The Other Game (The Perfect Game 4)

“He’s wearing slacks and a button-down shirt. Dress nice, Dean.”

“Can’t I wear shorts? I have lots of nice shorts.” I was actually half serious. I wanted to be comfortable, and I hated dressing up for no reason.

“No shorts,” she said, giving me a pointed look before leaving me alone.

What the hell was wrong with shorts? I groaned before searching through my closet for something decent to wear.

Eventually the three of us gathered in the kitchen as we waited for Jack and Cassie to arrive.

“He’d better get here before everyone else does, or that will be awkward,” I said, and then noticed both Gran and Gramps were both uncharacteristically quiet. “Are you two okay?”

“I’m just nervous is all,” Gran said, tugging at the waistline of her dress.

Gramps gave me a wink. “I just want it to be over with so the cameras will leave and we can really celebrate.”

I gave him the side eye. “The cameras aren’t even here yet.”

“But they will be. And they’ll make us uncomfortable,” he insisted.

To be honest, I hadn’t given the cameras a second thought, assuming they’d be solely focused on Jack and not really on us. Was I being naive?

“I’ll be right back.” I hopped up from my chair and jogged to my room to look myself over one last time.

If the cameras ended up on me at all today, I wanted to look good. Looking in the mirror, I realized that I looked tired. Damn Jack and his stupid alarm clock. I was splashing water on my face when I heard Jack come home.

“Gran? Gramps? We’re here!”

Loud cheers and congratulations filled the house as I entered the kitchen. I walked in just as Gramps said, “That’s great, dear. Oh, that’s just great news.”

Cassie was beaming, and Jack was smiling at her as if he couldn’t be more proud.

“You got the internship, sis?” I guessed before glancing at both my brother and his girlfriend.

She looked beautiful, but my eyes widened a little when I saw she was wearing shorts. I opened my mouth to ask Gran if I could go change, but I stopped myself when I caught her casting a don’t even think about it look my way. I’d swear that woman could read minds.

“I just found out. I wasn’t going to take it, but now I can.” She looked at Jack before I lifted her off her feet in a giant bear hug.

“Congratulations. That’s awesome.”

A quick rap at the front door pulled us out of our mini celebration. The laughter died and I glanced at Jack, anticipation stretching my nerves taut.

Unfazed, Jack pulled the curtain back and peered toward the porch. “It’s just Marc and Ryan.”

Jack left to greet his agents, and I followed. The men came in all smiles, loaded down with stacks of paperwork, a bottle of champagne, and a box filled with baseballs.

“How you feeling, champ?” Marc asked.

“Good, thanks,” Jack said before relieving him of the box of balls.

“Hey, Dean. How you doing?”

I smiled as Marc playfully punched at me, but I ducked and weaved, pretending to be some awesome boxer as I jabbed at him in response. We stopped after he almost dropped the champagne.

The two men introduced themselves to Cassie, who had followed us into the living room, and she handled herself like a champ, very friendly and not seeming nervous at all.

“Jack, you held back on how good-looking your girl is.” Ryan winked at my brother with a chuckle and I tensed, knowing how jealous Jack could be when it came to Cass.

“Settle down. I haven’t signed any agreements with you two yet.” He smirked before wrapping his arm possessively around her waist.