She blew out a harsh breath. “Harvey told me I could possibly lose my job if I didn’t participate in a fake relationship with you.”
“He said you would lose your job?” All Flynn could see was red. Angry, infuriating red.
“It was more like a veiled threat, along with the promise of a promotion if I came through.” She slapped her hand over her mouth, as if she hadn’t meant to just say that.
Too late. And the red disappeared from his vision, replaced by disappointment. Sadness. Heartbreak. Shit. She’d totally played him. And he’d fallen for it. Fallen for her.
And now he looked like a complete sucker.
Slowly, she dropped her hand from her mouth, her eyes wide and full of—God, he really hoped that wasn’t pity. “I shouldn’t have said it like that. I meant—”
“I know exactly what you meant,” he interrupted her, his voice clipped, his heart in his throat. “I won’t bug you anymore, Aub. Clearly I was feeling something different than you were. Not that it could’ve turned into anything. Since I might get traded, it was always temporary.”
Her shoulders fell. “Oh, Flynn…that’s not what I meant. Yes, he coerced me into this relationship with you, but I realized when we were together at the hotel that night, the next day, that I was starting to fall for you, and it scared me. I was afraid you’d hate me more when you found out the truth.”
Damn straight he was mad, though he could never hate her. He hated what she’d done to him, though. Hated Harvey Price for putting her up to it.
That meant all of it, everything they’d shared, everything he’d experienced with her, he doubted. What was real? What was fake? He didn’t know. She was a good actress, he’d have to give her that.
He had serious feelings for Aubrey. He still did. But knowing it was all based on a lie felt like the wind was just knocked out of him. His dad was right. Women were a distraction, and Aubrey was no exception.
She said nothing else and neither did he. They just stared at each other for long, torturous seconds that felt like hours, until finally he turned and started walking down the hall toward the exit so he could get out of this building.
Get away from Aubrey.
Man, he never believed he’d have that particular thought.
“Flynn.” She called his name, and he paused in his steps, though he didn’t turn to face her. He didn’t think he could, for fear his stupid feelings would be written all over his face.
“I know you’re mad. I know you probably think I’m some evil witch who toyed with your emotions, and I’m sorry,” she murmured, and he closed his eyes, letting out a harsh breath. “But you have to understand that it was real for me, too. Every bit of it,” she whispered.
Great. Now she was sorry. What sort of fresh hell was this? He turned to face her again. Big mistake. She looked so damn pretty and lost and sad. “Real? None of it was real. It was all temporary, right? You were faking to protect your job and I knew all along it couldn’t last. I can’t invest in anything right now. My career, my entire life is up in the air.”
“You don’t believe me,” she said, her voice soft and slightly incredulous. “Yet it was all temporary for you?”
“Yeah, it was temporary but at least it was real. How can I believe you? You’ve already proved you’ll lie to me about our so-called relationship. There’s no way I can trust anything that comes out of your mouth.” He turned and started walking, offering her a half-assed wave like they were just having a passing conversation when really she’d just broken his heart.
Without waiting for her to say anything in answer, he hightailed it out of there.
…
“So that’s it? You and Flynn are over? Dones-ville?” Willow’s jaw dropped open and she slowly shook her head. “What happened? I thought you two were perfectly happy, boinking each other’s brains out.”
Aubrey sighed. Boinking. There was a word she hadn’t thought of in a while. And yes. She had definitely been boinking Flynn. It had been the best boinking of her life. And now she would never have him in her bed, between her legs, ever again. The Flynn ship had sailed.
But it was more than that with Flynn. More than having him between her legs. She loved him.
She enjoyed talking to him, spending time with him and, yes, fine…boinking him.
When he’d come to her earlier and confronted her, she’d viewed it as her chance to tell him the truth so she could get the ugliness out of the way. Confess that Harvey had put her up to pretending to be in a relationship with him, but she’d fallen for him, too. She was in love with him, and she’d tried to get that point across, but he wouldn’t listen to her.
He was too pissed off. Not that she could blame him. Her mom warned her that being with a football player was more heartache than it was worth. She should’ve paid closer attention to her mom’s advice.
The tears started falling all over again. “I know,” she wailed, burying her face in her pillow. She’d gone home from work early and called Willow on the drive to her apartment, sobbing hysterically into the phone. She felt like an idiot. Like one of those girls she used to make fun of. The ones who got all weepy dramatic when their boyfriends left them. Those crazy, silly girls, who were supposedly so in love they could hardly function whenever they were dumped.
Well. Showed her, to laugh at someone else’s pain. She’d become one of those girls. She was definitely in love with Flynn. And somehow she’d screwed it all up. Now he’d left her. And she was alone.
Willow had come right over, bringing a giant bottle of wine and a grocery bag full of various flavors of Ben & Jerry’s. Aubrey remained stretched out on the couch, alternating stuffing her face with ice cream or downing wine or, the worst option, sobbing into the throw pillow.
Like she was doing right now.
“Tell me what happened. Without sticking that spoon in your mouth or gulping any more wine,” Willow said just as Aubrey lifted her head. “And no more pillow action, either.”
Aubrey threw the offending pillow onto the floor. “Flynn came to my office and cornered me. And we argued and then we broke up.” Okay, she was skimming over the more pertinent details, but she couldn’t admit to Willow exactly what she’d said to Flynn and how it ate her up inside. She’d look like the world’s biggest asshole.
She felt like the world’s biggest asshole. Someone who couldn’t be trusted. When Flynn had hit her with that, it was like his words had shattered her heart into pieces.
“Who was breaking up with who first?” Willow asked.
“Does that really matter?” Aubrey held out her empty glass, and Willow grabbed the wine bottle off the coffee table and filled Aubrey’s glass, until the bottle was empty.
“Yes, it definitely matters. Because if he was the one who broke up with you, then he’s a jerk, and I’m being kind.” Willow’s eyes narrowed in that way they did when she was being uber-perceptive. Aubrey hated when she did that, especially right now when she was drunk and sick to her stomach from too much ice cream and feeling extravulnerable. “But if you’re the one who dumped him, and now you’re sitting here drowning your sorrows in a disgusting concoction—that I provided; I know I’m guilty—then I’m going to ask you a simple question.”
“What’s your simple question?” Aubrey mumbled.
“Why?” Willow yelled the word, startling a shriek out of Aubrey. For such a tiny thing, she sure was loud. “Why would you dump him? I thought you liked him.”
“I did. I do like him. I tried to convince him of that, but he wouldn’t listen.” She sighed. “It just wouldn’t work between us. I know it wouldn’t.”
“Because he’s getting traded?”
Aubrey’s entire body went cold. “How did you know?” she breathed.
Willow shrugged. She sat curled up in the overstuffed chair across from Aubrey’s couch, perfectly composed despite the copious amounts of wine she’d consumed. “It’s unspoken knowledge. Everyone knows.”
“Even Flynn?”
; “Especially Flynn, but he’s not talking about it. He can’t think about that right now. He has a play-off game to concentrate on like the rest of them.” Willow said this like Aubrey should already know.
And she did already know. “There’s more,” she admitted, her voice soft, her thoughts in total chaos. Willow would hate her. Everyone would hate her. She’d pretended to like Flynn for selfish reasons while he’d thought what they’d shared had been real. She’d been trying to keep her job intact, and he’d been trying to convince her they made a great couple.
“More what?” Willow asked.
“Harvey made me pretend to be in a relationship with Flynn, because I was stupid enough to let go for one night so I could fool around with him. I pretended to be Flynn’s girlfriend, all while he thought it was for real.” She wanted more wine, needed more wine to get the rest of it out. “Harvey said if I didn’t do it, he’d let me go. And if I did do it, he’d give me a promotion.”
Willow scowled. She reached down and grabbed the pillow Aubrey just threw onto the floor and punched it once, twice, scaring the hell out of Aubrey. “Harvey Price is an asshole,” she murmured, looking murderous. “You’re going to need to do serious damage control.”
“How?”
“Go to Flynn. Tell him you’re sorry. Tell him again how you really feel about him. I’m guessing earlier he wasn’t listening to you because all he could hear were the words ‘fake’ and ‘pretend.’”
Aubrey shook her head and hiccupped. “I’ll say something I might regret.”
“Better than saying nothing at all?”
“I don’t want to break his concentration,” Aubrey said, her excuse feeble, even to her own ears.
“Please. He’s probably not going to play this weekend,” Willow said. “Jared’s shoulder is much better.”
“I heard that. He’s doing all right?”
“Oh yeah, he’s feeling good. On top of it. Though with Sheridan pregnant, he’s—” Willow covered her mouth with her hand, the word “pregnant” dropping like a bomb in the middle of the room.
Shock reverberated through her. Well, that was news to her. “Are you serious?” Aubrey asked.
“Oh my God, please don’t say anything. Please, please, please. That’s why Sheridan hasn’t been feeling very well and she hasn’t come to the games. She’s so sick, like all the time. Morning sickness for her is more like morning, noon, and night.” Willow tilted her head back and sighed.
“I won’t utter a word, I swear,” Aubrey promised, trying to ignore the sadness that wanted to consume her. She wanted to be happy for her friends. Willow was madly in love with Nick. Sheridan was going to have Jared’s baby. And she was alone with only wine and ice cream.
The relief on Willow’s face was evident. “Thank you. Seriously, you’re saving my ass.”
“You saved my ass by bringing this.” Aubrey lifted her glass. Willow’s gaze tracked her every movement as she polished off half of the contents in a couple of swallows.
She stared into her glass. Damn it, she was drunk. Drunk on sadness and wine and ice cream. Her vision blurred and she blinked. Hard. Bringing Willow back into focus. “I miss him.”
“You weren’t in a real relationship. Well, he was, but you weren’t.”
Aubrey threw her hands up into the air, almost spilling the carton of ice cream that was nestled next to her on the couch. “Doesn’t mean I didn’t have real feelings for him. I’m in love with him, okay?”
“Ah ha!” Willow thrust her spoon in Aubrey’s direction. “I knew it.”
“Yeah, you knew it because I just told you,” Aubrey said miserably.
“You’ve never come right out and said it, though.” Willow smiled smugly. “I’m so glad you can finally admit this to yourself.”
“Yeah, after it’s over. I’m a failure when it comes to relationships.” Aubrey pressed her lips together as she faced her reality. When it came to having a boyfriend, she was an epic failure. She couldn’t keep one. Couldn’t even keep the fake one she had. The nice one. The sweet, sexy one—the boyfriend who’d been a virgin until they’d had sex.
She’d taken his virginity and she’d still managed to lose him.
“I don’t have a magic vagina,” she said morosely.
Willow burst out laughing. “What the hell are you talking about?”
Aubrey shot Willow an evil glare, but she still laughed. Rude. “My friend and I used to joke about it when we were in high school. Some girls always had a boyfriend. It was so effortless, you know? They just…always seemed to have some hot dude on their arm.”
“Okay.” Willow drew the word out, like she might be thinking Aubrey had lost her mind.
“One day my friend decided that women like that, they must have magic vaginas. Ones that send out some sort of crazy, magical vibe or something. And they drew men unwillingly. Like, these guys had no idea that they were being sucked in by the power of the vagina. It just happened.”
“That’s the craziest crap I think I’ve ever heard,” Willow said.
“I know. But I think it’s true. And I definitely don’t have one.” At Willow’s confused look, Aubrey continued. “A magic vagina. Clearly mine is devoid of all magic. I had an ex-boyfriend, Derek. He broke up with me and hooked up with some girl, and now they’re getting married. I saw it on Facebook. I congratulated him in the comments.” She regretted that tremendously, but once she’d hit enter, she couldn’t undo it. Well, she could, but there was the off chance that someone had seen the comment and would realize she was deleting it like a coward. No way was she going to do that.
“First, your ex sounds like a douche. You should be glad you’re rid of him. Second, there is no such thing as a magical vagina.” Willow shook her head. “There is absolutely nothing wrong with your vagina—and I can’t believe I’m saying this. But seriously. Stop beating yourself up, and do something about it. Go to Flynn, and tell him you’re sorry. Tell him you love him.”
“I tried to tell him, but he walked,” Aubrey said.
“Did you really tell him you loved him? Did you use those exact words?”
She slowly shook her head, feeling like an idiot.
“Okay. Own up to it, then. Go back to him, and beg his forgiveness,” Willow said.
“I’m scared he’ll turn me away without letting me explain,” Aubrey said, her voice small.
Willow rolled her eyes. “Fine. You want to wallow in your misery, then wallow in it. Make this decision tomorrow. You’re too drunk and traumatized to be rational.”
“I’m rational.” Aubrey nodded, a little hiccup escaping her. She covered her mouth. Lord, she really was drunk. Maybe she should lay off the wine. And the ice cream. That was a surefire combo to fatness, if she didn’t watch it.
“No. You are not,” Willow said firmly.
Whatever. “Men suck. They need to get over all that magic-vagina business.”
“Okay, I’m done trying to explain stuff to you tonight,” Willow said with a laugh. “Got any more wine around here?”
Bad idea. No more wine. But it was like her mouth wasn’t listening to her brain. “I’m sure I do.” Be a voice of reason, Aubrey. “Don’t you have to drive yourself home?”
Willow smiled. “We could have a slumber party. Order pizza and watch shitty movies on Lifetime. Maybe I should call Sheridan and see if she wants to hang out with us for a little while. Sans the wine, though, since…you know.”
“I know. And that sounds perfect.” Willow really was a good friend. “You don’t mind staying the night?”
“Not at all. I already told Nick I might. That’s what friends are for, right?”
Thank goodness for friends. Not so much for fake boyfriends, though.
Especially ones that a girl could fall in love with.
Chapter Sixteen
Super Bowl Sunday, and Aubrey felt like she was going to lose her mind.
They’d made it. The Hawks were in the Super Bowl, just like they’d imagined. She wa
s thrilled. Everyone involved with the team was beyond thrilled, and she was at the most coveted football game of the year.
Everyone from the Hawks organization was here, excited to be a part of football history and eager to watch the game. Not Aubrey. Well, she wanted to watch, but she had ulterior motives for being here. Hence the reason she felt like she was losing her mind. She was a representative of the Hawks, hanging out in their special box, watching all the pregame festivities, but she was distracted.
Since the so-called breakup, she’d been plagued with worry. Questions. A desperate need to explain herself and make it up to him. She’d sent Flynn exactly one text and left him exactly one voicemail. He hadn’t answered either, so she’d left him alone.
And mourned.
Where was Flynn today? Right now? How was he feeling? She was desperate to see him but didn’t want to push her luck by seeking him out, because what if he rejected her? Was mean to her in front of everyone?
She didn’t know if she could take it. So she stayed away.
“Aubrey.”
At the sound of Harvey’s grave voice, she whirled around, sucking in a sharp breath when she noticed his somber expression. Not what she wanted to see before their team went out on the field. “Harvey. What’s wrong?”
“I need your help.” He never said he needed her help. And he never rubbed his hand over his face, either, but he was doing exactly that. He looked strung tight, his shoulders tense, his jaw firm.
“What is it?” She took a few steps toward him. Had something happened? It had to be bad. Really bad. Was someone hurt?
“It’s Sheridan Quinn.” His mouth formed a thin line, and when he spoke, it was like his lips barely moved. “She’s in a hospital back in California. Something…happened. She’s, uh…”
“Pregnant?” Aubrey finished for him, clamping her lips shut the moment the word left her. Damn it, Willow was going to kill her for revealing that bit of news.
“Right. Pregnant.” He nodded. He already knew. Of course. “Quinn’s on the plane headed back to be with her right now.”
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