Though I’ve tossed on my trusted poncho, a shiver runs through me—partly from my damp swimsuit, but mostly from Arizona’s death stare. Even with more than ten inches on her, I’m not sure I’d win if things came down to blows. Arizona exudes cranky-wolverine vibes and doesn’t look above fighting dirty.
“I want to be clear about one thing,” she says, voice like steel. “My brother means everything to me, and I meaneverything.Though you’ve obviously been successful weaseling your way back into his good graces, that doesn’t mean you’re in mine. Tenny forgives easily, but I’m the one who keeps score.” Arizona smiles, flashing me her freshly done nails. “I will not hesitate to claw your eyes out, whether or not I just got a new set. Do we understand each other, Rory?”
If her blatant threat wasn’t unsettling enough, the name Rory punches the air out of me. When I can trust my voice, I say, “My name is Alex.”
Arizona’s dark brows lift in small increments as her jaw loosens. “You’re not the woman he met in Phoenix?”
I don’t even know how to answer that because…technically, yes?
Arizona waits, her phone pinging rapidly from its position tucked beneath her crossed arms.
“I met the entire team in Phoenix.”
Her eyes widen as her palm covers her gaping mouth. “You’re Alex Stevens.”
I nod.
“Oh my gosh, Freddie and I love you!”
The swing from threats of mutilation to fawning fangirl is so swift my head swims.
“Thanks?”
Arizona laughs, rushing forward to squeeze my arm with her maiming nails.
“I thought you were this other woman Tenny dated who completely ghosted him. He’d mentioned she was some surfer-girl from California, and with you both in wetsuits, I got it all wrong.” She pulls me into their cozy house with surprising strength. “You look a lot different with wet hair and no makeup. Not bad. Just different.”
“I get that,” I tell her, still shaken by this odd interaction but more by what Arizona just said.
Rory was from California?
And a surfer?
The incessant pinging of Arizona’s phone continues, and she finally glances down at it, annoyed. “Ugh. Why are men so needy?”
I shrug, but she’s focused on her phone, her thumbs typing a rapid response. Her lips purse at whatever shows up on the screen before sliding the glowing phone into a pocket in her leggings.
“I’ve got to make a call, and then I have a virtual class. Can you see yourself out?”
I turn toward the front door, relieved to be dismissed. How is it that someone younger and smaller than me is so terrifying? My fingertips touch the door handle just as Arizona calls my name.
“Even though I love how you bust Tenny’s chops in interviews, you should know that the same rules apply.” Her grinslides into something sinister. “But ifyouhurt Tenny, there will be a loud and public backlash. Cancel culture will be the least of your worries.”
Arizona tilts her head in a way that looks almost peaceful. “If you don’t believe me, just check how Kiera Brown’s makeup company dropped a mysterious twenty points after she ended things.”
“I’m not going to hurt Tenny.”
It’s the first time my voice has regained its usual strength since we started this strange conversation, but I mean every word.
The corner of Arizona’s mouth twitches. “I’m inclined to believe you, but the threat still stands.”
“Noted,” I say, staring her down for an extra few seconds.
Arizona breaks first, rolling her eyes and laughing like we’re old friends. “Later, troublemaker.”
My brows wrinkle, but I use the opportunity to slip out of the door and powerwalk to my car. That was hands down the weirdest conversation I’ve ever had, and in college, I once dated a guy who wasdeeply enthralledin the biomechanics of seaweed.
Shifting into gear, I replay the whole exchange. My mind keeps tripping over the details about Rory. All I’d wanted when I got Tenny alone after tomorrow’s game was to kiss him senseless, but now I have questions.
