by Tijan
Me: Sounds even better. I’ll have my friends drop me off.
Reese: Sorry. I didn’t realize how many press would be here. Hot kiss cam, by the way.
He sent me a picture of Hadley and me. Kissing.
Me: Her lips are super sweet. You should be jealous.
Reese: Jealous is not the word.
I barked out a laugh, then saw Hadley watching me. I sent one last text.
Me: Leaving now. See you as soon as you can get to my place.
“Look.” Hadley motioned behind us.
The two guys from before had spotted us. They were following again.
Hadley walked next to me, close enough to nudge me with her arm. “Maybe they’re following us because of us, not you and Reese?”
It was a thought.
I squeezed her hand, and for some reason, I enjoyed holding it during that moment. She felt safe, reassuring.
“Let’s just find the rest. Change of plans.”
Reese texted me just as we saw the group lingering at the door.
Reese: Coach let me go early. He’s got a soft spot for you. I’m leaving straight from here. I’ll shower at your place. I have clothes with me. If I go back to the hotel, it’s going to take forever to leave again.
Me: Okay. We’re walking out now.
Hadley went to Owen’s arms, and Grant moved toward me. I explained about the two guys, who Grant immediately spotted and began scowling at. Then I let him know about the change of plans.
Trent migrated over. “That’s fine,” he said. “But things will get tricky because we’re dropping you off and have to grab our stuff. What if, you know…” He gestured to where Lauren was standing, far enough away not to hear us, but close enough to know he’d mentioned her in some way. Her eyes narrowed.
At this point, I was done with all the planning and evading. “It will be what it’ll be.”
Grant snorted. “Yeah. No.” He rotated to Trent. “She can stay in the car. You and I can grab your suitcases.”
“And if she insists on coming up?”
“Oh my God.” I was done with all of this. “Let’s just see where the chips fall, okay? Two guys following me is enough for me to deal with.”
“Well, let’s go now,” Grant said. “See if we can hurry and be out of there before he shows up.”
With a plan in place, we all surged out to where we’d parked. Hadley and Sophia yelped from surprise, and Lauren hurried to keep pace, throwing suspicious looks my way. Our way. Her eyes lingered where Trent and Grant had closed ranks around me.
My phone buzzed again.
Reese: I’ll be out of here in twenty.
I showed Grant and Trent the text. Both nodded.
“Then we’ll be out of there in twenty, just to be safe,” Grant confirmed.
I loved my friends. Why had I ever stopped hanging out with them?
I didn’t want them to feel rushed, but that’s what we were all doing. Rushing.
Walking through the parking lot to the van took ten minutes. Getting out of the parking lot was another twenty minutes itself.
Reese buzzed me as we pulled onto the street, and we still had to maneuver through the traffic.
Reese: Almost to your place.
Grant was driving, so Trent looked back at me. I just gave him a resigned look.
Me: We’re still trying to get there. Post game traffic is a bitch. How are you getting there faster than us?
Reese: Left from the back way. We have roads cleared for us. I’ll wait till you get there.
Me: Juan?
Reese: Told him to take a hike. I just want you tonight.
Me: Friendship boning.
Reese: FF. Friendship fucking.
That was one phrase for it, but every time we talked on the phone and during our text exchanges, something else was there. It was building, growing. It was becoming more and more cemented inside of me.
When we pulled up, an SUV was pulling away, and there, about to open the door, was Reese.
Lauren jerked forward, gripping the seat in front of her. “Is that—oh my God!”
Wearing Thunder warm-ups and a Thunder sweatshirt, a cap pulled low and his hood up, Reese was still easy to recognize. He saw our van and paused, then turned toward us, raising his hand.
“Hey, strangers.” He smirked and bent down to see inside. “Oh, wow. You have a full vehicle.” Angling his head, he saw me and his smirk grew. “All the way in the back. That’s my little psycho.”
I flushed.
The rest of the van started laughing.
Lauren’s eyes were saucers. “How do you—you know—” She looked at me and then at Reese. “What is happening right now?”
He took pity on her. “Hi. I’m Reese. I know these crazy people.” He nodded. “And I’m liking the vehicle digs. I should get something like this. I can get a driver to take me around. More branding for the team. Right?”
I was done waiting for someone to get out first.
I started forward, and Trent opened the door for me.
Lauren began to climb out, but he held her back. “Maybe we should park and all come in then?” he suggested to Grant.
I almost sagged from thankfulness. They were giving us just a moment of privacy.
Reese moved, and as if we’d practiced it, he held his arms out and I jumped into them.
I barely registered Hadley’s surprised gasp, or the fact that Trent shut the door behind me. I was just focused on Reese’s arms and the way he carried me, like I was a doll again, inside the building, away from any more prying eyes.
Once inside, he walked right to the elevator. “I’m assuming they’re coming up?”
I took him in. He hadn’t showered, so the tips of his hair were still wet, pressed under his hat, and he reeked, but he’d just run maybe two miles and scored forty-two points. That made up for any smell. I was also eager to get in that shower with him.
Once the elevator door closed, Reese’s mouth was on mine.
“Fuck,” he breathed out, his lips opening mine. “I have missed this.” His hand slid down to my waist, lifting my jersey and stroking up my naked back. “You taste so good. Smell fucking good. I want your friends to go away forever. Right now.”
I wanted the same, but I didn’t have a joke. We had three more floors to go, so I tugged his mouth back to mine.
He set me down on my feet once we got to my floor, but his hands didn’t move off me. Not as we walked down the hall or as I unlocked the door, and once it was shut? It was the elevator 2.0 except a whole lot more insistent.
Reese was on me.
He hoisted me up, and my legs wound around him. He rocked into me, groaning into my ear. He caught the lobe in his teeth and murmured, “Once they’re gone, we are boning long and hard. I’m so glad I chose to come here first.”
I moaned, searching for his mouth, and we didn’t part until we heard feet shuffling outside, then a knock. Someone rang the doorbell.
Grant called through the door, “Yeah, we can hear you guys. Let us in before the rest of the hallway does too.”
Reese buried his head in my neck, smothering a laugh.
I was beyond embarrassed. My entire neck was red. I could feel my face heating, and as I reached for the door, Reese kissed me on the neck, saying, “I’m going to wash super fast.”
“Wait—”
But he’d already ducked into my bathroom.
Not the guest bathroom in the hallway, but mine. In my bedroom.
I was so screwed.
Smoothing my hair, I opened the door and cleared my throat. “Heya, guys.”
Grant came in first. Knowing eyes. “Nice.”
Sophia followed with a thumbs-up. “Doing great!”
Owen rolled his shoulder. “Sorry. Tried to stall as long as we could.”
Hadley was beaming and bouncing up and down. “I have to pee. It’s my fault.” She darted around the others, grabbing the bathroom first.
Trent and Lauren brought up
the rear.
“Sorry,” Trent mouthed.
I lifted my shoulder. It was what it was.
Lauren’s eyes hadn’t diminished in size, and she was giving me a whole different look than before, as if seeing me anew.
I didn’t like it.
My bedroom door was closed, but we could hear the sounds of the shower.
Grant sat at the table. “Got some booze?”
Owen sat next to him. “Or food?”
Lauren’s hand gripped Trent’s tightly. “Are we staying here?” she asked in a loud whisper.
Trent’s eyes met mine. I shook my head. No way, not after her reaction.
He mouthed Janet’s name.
I held up my hand. It wouldn’t matter. She’d see Janet anyway.
As if we’d had a whole telepathic conversation, he sighed and said, “No. We’re staying at Janet’s.”
“Yeah.” Grant spoke up, raising his hand. “I’m not trying to be a dick, but in the spirit of protecting my friend, you can’t say shit to Janet.”
It took a moment before Lauren realized he was talking to her. When she did, she looked around. Everyone was watching her. No one was laughing. Or grinning. Or looking any way other than deadly serious.
The door opened behind me. Hadley stepped forward, not her usual happy self. She charged right up to Lauren and said softly, but so damned clearly, “Janet cannot keep her mouth shut. You tell her one thing, and she’ll tell forty others by the end of the night. You want us to protect you when she rips you to shreds—because it’ll happen—you do us a solid now.” She motioned to me. “Don’t say a word about Charlie and Reese. Charlie isn’t hanging out with us because she has a friend in from out of town. That’s it. You don’t know who the friend is. She was someone from college. That’s all you say to her.”
She stepped back, all sunny-like now. “Do we have martinis here?”
Lauren turned to Trent. “Excuse me?”
Trent groaned. “Thanks, Hads. I was going to ease into the whole thing about Janet being a gossip.”
Hadley and Sophia both made exasperated sounds.
Hadley went to sit on Owen’s lap. “Right. There’s no way to ease into that conversation. We love Janet. We accept her for who she is, but we also know when to keep our mouths shut. This is one of those situations.”
The shower turned off.
A different headache began forming at the base of my neck.
Janet. I’d have to see her tomorrow. She’d not been subtle, wanting to know all about Damian the last time I saw her. I had escaped without much slipping, but it was hard under pressure.
The door opened. Feet padded down the hall. I smelled him at the same time I felt his warmth, then an arm curved around me, pulling me back into a very strong chest.
He propped his chin on top of my head. “The whole gang’s here, with a new friend. Trent, you got a girlfriend you never mentioned?”
In some ways, it was the best icebreaker.
Everyone relaxed, and Trent shook his head. “Right. I’m the one with the gir—”
“We’re friends,” I cut him off.
“Who bone,” Reese added.
“Reese!”
I tried to turn in his arms, but he tightened his hold. His laugh reverberated near my ear, as everyone else laughed.
He started rocking me from side to side. “So what’s the news with the camp upsets?”
“What?” Lauren asked. It was about the only thing she had left to say.
Trent chuckled, putting his arm around her shoulders. She whispered something to him, and he responded, moving his mouth to her ear.
“It’s good,” Owen said. He nodded to me. “Mostly waiting for Charlie to make her decision.”
Reese knew I hadn’t decided. He’d reminded me of his offer a few times. I felt his attention now and looked up. “Nothing’s changed. I’m still thinking it over.”
He swallowed, some of the carefree demeanor I’d noticed he kept when my friends were around slipping a little.
He squeezed me tighter, saying just over my ear, “Yeah.”
Grant frowned. So did Trent. Owen looked away, adjusting his shoulder.
Hadley and Sophia both seemed to sober.
Lauren was the only one unaffected, for once.
Grant broke the tension. “So.” His eyes moved between us. “You don’t want her to take the job?”
Reese shifted, coming out from behind me, but he kept his arm on my shoulder. “Would you? Knowing what she’s gone through, where she currently is, and knowing she might be working with you guys, but she’ll be working for that board?” His smirk was hard. “No offense, but your board still sucks. I was not impressed with them.”
Lauren looked completely lost.
Owen’s mouth tightened.
“Right.” Grant’s gaze found mine.
Okay. Yeah. This was on me.
I broke free from Reese, hooking my hands in my sleeves. “It’s my decision. I have to decide on a few things, you know that.”
“But what about money?” Grant asked. “I mean, you wouldn’t be making a ton, but rent and stuff is way cheaper in Fairview than here.”
I moved into the kitchen. “Again, it’s my decision. And I’ve not made it yet.”
“You said yourself you can’t afford to stay here much longer…” Grant followed me.
I turned. “And that’s my business!”
Reese moved to stand in the kitchen doorway, resting his shoulder against the frame, but his eyes were not nearly so relaxed.
I hadn’t told him the extent of my financial issues, but at this point, who really cared since he’d already aired some of his thoughts in front of the group.
I gestured to him. “And it’s none of your business either.” And another screw-it moment. “The real truth, for anyone who wants to know, comes down to Damian. He’s still here. He’s still someone I care about. And yes, one day I need to go and visit him.”
I needed alcohol.
Going to the fridge, I yanked the door open.
Reaching inside for the wine, I said—more to it than anyone else, “You don’t stop loving someone even if they’ve forgotten you.”
No one said a thing.
Then, from the living room, Lauren whispered, “Who is Damian?”
That was it. I took the wine and went to my bedroom, shutting the door. Maybe it wasn’t that big of a deal to anyone else. I tried to tell myself that. They all cared about me in their ways, but I cared about their opinions—each one, and they were varied.
Reese didn’t want me in a place that would hurt me again, and with the board, that was a fair assessment. He also didn’t want me to take a job because I had to. Grant, Owen, Hadley, and Sophia, they just wanted me there. They wanted to work with me every day, but they were each making more than I would. They had each other as well, and working there was their full-time job. They wouldn’t have to supplement with a second wage.
Maybe if Damian couldn’t—yeah. I wasn’t going there. Not yet, but my hosting duties were done for the night. I uncorked the wine, sat down by the bed, and took a swallow.
Rosé all day, or in my case, the rest of the night.
I heard them leave.
Hadley knocked on the door a few minutes later and poked her head inside. “We’re heading to Janet’s. You want Owen and me to stay here tonight instead of Grant and Sophia?”
I shook my head. “No. I’m fine. Let’s stick to the original Grant plan. I’m sorry for being dramatic.”
“It’s okay.” Her smile slipped. “My grandpa had Alzheimer’s, but to lose Owen to it? That’s not how it’s supposed to go, you know? Not that it’s supposed to ever happen, but you know what I mean.”
Maybe. Regardless of circumstances, I didn’t think the sting ever went away—whether it was parent, grandparent, or in my case, someone who was supposed to be my husband.
“We’ll see you tomorrow then?”
I nodded, gripping that wine b
ottle so tightly. “Sounds good.”
Grant stopped behind her, saying over her head, “Sophia and I will be back later tonight. That okay?”
I nodded again. “Sounds good. We’ll see you later on.”
His eyes were hooded, and he dipped his head before heading out.
Hadley gave me a small wave, disappearing after him.
Then Reese was in the doorway, and he let out a long breath of air. “I feel like I fucked up earlier.”
I shook my head, as he came into the room, but I didn’t need to worry about moving. He came over and deposited me on his lap, sitting on the floor.
He tugged the wine bottle out of my hand, taking a drink and handing it back.
I took it back. “I messed up. I got emotional.”
“Seems like you have a right.” He brushed my hair back, resting his head against the mattress. “I don’t think any of us can imagine what you’re going through.”
“You can.”
He shook his head, pursing his lips together. “Not even a little bit. My brother’s an asshole to the umpteenth degree. He’s in jail right now, and he’s mad he can’t get anyone to post his bail. He’s pissed that I won’t take his calls and my lawyers are fielding everything from him. Now, if my mom decides to use her money to post for him, that’s on her. All I can do is protect myself against them. That’s not the same situation as yours at all.”
But he was wrong. For both of us, there was a hole where our family was supposed to be. Damian had created mine. His brother had created his.
I settled back against him. “Loved ones aren’t supposed to go away, whether it’s their choice or not. That’s not how life is supposed to be.”
He ran a hand down from my face, cupping my cheek before falling away. “You’re not close to your family?”
“It’s not that there’s anything really wrong with them. It’s just… They couldn’t support me while I was losing Damian, and that put a wedge between us. I don’t know how to make that right, especially when they won’t acknowledge it.”
“They know you guys broke up, right?”
“No. I had no reason to tell them.”
He cursed softly, hugging me close. “You shouldn’t go through that alone.”
I tipped my head back. “But I’m not. Not anymore.”