Page 23 of Playing it Safe

"Goodnight, Briar."

I grab my bag and let myself out of the car. My legs are unsteady, and it’s got nothing to do with chafed thighs. I key in the code to the lock and turn to look at him one more time.

He's watching me. He lifts two fingers off the steering wheel — a barely perceptible wave — and waits until I'm inside before pulling away.

I close the door and stand in my hallway, pressing my hand against my thigh where his hand had been. My skin is still warm.

Chapter 11

Cameron

Puck is “asleep” on the kitchen counter when I get home. I know perfectly well he heard my car and is trying to send a message. He opens one eye as I drop my keys on the table.

"Off the counter," I bark.

He closes the eye.

I peel off the WAG shirt, which has been slowly compressing my organs for the past four hours, and toss it over the back of a chair. I scrub my hands over my face and try to remember who I was before tonight.

Before I saw Briar Beckett in a skirt and she asked to practice kissing in my car. Suddenly everything that went down with Howie and Rookie’s sister makes sense to me. I can understand obsession with a woman in a new, cellular way.

I throw my shirt at Puck as I take my phone off airplane mode. I brace for the usual flood of messages from my family, probably the Fury guys. I’m sure someone’s car won’t start. Someone probably glued their balls to their leg by accident. Again.

It’s not the quantity of texts and voicemails that startles me. It’s the content: Briar.

My mother:

Cameron David Miller. SHE IS GORGEOUS. I am showing everyone at St. Margaret's. When are you bringing this girl to Boston???

Patrick

Bro. Ma is losing it. She is flashing your girlfriend’s pic around and sobbing. You broke Ma.

David

Ma is showing the photo to Mrs. Korchisnky next door. Just so you know. Also wants you to come for Easter.

Ian

She looks tall. Is she tall? Can she get me tickets when her team plays Boston?

Nicky

omg cam!!! she's so prettyyyyyyyyy I need to meet her immediately!!!

Ma

I left you a voicemail. I would like to know when exactly you plan to bring Briar home.

Also, Ian says he needs money, but don't give it to him.

I stand in my kitchen, reading these messages, as the walls close in.

This is how it started with Lisa Marie. The enthusiasm. My family absorbing someone into the fold before I'd had time to figure out what I was even doing.

My mother bought Lisa Marie a Christmas stocking with her name embroidered on it after our third date. My father hugged her at the door and said, "Welcome to the family, sweetheart." We'd been together six weeks.

And then, when it ended — when Lisa called me savage and looked at me like I was some beast that had crawled out of the ice — my family had to grieve her, too. My mother cried. Nicky asked me what I had done wrong.