“What about him?”
“Is he still bothering you?”
“No. I haven’t seen him in a while and Drew blocked him on my phone.”
“Well, least he’s made himself useful for something,” he grumbled. “But I swear to God, Emerson, if he fucks you around or hurts you in any way, I will break him.”
I snorted.
“I dunno, Jupe, I think his muscles are bigger than yours. I’m not sure you’d get very far.”
Teasing my brother was one of my favorite hobbies. His head was big enough already from all the people who stroked his ego on a daily basis, and I felt it was my sisterly duty to bring him back down to earth.
“Fuck off! Look at this.” He flexed his massive bicep at me. It would have been impressive if I hadn’t seen him do it a million times before. “He is not bigger than me.”
He definitely was.
I put on my best patronizing smug face. “Yeah, yeah. Look, Jupe, I’m at work now. I’m going to have to go.”
He sighed. “Okay, call me again soon, please? I miss you. You’re coming home soon for the holidays, right? In fact, do you want to come for the Series? I’ll fly you out.”
“No, I can’t, but I’ll be watching, and yes, I’ll be home at Christmas. Thanks for being a pain in my ass. I know you’re looking out for me, but Drew’s here to stay, so you need to play nice if you ever bump into him. I love you, Jupe.”
“I love you, too. Have fun at work. Maybe I’ll come out to see you when the season’s done.”
“Yeah, I’d like that.”
“Good. Okay, I’m hanging up now. I’ll call you soon.”
He cut me off and I pushed open the doors to the studio to find Ashley, Mikey, Rose, and Jessie standing around the desk, all looking up at me as I walked over.
Mikey raised his eyebrow and sized me up. “There’s the little dark horse.”
“What?”
He pursed his lips. “Where were you last night?”
I laughed at them. After Jupiter’s text, I figured this would be the next conversation. I looked at Ashley, her palms held up defensively.
“I swear I didn’t say anything.”
“I know, it’s fine.” I looked at them all. “Guys, just ask what you want to ask.”
I waited for the twenty questions to commence. Mikey went in first, his chin propped on his fist.
“Have you got something going on with a New York Ranger? And if so, which one?”
I looked around at their eager faces, all waiting to be supplied with their next piece of juicy gossip. I rolled my eyes with a chuckle.
“Yes. And Drew Crawley.”
Jessie paled, remembering her comments.
I smiled at her. “Jess, don’t worry about it.”
“But how did this happen? Just from when they’ve come in?” Rose piped up.
I shook my head. “No, we met last summer and lost touch, then reconnected a couple of months ago.
