Playing in SECRET (Corrigan & Co. Book 9) by Crystal Perkins Page B

go
up. It’s in braids, and swirls, all of it crossing over each other.
They thought about leaving a few strands loose, but didn’t want to
cover my earrings, so they worked those in as well. I don’t even
know how I’ll get it down later, but I don’t have to worry about
that now. It looks amazing, and I feel great, too.
    “All conversation is
going to stop when you walk into that ballroom tonight,” Darcy
says.
    “That’ll be for
Joel, not me.”
    Zack set me up with his
friend, Joel Cruz, the bad boy of baseball. He’s going to be in
town for at least six months while he recovers from an injury, and
plays with the local minor league team. There’s no doubt he’ll be
called back up once he’s ready, but until then, he’s been keeping
the tabloids busy.
    “He’s really a nice
guy, he just likes to keep up the bad boy image a little too much,”
Ainsley tells me. “You might actually like him.”
    “He’s way too young
for me. I appreciate him helping me out, but I’m sending him off to
his groupies as soon as we leave the party.”
    “There’s nothing
wrong with a younger man,” Stella says.
    “Then why doesn’t
Kace have a trophy?” Ellie asks her with a smirk.
    “Or at least a
medal?” Isa adds.
    “Some of us don’t
need to buy those things for out men. Our screams are enough reward,”
Tegan says. “And you can be sure I’m screaming every night.”
    “Besides, they all
want something now. The two of you ruined it for all of us and I, for
one, am not caving,” Faith tells us.
    “Complain all you
want, but you all know you’ve been getting extra Os since Isa and I
gave our prizes out. You want to thank us, but your pride won’t let
you.”
    “You’re welcome,”
Isa says, and I laugh out loud.
    “Our little Isa has
definitely come out of her shell.”
    “Tease all you want,
but when Blake hears about the awards, he’s going to want one,
too.”
    “You say that like
it’s a foregone conclusion that I’ll have him again, Isa.”
    “Because you will. I
was there with you for those few days, and I saw the way he was with
you. He loves you.”
    “Reina said that,
too.”
    “If Tegan lets me
borrow one of her hats, I’ll throw it in the ring, too,” Ainsley
says.
    “Me too,” Darcy
chimes in.
    “Thank you all for
saying it. The problem isn’t me worrying about whether he loves me
or not—he’s already told me he loves me. I just don’t know if
it’s enough. His daughter has to come first, and I wouldn’t have
it any other way. She needs her parents to be together.”
    “No, Aud. She wants her parents together. She doesn’t need it,” Reina says.
    “It’s the same
thing in her mind, and I won’t have her let down because of me.”
    “I get it. Lord knows
I understand all about Baby Daddy’s and the angst that comes from
them,” Tegan tells me, “but Jeanne is going to realize pretty
quickly—if she hasn’t already—that her parents don’t belong
together. I wouldn’t have stayed with Caleb if he hadn’t come to
his senses and stopped acting like an idiot. And he wouldn’t have
stayed with me if he didn’t forgive me, and ask for his own
forgiveness. We were both wrong about things, and we had to own
those. From what I found out about Misha when I was researching her,
she just throws money at her daughter, and only looks out for
herself.”
    “Even after what she
did, Jeanne deserves parents who care for her.”
    “Like a great dad,
and an amazing step-mom,” Faith says.
    “We’re nowhere near
that point. Remember, the man was once a boy who broke my heart.”
    “Some teenage boys
are idiots, but when they grow up into good men, they’ll do
everything they can to make up for it. Over and over again, even when
you tell them they’re forgiven.”
    “Complaining, Teeg?”
    “Hell no. I told you
I scream every night.”
    She also gets flowers
at least once a week, and we take turns babysitting Ethan at least
twice a week while Caleb romances her. In