She nods. “Good luck then. Xe’re insane as well.”
“That’s your sibling.”
She raises a dark brow. “Don’t you think I’d knowbest then?”Fair point.“Get going. You’ll see her in the morning.”
“Alright, good night, Mom,” I tease, watching her roll her eyes before she closes the door. The walk back to the car feels like floating. This was an awesome night, and I don’t know what else can top it right now.
Twenty Eight
Taylor
I’m shaking in my boots. My knees are ready to give out, my hands are sweaty, and no amount of wiping them is doing anything for me. Mindy and Annalise are chatting softly behind us as they follow Eloise and I into the meeting with HR, Lawson and the GM. My heart is thudding, and I’m sure I’m about to pass out at any moment.
Eloise squeezes my hand, a soft smile gracing her lips like she’s coaxing a feral kitten into a cage. “Everything is going to be fine.”
I sigh. “I know, I’m just… what if it isn’t?”
Her brown eyes go soft, gooey and almost like caramel with the way the sunlight catches through the glass windows of the conference room.
“Oh, ye of little faith. There are rules in place for women in sports who get into relationships. It’s a fact of life as a pro athlete. We’re always dating each other.” She gives a little chuckle. It doesn’t assuage my fears. She takes both of my hands in hers and rubs them comfortingly. “I’m serious, Taylor. Everything is goingto be fine. This is us dotting our i’s and crossing our t’s. Do you need more time? Because I’m sure that Annalise and Mindy would be able to—” She stops, watching something behind me, and if I were a betting woman, it would be the two of them emphatically shaking their heads at her.
“No, it’s not. It feels really real, but at the same time, this feels like a dream, you know? And when I wake up, nothing will have happened.” My breath is coming out in short bursts, like my lungs can’t hold anything more than a thimble of air.
Eloise pulls me into her arms, holding me tightly as I start to level out. Her strong arms wrap around me like tentacles, applying the right amount of pressure to stabilize my train of thought.
She pulls back once I’ve breathed deeply a few times, and forces me to look into her eyes. “This is real; there is no dream. I’m here with you, and you are here with me.”
I nod, breathing in through my nose.
“I can pinch you if you’d like?” she asks and I nod again, forcing myself to look at her as she does.
“Ow,” I snap, slapping her hand away. “You didn’t have to pinch with your nails!”
She smiles, shrugging. “Now you know you aren’t dreaming.” I rub at the spot on my wrist where she pinched, glowering at her. “Ready to go into the meeting?”
“Yeah, I can do this,” I say.
“I know you can. If you can live with Brynn mocking you for making out against her door, then we can live through a meeting where we tell our employers that we’re dating,” she says.
I roll my eyes. “Brynn will never let me live it down, especially how you scurried away with your tail between your legs.”
Her jaw drops, but before she can argue further, Annalise and Mindy open the doors to the conference room, pulling us both in. Eloise clamps her mouth shut, leaving a tense smile in its place. She’s going to bring this up later to argue it more, and I can’t wait.
Lawson looks like he’d rather be anywhere but here, the HR department rep looks uncomfortable, and the GM seems to be busy on their phone instead of looking up to see us.
“Thanks for coming to this meeting,” Mindy says, pulling out her notebook and sitting down. Eloise and I sit beside each other, with our Agents on either side of us. “We’re here because our clients wanted to draft a relationship disclosure agreement.”
Lawson’s eyebrows shoot up, his blue eyes staring at the two of us. He mutters something under his breath before he gets up and walks out. We watch him walk past us, clapping both of our shoulders before he leaves. “Maybe he didn’t need to be here,” I mutter.
“You think?” Eloise whispers, watching him walk away before anyone could call him back. “He’s going to be making us skate for years.”
I place my hand on hers under the table, enjoying the feel of it in mine. “Wouldn’t have it any other way.”
There’s a clearing of a throat, and the GM and HR rep are both staring at us. “This is unusual, especially with the recent developments this year.” The HR rep says. She’s a redheaded woman who looks particularly exhausted. “We’ve had to quash that interview with Silas.”
“He shouldn’t even be interviewing us,” Eloise snaps. “He’s biased and a dick, and he was completely out of line with the questions he was asking us.”
“That being said, you both just got out of long-term relationships. This could have some blowback,” she says.
