Page 69 of Elite Player
She sinks her head to my shoulder. “Yeah, but also for standing up for me about…what they call me. No one’s ever done it.”
My heart breaks, and I pull her tighter to me, kissing the top of her head. “You don’t need to thank me.”
“First time you’ve ever said that.”
I lay my cheek against her head, thinking back to all the times I’ve asked her to thank me as a joke, a flirtation, but here she is genuinely thanking me for something I don’t want to be thanked for. I don’t even want to have done it. I wish I never had to, but I would do it over and over again.
“I’m sorry, Jo.”
“What do you have to be sorry for?”
“Everything. You don’t deserve any of this bullshit.”
“Yeah, but I think—” When she stops herself, I nudge her to keep going. “I deserve someone to stand up for me.”
“Lowest bar possible. Raise your standards.”
She picks at the blanket. “Like sunflowers and breakfast deliveries?”
“It’s a start.”
She’s quiet, curling into my side, so I pick up my iPad again, and she tilts her head to look at the screen. After a minute, she leans back, her hand on my chest to meet my gaze in the dark. “Are you readingJurassic Parkerotica?”
“Yeah. You want to read with me?”
“Obviously.”
“Oh, Jojo, you dirty girl.”
“You’re corrupting me.”
I curl my arm around her, humming contently. “My absolute pleasure.”
CHAPTER 20
JO
In the twohours we’ve been here setting up for the party in the church basement, Nico hasn’t uttered a word of complaint. He’s carried chairs and tables, laid out tablecloths, and tied weights to the end of one hundred balloons with a smile on his face.
“That’s quite a man you’ve got there,” Mom says when she pulls me aside after it’s all finished and the guests have started arriving.
I agree with a nod, watching as Nico pulls a tie out of his pants pocket to slip around his collar, knotting it with ease. The dress code today was church-appropriate, which is why when my mother saw my dress, she suggested I put on a cardigan and button it up, but with Nico’s voice in my head calling me stunning, I held my ground and turned down her sweater.
Now, she seems to have all but forgotten about my boobs because of Nico.
“I really like him,” she goes on, “and as soon as Reverend Parsons shows up, we can get this booked for the reception.”
“I’m not having my wedding reception in a church hall.” Or ever, but she doesn’t have to know that.
“Why not?”
“Because neither one of us wants to get married here.”
Mom’s jaw hits the floor. “But… Josephine, I can’t believe what you’re tellin’ me right now! Why would you not?—”
“Tonya! Oh my gosh, everything looks so great!”
Mom and I both turn to the woman coming our way. It’s Mrs. Tenney, who lives down the street from my parents. Her daughter was incredibly mean to me.
