Playing Hard Read Online Free PDF Page A

I won’t nag.” If she did, he’d just turn stubborn and decide to play no matter how bad he felt. So she’d leave the nagging to Em and just try to be supportive. Team Finn, as always. He was hurt, so she couldn’t bail on him. After the divisional series was over, maybe. It seemed unlikely that the Saints would make the championships. The Red Sox were far more experienced. Not that she was going to utter that traitorous thought to Finn.
    He was thrilled to be playing in the division series. It was his first time.
    “Are your parents and Em coming out for the game?” she asked.
    “Mom and Dad are going to come to the first Staten Island game,” Finn said.
    “And Em?”
    “She doesn’t know if she can get away. She’s got a case starting tomorrow. Some big fraud thing that’s going to go on forever.”
    She knew that part. But she suspected Em might surprise Finn with an appearance. Though if it wasn’t one of the two Boston home games or the first Saints game at Deacon Field, she might just miss out. The division series was best of five.
    A yawn suddenly overtook her, a reminder that she hadn’t had enough sleep in two nights. She fought it, shaking her head to wake herself up. She wasn’t up to baseball math or trying to plan how to get Em out here—even though she’d love to see her. She had to get back to work before her boss noticed how long she’d been gone. If she powered through the afternoon, maybe she could leave at a reasonable hour for once. Get an early night.
    “What are you doing this afternoon?” she said as Finn put his bowl down.
    He waved a hand at the TV. “Pretty much this.”
    More TV. Not what the doctor ordered. But Finn wasn’t good at doing what doctors ordered. Though she’d have thought, with his chance to play in the divisionals at stake, that he’d be toeing the line for once. Her stomach tightened again. He was getting his chance because Oliver Shields had been hurt worse than him in the accident. Oliver whose smile she hadn’t been able to erase from her memory despite her best intentions. She hesitated a moment; mentioning Oliver might just send Finn into one of his moods. But then she decided she didn’t care. She might not have completely given up on Team Finn just yet, but this seemed to be a moment when being Team Finn required calling him on his shit for once. If he hadn’t been drinking so much at the party, the accident wouldn’t have happened. “Have you thought about going to see Oliver in the hospital?”
    Sure enough, Finn’s expression turned cranky. “Shields? What the hell for? He—”
    She held up a hand. “He got hurt driving you home, Finn. Seeing how he’s doing seems the decent thing to do.” She nailed him with the look she used on the interns at work when they were being annoying. “Have you even talked to him?”
    Finn’s face went from cranky to sulky. “No.”
    “Well, you should.”
    “Why?”
    “Because you’re not seven?” she said softly. “It doesn’t matter if you don’t like him or don’t get along. He’s your teammate and he was helping you out. And now he’s missing the play-offs because of you.”
    “You’re just saying that because you want to jump him.”
    “I’ve met the man exactly once,” she said. “Nobody’s jumping anybody.” Unfortunately. She had to admit that Oliver was eminently jumpable. Though currently presumably out of action for a while … she dragged her thoughts back to the topic at hand. “I don’t seem to remember anyone passing a Finn Castro Is Ruler of the Universe Bill, so even if I did want to jump him it would be none of your business.”
    “The guy’s a jerk. And a player.”
    “Finn, I’ve been managing my love life on my own in New York for seven years now. I work on Wall Street. Not to mention I grew up around you and your jock friends. I can look after myself.” And everybody else.
    “I’m just saying, he’s not the sort of guy you want. You don’t want to end