This Obsession of Mine (Raine Series #5)

by Amanda Bennett

  “No, I’m famished though, so hopefully he’s taking me some place good.”

  “Well Sasha and I will make sure we stay close by until you get where you’re going. After that, just shoot me a text if you need me.”

  I nodded, and then headed up to my room. I wasn’t particularly looking forward to my night out, but I was willing to make the most of it. I guess it didn’t hurt that he was an extremely good looking fella. At this point I was just hoping that I didn’t spend the entire night obsessing over that wanker Joey Green. I was determined to free him from my mind, and if I had to go on a million dates to do it, well then that is exactly what I would do.

  The bell rang a short while later, and I instantly ran to answer it like a bloody school girl. I silently scolded myself, straightened my dress, and answered the door like a normal human being. “Rowan, pleasure to see you again. Please come in.” I waved him in, and then led him to the sitting room in the front of the house. “Can I get you anything?”

  “No thanks. You look amazing, Diem.” He leaned in to kiss my cheek and out of habit, I placed a chaste kiss to his other cheek as well, completely catching him off guard.

  “Sorry, it’s an English thing.”

  “Oh right, right, like on the movies.” He laughed, and I sat there with a baffled expression on my face.

  “Right. So I’m just going to pop in on my roomie and let her know we are leaving. I’ll be right back.” I practically ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time, to get to Troy’s bedroom door. Usually I would knock and wait, but I just couldn’t wait for all that. “Troy, bloody hell. This guy is a daft idiot. I don’t know if I can make it through an entire meal with him.”

  Troy’s laughter filled her tiny room, “Don’t be so snobbish, D. Maybe he’s just nervous. I mean, hello, have you seen yourself? You’re probably the most gorgeous girl he has ever been on a date with.”

  “Oh bugger off, you twit.” I laughed. “I’m sure he’s dated plenty of pretty girls.” I pushed myself up off of Troy’s vanity stool, and started making my way out her door. “Well, we’re getting ready to leave. You ladies ready?”

  “We’re right behind you.”

  As I started making my way downstairs I started to think about what Troy had just said to me. Maybe I wasn’t giving him enough credit. Maybe he is just very nervous. Either way, I was going to give him the benefit of the doubt, and see where the date took us. “All set?” I reached for my handbag, and opened the front door to let him know that I was ready to go.

  “Sure thing, dollface. Let’s hit it.”

  I shook my head not knowing what in the hell he was talking about, but kept telling myself to just be nice. When we pulled up to the restaurant, I was pleasantly surprised that he didn’t take us to some filthy bar. He pulled up to the valet, and I wanted to test him and see if he would be a gentleman and open my door for me. Luckily, he did. One point for the American. He reached out for my hand, and I took it without hesitation. His skin felt nice against mine, not at all rugged as I imagined it would feel. It was definitely a welcome surprise.

  After we were seated, I noticed Troy and Sasha enter the restaurant and I breathed a sigh of relief. I wasn’t sure I was going to be able to make it through the entire evening with this bloke. The waiter came over and took our order a short bit later, and I immediately ordered my first of many drinks. At this point I was looking to get pissed, whether or not this whole thing worked out or not. I was halfway through my drink when he asked me a question that made me practically choke on the liquid in my mouth.

  “Sorry, come again?”

  “Are you British?”

  A large part of me wanted to let out the rolling laughter that I was holding back, but the other part of me started to wonder if he really was that stupid. “Yes, I’m British. How did you not know that?”

  “I wasn’t sure if you were British or Australian. They all kinda sound the same to me to be honest.”

  As he went back in for his twentieth chip, slathering it in some sort of dip, I almost couldn’t help the gag sound that was about to come out of my mouth. If I was going to save this date, it looks like I was going to have to dumb myself down a bit. “Where are you from? Were you born in California?”

  At first he looked confused, but then he suddenly answered, “Um…no actually. I was born in Missouri. I only came out to California when someone from San Jose State came and recruited me to play ball here.”

  I was waiting for more, or maybe even for him to ask me a question, but he just continued to devour the food in front of him. He must’ve noticed me staring at him oddly because he was quick to justify his actions.

  “Sorry. I gotta bulk up for tomorrow. Gotta game and all.”

  “I see.” Literally. I laughed to myself. “So do you have any siblings?”

  “Nope, just me. Guess my parent’s felt like they got perfection the first time and didn’t want to not have the same with a second one.” His head fell back with laughter, and his mouth wide open. I had to cover my mouth as to not to lose the contents of my stomach all over the table. “So where are you from?”

  Wow! More like they were afraid of having another one just like him. Now this was just getting embarrassing. “I was born in Beaconsfield and lived there until my mum died, and then me and my father moved to London.” I knew he had no clue what I was talking about, and furthermore, he could give a shit less.

  “That’s awesome, and that’s all in England?”

  “Right.” I muttered as I tilted my glass, pouring the rest of my drink down my throat. I lifted my glass to the waiter to let him know I needed a new drink, immediately. “Could you excuse me for just a sec. I’m gonna run to the loo.” I could tell by the look on his face that he was confused, yet again. “The toilet.” Still confused. “The bathroom you daft idiot.”

  “Ooooohhh, sweet. Okay, yeah.”

  As I rushed past Troy’s table, I caught her arm and pulled her as hard as I possibly could through the back of the restaurant and into the loo. “This is out of control now, Troy. He is…I can’t even…I don’t even know what to say. There aren’t enough words in the English language to express how I feel about that poor excuse for a man. I have never met someone so dumb, and that’s putting it mildly. I can’t do it, Troy. I don’t care if this will help me get over Joey. At this rate, I would rather just dwell on the unattainable, than sit through another minute with…him!” I pointed towards the door and in his general direction.

  “Okay okay, I believe you.” She held her hands up as though she was surrendering to the police. “All right, let’s get you out of here. Do you wanna just leave without saying goodbye?”

  “Honestly, I don’t even think he would know that I was saying good-bye. That’s how fucking stupid he is. For bloody sake, he asked if I was British. He said he couldn’t tell the difference between British accents and Australian accents.”

  Troy began laughing louder and louder, and eventually I joined in with her. We were hysterical as a waitress came in to check on us, and then when I explained to her about “my date”, she began to laugh right along with us. At this point the sweet girl just felt bad for me, and offered to tell Rowan that I was very ill in the loo, and that she would make sure I got home safe. God bless American women and their whole “sisterhood” thing. It was quite handy.

  I thanked the waitress, and tipped her $50 for all her help. Of course she tried to give it back, but I told her that I insist and I would be insulted if she didn’t accept. After it was safe to leave, Troy, Sasha and myself all left. I had Troy stop so I could pop in to grab some liquor and a pack of ciggies. I wasn’t much of a smoker, but when I drank I liked to have a ciggie or two. Needless to say, after all of that, I deserved to have a brilliant time tonight.

  The three of us drank into the wee hours of the morning, and by the time we started to make our way around, Troy and I both realized that if we didn’t get our shit together now, we were going to be extremely late for the game,
and my first day of work.

  “SHIT! Troy, were gonna get sacked if we don’t leave in like twenty minutes.”

  “No way! Oh my god, I can’t lose this job, Diem. Hurry up, run upstairs and get your shit on.”

  In record time I was fully dressed in my work uniform, makeup somewhat done, hair swept up, and shoes tied tight. I was ready, and if it wasn’t for the brutal pounding in my brain I would’ve been superb, but that would have to wait. I grabbed my bag, enough pain killers for Troy and myself, and a gallon of water, and headed out the door. It didn’t take as long as I thought it would to get back to the University, and by the time we arrived, the pounding began to dissipate and I was starting to feel loads better.

  Troy and I stood behind the large metal counter, waiting for patrons to arrive. We chatted back and forth a bit about last night, when I witnessed something most people would think rather insane. A giant mob of people came rushing toward us, and it didn’t look as though they would be stopping. I was suddenly fearful that they would trample over the top of us, but Troy grabbed my hand and gave it a bit of a squeeze.

  “It’s ok, they’ll stop. They have to. We’re the ones who give them their trusty little wristbands so they can drink.” She held up the flimsy white bands, and I let out a loud thunderous laugh.

  Time seemed to go by quickly working the wristband table, and I was thankful that I didn’t have to deal with serving food and drinks. Not that I had anything against hard labor, I just wasn’t very good at it, being klutzy and all. It was quite easy to know when the game began because the roar of the crowd was deafening, causing my headache to come back in full force. I hung my head in agony as I looked over at Troy who seemed to be completely back to normal now.

  “Here, go grab something to eat real quick. I’ll man the table. If you don’t eat something, that headache will never go away and then you’ll start vomiting. Nobody wants that.” She laughed as she pushed me out from behind the table.

  “Be back in a jiff.”

  I was rounding the corner, heading to the food booth when I caught sight of the arena. I had never been to an American football game, and I was dying to know what all the fuss was about. Our wristband table just so happened to be on the second floor, so we had the closest access to the field, and could practically see every strand of hair on every face of every player. I stood there, enamored by the energy in the arena. Everybody was cheering and clapping, the cheerleaders were shaking their poms, and the hot as sin players were stretching and running around, giving me an up close and personal look at their assets.

  I was startled when the announcers came over the loud speakers, and I instantly turned to make my way back up to where I came from, but a flood of people came walking right at me, and I was stuck. I hugged the wall with my body to let them all pass, when they started announcing the players.

  “NOW LET’S GIVE A WARM WELCOME TO THE NEWEST SPARTAN AND OUR NEW QUARTERBACK….JOOOOOOEEEEEEEYYYYY…GRRRRRREEEEEEEEEEENNNN!”

  My jaw fell slack, and I swear I blacked out for a minute. This wasn’t possible. It had to be a different Joey Green, right? It just had to be. I tried to push my way through the throng of people trying to get into the game, but I was having a hard time, between the pushing and the dazed feeling I was having, I felt as though I was being pushed through a dream, and a hazy one at that. I pushed my way towards the field to try and get a better look, but I didn’t have to, to get my answer. I glanced up at the large screen in the middle of the field and there was his gorgeous face staring back at me. Then everything went black.

  Chapter 15

  Joey

  Adrenaline rushed through my veins as I came runnin’ out of the tunnel with my helmet held high. This was exactly where I was supposed to be, I could feel it all the way in my bones. This was what was going to get me to the future I have always dreamed of. The light, the fog, the cheerleaders and the fans were all so surreal. I ran up the field while my name was being announced and I stopped as I reached the rest of my teammates. We all threw on our helmets, and made our way to the sidelines. This was is it. This was my time to shine.

  Play after play, I could feel my body gettin’ stronger. We were headed into the fourth quarter with a twenty-one point lead, and the excitement of the fact that I was playin’ one of my best games of my career was just icin’ on the cake. I spit out the play to my teammates, ready to get this game over with. As the ball was hiked to me, my hands gripped onto it as though my life depended on it. I cocked my arm back, ready to throw it to Carter, but he was blocked. I ran out to the side, lookin’ for an opening anywhere, but everyone was covered, and I could see the other team comin’ at me, ready to rip my head off if need be. I glanced to my left, and then back to my right, and when I saw that there was still nobody open…I ran.

  I ran fast, and just when I thought I couldn’t run any faster, I dug in my heels and pushed myself to the limits. Before I knew it, I was hittin’ the ten, the nine, the eight, the seven, and TOUCHDOWN! I held the ball high in the air and spun around, announcing my score to the entire stadium filled with people. I felt alive, and like nobody could touch me. When I saw the ref’s hands fly in the air signaling that it truly was a touchdown, I threw the ball in the air and jumped on my teammates shoulders as they came rushin’ towards me. I finally felt like this was my team. They had finally accepted me, and I proved to them why they should.

  When the guys finally set me down, I suddenly had an overwhelming sense of ease fall over me. I wish I could describe the feelin’, but words just couldn’t do it justice. The only other time I had felt this way was when I was with…”Diem!”

  “What’s that, bro?”

  I shook my head like I hadn’t just said her name out loud, “Nothin’ man. Let’s finish this game!” I slapped Carter’s helmet, and headed towards the sidelines. The entire time I was runnin’ back I was glancin’ around tryin’ to see if I could catch a glimpse of her. I knew in my head that it completely didn’t make sense at all, I mean…she lives in an entirely different country. And why would she even be here in the first place. “Gotta get your head in the game, Jo. HEAD.IN.THE.GAME.” I glanced around one last time to make sure nobody heard my little pep talk to myself, then took my seat on the bench.

  The rest of the game went flawlessly, and we came out of it with a strong victory of 35-10. I was ridin’ high. I felt beyond amazing, and it felt good ridin’ that high with all of my teammates. Okay, all but one. Thompson still wasn’t on the Joey Green bandwagon, but that was fine with me. I was here for one reason, and one reason only. As we all went runnin’ off towards the locker room, I noticed an ambulance off to the side, and a small blonde haired girl hunched over with a wool blanket hangin’ over her shoulders, the ones they give you after a fire or if you’re in shock. I could’ve sworn it was her, but this girl looked shorter, frumpier almost, and not at all like I remembered…

  Her head slowly came up, her electric blue eyes piercing my very soul, and in that instance, I knew it was her. Her hair was quite a bit shorter than what I had remembered, but her beauty was still undeniable. I raised my hand in a wave like motion, but she didn’t return the gesture. I wasn’t sure what I would’ve done to her to make her want to ignore me, especially after all this time, but she was definitely doin’ just that. I tried wavin’ one last time before headin’ into the locker room, but I was still gettin’ shut down.

  As soon as my foot entered the locker room, I stripped down, took one of the quickest showers ever, I’m pretty sure I set a world record for it, and then tugged my clothes on as I was runnin’ out. I glanced down the corridor both ways, but the ambulance had since left, and as far as I could see, Diem was nowhere to be found. I ran up the ramp that led to the parking lot, my head flyin’ in a million different directions as I searched for my Cinderella. “Shit!” I threw my gear to the ground, and gave it a nice hefty kick.

  “Bro, what did your gear ever do to you?”

  “Funny, Carter.” I reached down and ga
thered up my stuff and started headin’ out to my truck. I still wasn’t sure if I imagined her here or what, but evidently she was gone either way.

  “What’s goin’ on with you?”

  “I swear I saw the girl I am meant to be with, right here, but then I came out after changin’, and she’s just vanished into thin air.”

  “Man, anyone ever tell ya, you sound just like a girl?”

  “Ha ha. Seriously bro, she’s somethin’ you’ve never seen before. She’s got these gorgeous blue eyes that I can get lost in for hours, and her hair, it’s like sunshine. Well, not anymore…it used to be.”

  “Is it short now? Sits just a little bit past her shoulders, hanging just above her perky-“

  I smacked Carter across the chest, “Bro, don’t talk about her like that.”

  “Owe, number one, and number two…I’m pretty sure she’s sittin’ against your truck. Good luck, bro. See ya at practice Monday.”

  “Yeah…see ya.” I muttered as I aimlessly walked in her direction. When I approached my truck she made no inclination to move. She just stood there, takin’ up home against my driver’s side door with that sexy as hell smirk plastered on her beautiful face. “What are you doin’ here?” I knew it was the dumbest thing I could ever say, but I was literally at a loss for words.