“What?” he circles his hand for me to continue. “It’s not what? Not what it looks like? Not my sister and my best friend hooking up behind my back after I specifically asked both of you if anything was going on?”
“Okay, yes, that’s what it looks like,” Camden says with his usual arrogant amusement, but it’s not going to defuse the situation and only makes Erik more irate.
“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” Erik grits his teeth, and Molly approaches, a timid but hopeful smile on her face, while another one of the wives holds Kai.
“Babe, I think we should talk about this at home. Everyone’s adrenaline is through the roof from the game, and it would?—”
Ignoring her, Erik swings around to Camden. “I asked you point-blank if something was going on, and you said no, that you were focused on winning.”
“I am.” Camden holds his arms out at his sides, as if to encompass their win. “We are.”
“Youlied. To my face.”
“Listen—”
“No.” Erik knocks Camden’s hand down. “You listen. Nadine is mysister, andyou knew how I’d feel about this.”
“Exactly why we didn’t want to tell you until after the season.”
Erik’s nostrils flare as he shakes his head. “You fuckingasshole. It never should have started in the first place.” He leans into Camden’s space, right in his face. “I never should have trusted you with her.”
I slip in between them, pushing against Erik’s chest so he’ll back up. “Don’t talk about me like I’m not here, and especially don’t talk about me like I’m a child. I am a grown woman with my own mind. I make my own decisions, and nothing between Camden and me has anything to do with you.”
He glares down at me. “It has everything to do with me.”
I huff. “Now who’s the egotistical one?”
Erik lifts his finger to point at Camden but keeps his eyes on me. “Him. And if I thought you’d fall for his act, I never would have suggested you help him out.”
“Don’t talk about him like that!” I shove at my brother with all my might, moving him half an inch, garnering the attention of the entire surrounding crowd in the process. But I don’t care. He’s not going to speak down to or about Camden.
“He’s your best friend and teammate, and you’re the asshole for acting this way. Camden and I love each other.”
Erik lets out a single dubious laugh. “He’s incapable of loving anyone but himself.”
I assumed my brother would be upset when he found out about Camden and me, but this reaction? It’s so over the top I might laugh if I weren’t so full of rage. “Seriously? Where is this coming from?”
“Youliedto me. You are my sister and best friend, and you lied to me. You went behind my back, hid this from me, and you think I’m going to be cool about it? I’m his quarterback, and I already lost one ring because of him. I’m not going to lose another. So don’t try to pass this off as some insignificant thing that I shouldn’t be upset over. I have every right to be pissed the fuck off, okay?”
“Erik,” Molly pleads, pulling on his hand, attempting to move him.
He doesn’t, merely curls his lip in disgust at me. “You should be ashamed of yourself.”
“Hey! Whoa!” Camden all but leaps over me to get to my brother. “Watch your fucking mouth when you’re talking to her.”
Finally, Erik looks at Camden. Both of them breathing hard, nose to nose, a silent threat hanging in the air. Molly and I try our best to pry them apart, but it’s impossible when they’re like this.
“You two are ridiculous,” Molly hisses at her husband. “Acting like children.”
“Let’s go home, Cam.”
They both ignore us.
Camden puts his finger in my brother’s face. “You can say what you want about me, but you don’t sayanythingbad about your sister.Ever.”
Erik huffs. “I can say what I want to and about my sister. Because she’smysister.” He bats at Camden’s shoulder. “And this is family business, so stay out of it.”
That’s when Camden swings.
