Page 67 of Tough Score

I see Brynn shake her head with a smirk on her face.

"I'd be careful if I were you –trying to matchmake Cammy into the "family". Seven will lose his mind if she ends up dating a Hawkeyes player, and you know it," Brynn says.

"Well then, why am I here? I'm not dating a player, and even though you saw the paperwork, I technically haven't signed anything, so I'm not even officially an employee."

All four women look at me, calculating grins on all their faces. I'm starting to think that I was brought here under false pretenses.

"Don't worry… soon all will be revealed," Penelope says, wiggling an eyebrow, and then takes a sip of her drink.

"What does that even mean?" I ask.

Tessa rolls her eyes, annoyed with Penelope not getting to the point. "It means that Penelope, and well, all of us, think you're going to end up with Reeve."

"What?!" I practically yell.

I feel the butterflies break loose in my belly at the idea of being with Reeve and I hate that just mentioning his name does that to me.

It's incredibly inconvenient since I'm supposed to be going out with someone else next week. And because a relationship with Reeve isn't on the table.

They ignore me and move on while my brain spins. And then I feel someone sit down in the open chair next to mine.

Rowan.

"Hi girls, sorry I'm late. My tool of a boss kept all of us in a meeting that I thought would never end," she says, blowing out a breath of frustration.

"No problem, we haven't started without you," Autumn tells her.

"Okay, the initiation of the Hawkeyes Girls Club can officially commence," Penelope says with a theatrical voice.

"She's enjoying this too much," Autumn says to Brynn.

"Uh-huh," Brynn says back

Rowan bends her shoulder toward me to whisper. "I didn't know you were Oakley's niece. How come that never came up before? That's huge to the story of how Reeve met you at the bar the night you guys were in the accident. Readers are going to eat that up."

I feel a flutter of anxiety in my stomach. "Oh, um, it just never seemed relevant, I guess."

"And be honest… off the record. Are you really not dating Reeve Aisa? Because it's so obvious he has it bad for you," she whispers.

I need to squash her dreams as soon as possible. I know she wants the story with a happy ending but it's not going to happen.

"We can't date. I'm his PT… and even if I wasn't, a relationship with me could kill his career." I wince… I said too much. But maybe she'll forget it. She did say "off the record".

Tessa jumps in. "Leave the reporter act at home, Ro. We're here to celebrate Keely's new job."

Penelope pushes a plate with a sticky bun on it and a candle. She pulls a lighter out of nowhere and sets the candle ablaze.

Everyone stares at the sticky bun… no one knows what to do now.

"Are we supposed to sing to her?" Rowan asks.

Penelope shakes her head. "This is as far as we got."

"What should I do? Should I just blow out the candle?" I ask everyone in the cafe is staring and smiling at me, thinking it’s my birthday.

Penelope nods.

I blow out the candle, and everyone applauds.