Page 6 of The Defender

Scratch that. I didn’t want to know.

After two wrong turns—I swear, this house was a maze—I made it to the foyer. I opened the door, expecting to see a random delivery person.

Instead, I was greeted by a distressingly familiar face: light brown skin, dark brown eyes, and full lips that slowly curved into a smile that would make most women swoon.

Key word:most.

My own smile vanished. “Oh. It’s you.”

CHAPTER 3

VINCENT

“Don’t sound so happy to see me, buttercup. I’ll get the wrong idea.” I suppressed a laugh at Brooklyn’s eye roll.

I hadn’t expected her to answer my sister’s door, but I wasn’t complaining. Riling her up had been one of my greatest joys in life since we met after a charity football match last summer. She’d already been friends with Scarlett, but none of us had known she was interning at Blackcastle yet.

Her addition to the team had been a welcome surprise; her relation to Coach had not, since the only thing worse than trying not to overstep with Coach’s daughter was trying not to overstep with Coach’shotdaughter.

Long, wavy blonde hair that shimmered like gold in the sunlight. Big blue eyes. Full lips and an adorable smattering of freckles across her nose. It was like God had sent her specifically to test me—I mean, us. The team in general.

“Apparently, you’re as bad at reading expressions as you are at reading Holchester’s plays.” She arched one brow. “What was that mess with Lyle yesterday?”

“Good job for cherry picking theonetime I let him score. Don’t forget, we won yesterday’s match.”

“Thanks to Asher.”

“Does your boss know how bad your match analyses are? Because all Blackcastle staff should have a baseline knowledge of football, which you clearly don’t.”

“Is it bad analysis if I point out how you misjudged Lyle’s pass and fucked up the interception?”

“Wow. I didn’t realize you watched me so closely during our matches.” I placed a hand over my chest. “I’m flattered. Truly.”

“Please. I work for the club. It’s my job to follow every player closely.”

“Yeah? Then what was Stevens doing fifteen minutes into the first half?”

“His job, unlike you.”

I didn’t think anything could make me laugh today, but the sound that came out of my mouth was as genuine as it was unexpected.

Brooklyn may look angelic, but she had the tongue of a viper. It was oddly attractive.

I shouldn’t enjoy verbally sparring with her so much. She was the manager’s daughter, which meant he would rip my balls off if I looked at her the wrong way. On top of that, she was one of my sister’s best friends, which meant Scarlett wouldalsorip my balls off if I looked at her the wrong way. It was a lot of potential danger for one girl.

The problem was, I’d never liked playing it safe.

Brooklyn’s mouth curved. Her eyes dropped to the takeaway bags in my hands. “Did you rob the delivery guy on your way in?”

“It’s not robbery if he handed the food over willingly.” By pure coincidence, I’d arrived at the same time as Asher and Scarlett’s takeaway, so I’d offered to bring it in myself. The delivery guy agreed and promptly asked for a selfie afterward. I obliged; everyone was happy.

“Are you going to let me in, or are you waiting for the food to get cold first?” I drawled.

She wrinkled her nose but stepped aside. “Does Scarlett know you’re coming?”

“Nah. I just happened to be in the neighborhood.”

That was a lie. No one “just happened to be” in this neighborhood, but I’d spent the day seesawing between fear, anger, and confusion. If I didn’t tell someone what happened soon, I was going to explode.