If angry rage had a physical presence, then it stood behind me at this moment. I knew without a glance over my shoulder that Harper was pissed off, I felt the heated, seething waves that radiated off her worse than Logan's bed-warmth or morning dragon breath.

Uh-oh.

"Dickhead," a sharp tone bit the air over my shoulder with such icy force that my shoulder quivered. "What are you doing here!?"

"Harper," Jake replied in a cool, even tone that I knew sliced right into the top layer of Harper's skin like an irritant by the near feral growl she emitted.

Since they'd called off whatever they were, Harper and Jake had gone from, well, fuck buddies who borderline hated each other at best, to... two people who just hated each other again, I supposed. I wasn't entirely sure what terms they'd parted on because neither had said much other than Harper's assurances that she was absolutely done with all things Jake.

As for his side...

"Missed you, firecracker," his deep voice called out probably the worst choice of words to her.

"Oh no!" The threat I both heard and felt in Harper's voice prompted a quick side step from me.

I'd made the right decision, since Harper stomped right up to Jake, where she stopped two inches away. Her breasts lifted and fell with her near panted breaths as she stared up at him. With her nostrils flared, full lips pursed, and eyes squinted into two narrow slits, none of me envied Jake at this moment.

"Listen here, you walking sack of -" she started when fortunately another familiar, deep voice interrupted her insult with a pacification attempt.

"Harper, Jake, good to see you both," Logan spoke up behind me and rested one of his large, warm hands on the middle of my shoulders. A tension I hadn't noticed had scrunched my shoulders up slightly melted from how his thumb stroked up the base of my neck.

His strong presence pressed gently behind my back when he added, "Thanks for being here for Ellie."

At his words, Harper's head turned slightly and her sky blue eyes flashed directly at me. "Did you know?"

I flashed up both my palms to her. "You just saw my surprised reaction, no."

"And you?" Her eyes narrowed at Logan. "Sprayed on ten-pack?"

"No one knew, except ESPN." Jake's chuckle snapped Harper's head back in his direction. "LT suggested it but thought I'd surprise you and Ellie."

"Surprise is how it didn't rain today in Seattle," she retorted and jabbed one of her index fingers right into the center of his chest. "You being here is as disappointing as a clit block."

A what?

Jake, however, only smirked at her choice of words. "If thinking about me reminds me of your clit, then it's worth my three-hour red-eye back to LA."

At the word 'clit' out of Jake's mouth, I pressed both my palms over my ears and turned my nose into Logan's chest. My cheek bounced with the laugh that vibrated through his dress shirt at whatever the rest of Jake's comment was, which stopped instantly when silence hit my ears.

One look back over showed Harper now stood with her hand clamped firmly between Jake's legs. His eyes were stretched so wide, I wasn't sure how they were still attached.

"Let's get one thing straight." Harper smirked at her own innuendo. "You're still like a living laxative with how much you annoy the shit out of me."

Jake's mouth parted with the response that danced in his eyes, but Harper had just gotten started. If venom had a sound then it was her voice when she spat out, "You don't touch me, talk to me, or even breathe in my direction and you can go home with this -"

Harper's grip obviously tightened because Jake groaned quietly and shifted his shoulders forwards. Even Logan sighed quietly over my shoulder.

"- still attached," she finished with a slight turn of her wrist that obviously inflicted some pain because now Jake flinched halfway over and groaned again. "Clear?"

"Crystal," he forced out in a noticeably strained voice.

Harper's lips pulled into a sickening sweet smile that none of me trusted, her hand lifted from Jake's crotch, and she patted one of his cheeks. A frown tensed my forehead as Jake's eyes darkened another shade of brown and tracked Harper's movements, from her two lifted middle fingers to how she walked over and flung herself onto one of the lobby's gray leather sofas.

"What?" I asked when a grin spread across Jake's face and one of his hands ran over the dark stubble that dotted along his jawline.

"Thirty seconds and she already put her hands on me," he said in a low voice. "New record."

"Ugh, I just can't," I groaned and turned to Logan. More than my eyes appreciated the gray suit he wore, with a light blue dress shirt that highlighted the blue in his eyes, and my fingers moved on their own as they lifted and traced around the block 'W' pin on his lapel.

"You look amazing," I murmured to him, then warmth spread over my cheeks at the grin that spread across his lips.

Before I asked Logan when we started, a short girl with curly brown hair pulled into a ponytail and a casual gray shirt and black leggings stepped down the hallway and into the front lobby area. Her light brown eyes lifted off the clipboard that her fingers clasped and looked curiously between Jake and Harper, then switched over to me and Logan. Her kind smile relaxed me right away.

"Miss Harrison and Mister Hightower? I'm Janelle, Rachel's assistant." She extended one small hand, which we both shook. "Follow me and we'll get you fitted for microphones, then the interview is in one of the stadium's VIP boxes."

She propped open the door, then lifted one hand down the hallway that went past the coaches' offices where we currently stood. Logan and I passed by her, but she looked back at Jake and asked, "Is your... girlfriend joining us, Mister Harrison?"

Thankfully, before Harper had a coronary heart attack or Jake lost part or all of his male anatomy, he lifted up one hand and threw Janelle a wide grin. "She's a friend of the family. Ellie's friend."

That's right. Don't mind my junk-grabbing friend, nothing new here.

"No fucking way I'm being interviewed," Harper responded from the sofa. "Unless you want every other word censored."

"I see..." Janelle's expression and voice both remained impassive, which I couldn't blame her for because at this point the entire room felt charged with their tension. "This way for the interview, please."

"Go on ahead," Jake nodded at me and Logan, then shifted his eyes back to the pair of eye daggers Harper shot at him. "I'll catch up."

"Right..." I replied dryly, then looked at Harper. "Can you kill him after the interview?"

"No promises," she scoffed but the way she crossed her arms over her chest, the position only pressed her breasts into a more obvious display.

"Did you really ask him to come?" I looked up at Logan while we walked down the floor's hallway corridor hand-in-hand behind Janelle.

"I did," he replied with a soft grin. "Thought it'd make staying on the same page easier."

"Thank you." I tugged on his hand until he stopped and lifted my lips up towards him. His smile widened as he closed the gap, but only pressed his lips against mine softly then pulled back slightly.

My eyes hadn't even fluttered closed, so I tipped my head back and saw his thumb dragged over his lower lip. "What?"

"Your lips are sticky." His lips curled upwards slightly behind his thumb. "Just a different texture on you."

"Harper's help," I admitted with warmer cheeks that Harper assured me were less visible under the layer of foundation she'd dabbed over my entire face and neck.

And I appreciate every drop of it.

"Now remember," Mr. Reynolds' kind brown eyes looked down at me from behind his frameless glasses. "You don't have to answer anything you feel uncomfortable with, regardless of the nature of the question."

"And what if -" I started to ask about NDA-related topics when Mr. Reynold cut me off with a hand gesture, then pointed down to the microphone clipped on the collar of my sweater. "Oh."

"Miss Sorenson's office sent me a copy of the predetermined questions, which I approved, but if you're unsure about anything then just look in my direction." He pointed one finger at the black television camera that was positioned at an empty sofa that looked like it had been staged on location so the view of Husky Stadium's field below and the water in the background were visible.

"Got it." I swallowed hard then forced a smile up at Logan.

"And I'm right next to you, baby," he reminded me and gently squeezed my hand. "Jake too."

"Where is Jake?" I glanced around the press box booth Janelle had led us into, then basically abandoned us alone with Mr. Reynolds after our microphones had been attached.

"Still back in the office, enamored with my daughter," Mr. Reynolds chucked quietly and crossed his arms over his chest. "I can't tell if the feelings are mutual or she can't stand the poor guy."

"Probably both," I admitted with a small giggle that released some of the tension in my shoulders. "I don't think the distance works in either of their favor."

"Distance or stubbornness?" Logan deadpanned but thankfully Mr. Reynold's chuckled turned into a small laugh.

"No shortage of either," he admitted.

"Thanks again for being here," I told him for at least the fourth time since they arrived at the airport. "When are you leaving?"

"Sunday morning." His smile faded. "I know the game tomorrow ends around four but I have to take a client's call from three to five. Can she -"

"Of course," I interrupted. "We're taking Grace and Brody to the airport right after the game but she can come with us. I'm happy to see her as long as I can."

Like I wouldn't want to spend as much time with her as possible.

"Thanks," he replied with a sigh. "I told her I'd make it up at dinner, just the two of us. Sorry if this dampens any celebration but please, no parties."

"We'd probably have stayed at home after anyways, ate dinner, maybe hung out with Wes and Charlie," I responded while I looked at Logan, who nodded slightly.

Tonight Grace already requested that all of us ate out dinner together, which Logan and I were both on board with and he'd gotten a recommendation from Wes, but we hadn't made solid plans for tomorrow night yet. The two of us could've gone out by ourselves but if Harper was here then I wanted to see her whenever she was free.

Logan and I can go out anytime.

Besides, according to Harper, we already have plans.

While I smiled between the two of them, internally I rubbed my hands together sinisterly because Logan had no idea what Harper, I, and now Charlie had in mind.

Let's just get through this interview first.