“Like she was just checking in on a brother’s teammate,” Jack agrees.
“Wait a minute,” I say, holding up a hand. “Hold the fucking phone here. A brother’s teammate?” I repeat. I turn toward the girl. “Who’s your brother?”
She squares her shoulders at me and tips her chin up, and goddamn, it’s a sexy power move. “Dex Bradley.”
I leap up from my chair, and I immediately grab for my ribs. That was a fucking dumb move.
But so is hiring my enemy’s sister to babysit me.
“No fucking way,” I say to Jack, shaking my head and wincing.
“Sit down,” Jack barks. “You’re not in a position to negotiate. You will do as she says, or you will sit on the bench.” He shakes his head as his eyes dart to the window before he glances at Lincoln. “Goddamn. I always said I’d never be like him, and look at me quoting him.” He’s muttering as he lifts a shoulder. “Calvin has gotten better since I took over fifty-one percent of the team, I guess. Being a grandfather has softened him.” He’s talking to Lincoln, not me, and meanwhile, I’m seething that he’s forcing this on me.
Lincoln chuckles.
“Ms. Bradley, are you ready to get started?” Jack asks Dex’s sister.
She nods and taps her tablet. “Yes. I have several questions for Mr. Jennings so we can start an action plan.”
“Great,” Jack says. “I’ll have Lily set you up in a conference room, and she’ll be in to work with your schedules.”
I let out a frustrated sigh, but as he said, I’m not in a position to negotiate.
CHAPTER 6: Everleigh Bradley
A Divisive Asshole
My hands are shaking as we follow Lily to one of the conference rooms.
Is he freaking serious? Maverick has a hell of a lot of nerve telling Jack Dalton that I hit on him the other night. That’snotwhat I was doing.
I was being nice. Trying to welcome someone new to the town where I’m new, too. My brother’s teammate.
My brother’s enemy.Myenemy.
At least that’s the way he’s playing it. We’re not off to a good start here, and I clench and unclench my fists as I follow behind him. I need to be the adult here. It’s why I was hired.
He’s just not going to make it easy.
But Stuart didn’t recommend me—and Jack didn’t hire me—to take on an easy position.
Lily stops at a conference room and opens the door to let us in. “I’ll give you two the room for the next half hour or so, and then I’ll be back to work out scheduling details.”
“Thank you, Lily,” I say, and she closes the door behind me as she leaves.
Maverick doesn’t say a word as he slips into a chair with a sulking expression on his face, and I suck in a deep breath.
I don’t sit.
I’m more comfortable standing. He’s making everything uncomfortable as it is, so I assert what little control I have here by standing.
“I’d like to start by assessing your current reputation. An audit, if you will,” I say.
He huffs something out without responding, and I pull open my tablet. I open a browser and type his name into a search bar, and I scan the results.
“Maverick Jennings, football quarterback,” I murmur, reading from the results page. There’s a host of photos of him: two from the field, one off, and a team headshot where I’m forced to ignore the fact that he looks sexy as hell.
Across the top shows his birth date and age along with his current position, team, and number. We’re the same age.
