Page 47 of Ruck Me Harder

“Fuck off,” I mutter, pulling out my ponytail and retying it. “Are we here to do this or what?”

Technically, it’s our day off from training. We could just go out to brunch and call it a day.

“Or what,” Kiana echoes. “I’d much rather get all the gossip.”

“There is no gossip.” I side-eye Cari. “Nothing to tell.”

“She’s in love with my brother,” she says brightly.

I bluster. “It’s—we’ve—we’re⁠—”

“I know, it was your first date.” She pats me on the arm. “That’s what he said too.”

“This is too weird.” I scrub my hands over my face. “I didn’t think this through.”

“Are you going to back out?” Grace asks.

“No.” I don’t have to look at Cari to know she’s smiling at my emphatic denial. “I like him. I just have to hope he’ll put up with my bullshit.”

“He will,” Cari says confidently.

“You don’t know that.”

“He will,” she repeats. “He likes you too. You should have seen him all last week. He was disgustingly cheerful.”

“Really?” That makes me inordinately happy.

“Oh, yeah. He’s smitten.” She shakes her head. “I should have known something was up when he came to practice last week. He would never have come to visit me on his own.”

I open my mouth.

“Oh, no, I’m not complaining. He’s just transparent,” Cari laughs. “I deal with him enough at home. He doesn’t need to be dropping by our training facility to see me.”

My face heats.

“Come on, let’s get our workout on,” Kiana says. “Then we can mock Viv some more after.”

I flip her off and she laughs, setting her headphones over her ears. Everyone else prepares and then we set off for our run, twice around the five-mile loop.

Running between Kiana and Cari, I lose myself in the physicality of the exercise. Distance running is not my forte, but it helps us train our endurance for the short, quick bursts of speed we need on the pitch.

We complete our loops without further incident and then cool down with a brisk walk. With my headphones on in a clear don’t talk to me message, my teammates leave me alone—for now.

To my surprise, they don’t bring up Tony as we debate brunch spots or as we make our way to the restaurant. They’re almost silent as we place our orders.

So, of course, as soon as I let my guard down, they pounce.

“How long has this been going on?” Kiana demands. “I thought you weren’t interested in him.”

“I thought you hated him,” Grace tacks on.

Grabbing my water glass, I gulp it down.

“I almost feel bad for setting you up with Al,” Cari says. “Is that why you ran out?”

“Wait—she set you up with her brother?” Andi says, looking between us. “You went out with both brothers?”

“I didn’t realize they were related,” I admit.