

I blew out a sigh. This wasn’t how I’d imagined his move-in going. At all.

But I’d be lying if I said atinypart of me wasn’t glad he was here to take my mind off my mom’s latest bombshell. She’d called when I was at Scarlett’s house, and I wished I’d never picked up.

My stomach cramped. I shifted my gaze away from Vincent and resisted the urge to bite my nails. I’d kicked the habit years ago, but the possibility of relapse reared its ugly head every time I was stressed.

“Let’s move on,” I said. “Towels are in the linen closet across the hall if you need them. I’m heading out early tomorrow to run errands, so don’t wait up for me.”

Vincent’s eyebrows rose. “What errands do you need to runthatearly on a weekday?”

My nails made it halfway to my mouth before I caught myself. “This and that.”

I didn’t mention that I hadn’t received a job offer from Blackcastle yet, so I was exploring other options for when my internship ended in late December. If the club wanted to keep me on, they would’ve said something by now.

To be honest, I wasn’t sure if I even wanted to work for Blackcastle full-time. I definitely wanted to stay in the sportsnutrition field, but as much as I liked the team, I didn’t love being the only female on staff. I was also sure some of my coworkers thought I’d gotten the internship because of my dad. My glowing performance reviews didn’t matter as much as the revelation that I was Frank Armstrong’s daughter.

“Is this related to why you missed the match against Holchester?” Vincent followed me out of the room and into the kitchen.

“No.”Yes. I’d interviewed for an open nutritionist role at a local gym. It was a big step down from the Premier League, but a job was a job. That was the only day they could see me, so I’d called in sick and snuck out for the disastrous interview.

Long story short: my potential manager was a pig who couldn’t stop ogling my chest or making sexual innuendos, and I ended our meeting early by calling him a shrimp-dicked weasel.

Anyway, I didn’t get the job.

Scarlett and Carina were the only ones who knew the details. I wasn’t telling anyone at Blackcastle I was looking at other employers until they officially ended my internship without a job offer, which seemed like the proper thing to do.

“What about the text from two weeks ago?” Vincent leaned against the counter while I assembled the ingredients for a salad.

“What text?”

“The one you got at Scarlett and Asher’s house. You looked like someone told you your dog died.”

I froze. Vincent was the last person I’d expected to pick up on my mood shift. I was always the perky, upbeat one, and I’d cultivated that image so strongly, most people never noticed when I became subdued.

It was my superpower. Smile for the world, crash out in silence. The perfect shield against unwanted pity.

I should’ve guessed Vincent would crack that shield the way he did everything else. That washissuperpower.

“Sorry. I didn’t mean to pry,” he said when I didn’t respond. He wasn’t smiling anymore. “But you looked upset that day, and I—” He cleared his throat. “I want to make sure you’re okay. Since we’re now flatmates and all. Can’t have you spiraling when we’re in the same flat.”

A ball of emotion lodged in my chest. I breathed past it and summoned a bright smile. “Oh, that. It was a stupid message from, um, an old co-worker. Nothing major.” I busied myself with the salad so he couldn’t see my face.

There had been no ex co-worker. In reality, my mom had received my voicemail and texted me her big news.