“Touch her and die.”
I vault the wall, positioning myself between the man and the three women just as two other guards arrive. A part of me should be thinking about how this looks, how several fans are filming this whole ordeal with their phones, but none of that matters.All that matters is Kenzie. If someone other than me lays a finger on Kenzie, I will lose it. Plain and simple.
The fury coursing through my veins is incessant as it is foreign. Usually, I’m the one keeping everyone else from getting into an unnecessary brawl, but I’d rather be suspended indefinitely than see Kenzie forced from this stadium again.
“Let’s not do this here,” Kai says, drawing my attention to the fact that he and Tenny have jumped the wall and are now backing me up.
“Yeah,” Tenny adds. “Let’s discuss this in the clubhouse.”
“Fine,” I grunt. “But no one touches her.”
“That’s fair, right, fellas?” Tenny asks with an eyebrow lift. “The young lady—um, gentleman—can head downstairs of his own accord.”
The guards glance at each other before the largest one nods, taking a slight step back.
Once we’re in the clubhouse, Aaron pushes into my space, trying myvery lastnerve. “What is my ex-fiancée doing kissing you?”
“Why should you care?” I fire back. “You said all women are interchangeable.”
Aaron grunts as Tenny pulls him back by the shoulder.
“Lay off, Lawson,” Tenny adds. “Don’t you have a new fiancée anyway?
“Wait.” Kenzie blinks, wig and beard discarded on a nearby bench, as she turns toward Aaron. “You have a new fiancée?”
“At least this one knows about his stupid scheme.” Tenny shoots daggers at our teammate. “I hope she takes you for every penny you’re worth.”
“She won’t, because she’ll be signing an iron-clad prenup, you imbecile,” Aaron barks, aggressively pulling out of Tenny’s hold.
Kenzie brushes a few loose strands of hair away from her face, confusion slipping into the fake wrinkles around her eyes. “What scheme?”
The room goes eerily silent as everyone looks at me. The regret climbing up my chest is so caustic I almost check for wounds. I should have insisted that Kenzie learn this from me before it came out like this, but she’d said she didn’t want to know, and I respected her decision. Now she’s going to get her heart broken with dozens of witnesses.
“I thought she knew,” Kai whispers.
Then it feels like my heart is smashed to smithereens when Kenzie turns to me with tear-sheened eyes. “Knew what?”
Chapter 28
Kenzie
Several worst-case scenarios skip through my mind like obnoxious mean girls touting, “Told you so.” The leading contenders are that both Aaron and Trevor are in on some nefarious plan to humiliate me in front of the team—missionaccomplished.That Trevor entered into a bet with Aaron to get me to date him before Aaron could acquire another fiancée—which sounds like a poorly plotted rom-com. And the most painful one: Trevor’s and my relationship is all a hoax.
That last one hurts the most because, as much as everything between Trevor and mefeelsreal, what if I was deluding myself? Even as that thought fires off, my gut doesn’t believe it. Trevor is agoodman. Or at least I think so? What if I can’t trust myinstincts with him either? After all, that’s what I’d learned with Aaron—that I’m too naïve to know better.
The desire to be in my parents’ kitchen overwhelms me. It’s so juvenile to want to run home to Mom at twenty-six, but if this is the worst-case scenario I fear it might be, I’m going to need my mother’s patchouli-scented arms and her honey cakes. Dozens of them. I hope she’s stocked up on flour because—
“Aaron tricked you into an engagement under false pretenses,” Trevor says with a wince, almost as if it hurts him.
A twinge of guilt slices through me that I’d even doubted him for a second. Trevor would never do anything to cause me pain. He’s been nothing but supportive since the day I met him, and these last few weeks, I’ve come to understand what a healthy romantic relationship is supposed to be like.
My gaze cuts to Aaron, but his only response is a bored shrug. “I don’t understand why we’re even talking about this. We have media in twenty minutes.”
“For once, I agree with Lawson,” Patrick says, pushing off the wall. “Everyone, shower up. Get ready. Chapman you can escort your guest—”
“Hold on.” I lift my hands out in front of me. “Why?”
Aaron rolls his eyes likeWe’re really doing this?before releasing a nasally exhale. “I have a cash flow problem.”
