“You were beat from that incredible game you played. You deserved to get to crash.”
“I was pretty awesome, wasn’t I?” His brow went up, and Sky rolled her eyes at his cockiness. “What?” he asked, already knowing her thoughts. “If you think I’m bad you should hear Hunter. He’s ten times worse than me.”
“Oh, lord help. How does Madi stand it?”
“At least he’s funny too. It kinda balances out...sometimes.”
Sky smiled again. Plus, Hunter was handsome too with his light brown hair and eyes; he reminded her of Ryan Reynolds. “You can shower first. I don’t have to be to the office ‘til later this afternoon. Can you believe Geraci’s lawyer is requesting bail?”
“What?” Trav asked incredulously as he rose from the bed. “Will he get it?” His brows drew in concern.
“Abso-fuckin’-lutely not. I’ll do everything in my power to keep that from happening.”
“What about the other guys? You said there were more. Do you know who they are?”
Sky frowned. There were many things she couldn’t tell him. He must have sensed it for he looked down. “I’m sorry, Trav. It’s just—”
“I know. It’s ok.” He took her hand and squeezed it. “I just wondered if they were gonna come after us now, too.”
“I don’t think so. There’s another inside guy, and so far, it's been quiet. I think they’re laying low for now. Don’t want to draw attention to their remaining businesses for fear we’ll blow the lid on everything. Now that their muscle is out of commission, they’ll have to resort to other resources. I think it's safe to say that we’re safe—for now, anyway.”
Travis looked away, hoping like hell she was right she was sure. “Wanna shower with me?” The dimple on his left cheek seduced her, but she shook her head.
“If I do, you’re gonna be late to work,” she smirked and stroked her foot across his vast thigh, teasing with her big toe.
“Fine.” He pouted for a second before asking eagerly, “Dinner tonight?”
Sky nodded and laid back down in bed, pulling the blanket to her chin as she watched his firm ass move into the huge bathroom. He turned the shower on and watched her as he got in. She smiled and observed his slow, subtle movements, admiring the span of sinewy muscles covering his large frame. She closed her eyes and imagined she was in there with him, knowing it would have felt amazing. She wondered where they would go for dinner, would he take her out or would they stay in? Either prospect sounded good, so long as she got to see his gorgeous face again.
Skyla grinned as Travis began to sing a U2 song she loved and pulled herself upright. She got up to find her clothes and see if her dress needed to be quick-refreshed in the dryer. She moved to the nightstand where her bra lay thrown across the lamp and grabbed it. As she did so, she heard Travis’s phone ding beside her and saw an Instagram notification pop up on the screen. Some blonde chick named CheergirlHeidi had left him a DM that said, “It was great seeing you this weekend, Trav. Great game!”
Bile rose in Sky’s throat and she thought she might vomit. She tried to reason this out. He’d been in Cleveland Saturday night. Had he seen this girl then?
No, he wouldn’t do that to you, her heart insisted, but her brain said otherwise, He’s a man, isn’t he?
She sat down and put a hand to her chest, attempting to keep her heart in her ribcage as tears stung her eyes. Surely this was a misunderstanding. He loved her. He’d said he did. Surely…
They’d moved too fast—gotten too hot and heavy too soon. This wasn’t going to work.
Travis stepped out of the bathroom then and grinned over at her, a white towel wrapped around his hips, another drying his hair.
“You wanna hang out here today? I don’t mind,” he offered.
“Uh, no, I—I can’t. I…” she stammered, trying to come up with something believable. “I need to go.” She pulled her bra on quickly, covering her nakedness as if she’d been caught in the nude by the damn pope or something. She pulled her panties on and threw her dress over her head, grabbing for her shoes.
“Everything okay? You look like you don’t feel well.”
She tried to avoid his eyes. “I just got a text. They need me at the office.”
“Sky, is something wrong?” he moved toward her suddenly, and she flinched back. He balked, startled by her reaction. “What the hell happened?” he growled, his defensive side kicking in.
“Nothing bad. It’s just paperwork I have to fill out.” When he didn’t appear to take her answer at face value and moved to approach again, she shooed him away and added, “I’ll be fine. I just need to eat.”
“Alright, give me a sec and I’ll call—”
“No, I’ll Uber.”
“Uber? Fuck that!” he grated. “Let me get dressed. Hang on just a minute.”
Sky wanted to curl into a ball and just die. The scared little girl in her wanted to cower, hide in her shell. She knew this was going to happen. Knew he couldn’t be committed to her. Knew he would want more than she could offer.
Travis had his teeth brushed, clothes and shoes on, and was pulling on a baseball cap as he grabbed a set of keys from the dresser. “Ready?” he asked.
She wanted to ask where his phone was but saw the outline of it in his shorts pocket. Had he seen the message? She wouldn’t ask. She simply nodded and moved to the door, begging her backbone to hold out a little longer.
As they headed toward his cherry red Audi R8, she felt tears sting her eyes. Once she got home, she could break down; but not now, not in front of the man who’d unknowingly destroyed her last shred of self-esteem.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“Travis, are you paying attention?” Coach Cavanaugh turned from the white board and laughed over at Travis who blushed suddenly.
He was in a piss-poor mood and it showed. Sky wasn’t saying something, and it was bothering the shit out of him. She’d not kissed him when he’d dropped her at her house, saying she didn’t want to give him something if she had a bug; he wasn’t buying it. She’d acted funny. What the hell had happened in the span of such a short time? Was there something she’d seen on her phone, had the media reported some stupid something about what he’d said at the game and it had upset her?
“Let’s take a break, guys. I can see your cumulative short attention spans need a minute,” their head coach insisted and turned the lights on, pausing the game film from Sunday’s game.
Travis took that time to grab his phone up and swore aloud when he did.
“Fuck my life!”
“What? What happened?” Pax asked, chomping on a bag of carrots and hummus—hippy boy and his rabbit snacks. How did a man like that get as big as he did eating all veggies and no meat?
“Fuckin’ Instagram happened?” Travis scoffed and threw his phone down on the conference table, showing Paxton, Brett, Langley and Hunter his DM from some bimbo named Heidi. “No wonder Sky was acting weird this morning. She probably saw this shit and came to all kinds of conclusions. Jesus. What am I gonna do?”
“Heidi, huh? She’s kinda hot.” Lang shrugged.
“Dude. You’re so in the doghouse now.” Hunt busted out laughing, getting a shove from Brett.
“Who is she?” Brett asked.
“I don’t have the first clue. But she sure made it sound like I did, huh?” Trav sighed, feeling like Atlas—the weight of the world on his shoulders suddenly. “Dammit.”
“Ok, now let’s just be rational about this,” Pax suggested. “You did nothing wrong, right? This girl just randomly DM’d you. It happens all the time. We’re public figures.”
“Try telling that to my ridiculously self-conscious girlfriend,” Travis grumbled and crossed his arms over his chest, knowing how bad Sky already felt about herself.
“Hey guys, what’s up?” Madi’s sweet voice called from the door. “I got checks for you all coming tomorrow. Whoo hoo, payday.”
“Hey, sexy,” Hunter cooed and moved from his seat to embrace his
wife. He tickled her, and she playfully swatted him off but kissed him back after he grabbed her and planted one on her. Travis couldn’t help but smile at them even as he pondered the predicament he was in with Skyla.
“Hey, maybe Madi can help,” Brett offered.
“What did y’all do now?” Madi feigned exasperation as Hunter led her over to the table. “Who do I need to pretend to be this time?” She approached and put her hand on Trav’s shoulder, making him relax a little. She was referring to the last time she’d come to the rescue. She had to call Travis, pretending to be his angry girlfriend when he got cornered by a psycho-stalker-fan in a club. Looking back now, it was kinda comical.
“Well, this is a little different,” Paxton added.
“Sky thinks I’m cheating on her,” Travis confessed, sighing heavily.
“What? Already! Jeez, what’d you do?”
Travis simply handed his phone to Madi who responded with, “Oh, dear.”
“Great, way too keep me hopeful, Mad.”
“Sorry, but this is like a level four intervention.”
“Level four? What’s level four?” That sounded bad.
“Girl talk, you wouldn’t understand.” She took out her own phone and began to punch in numbers then handed Travis his phone back.
“What are you doin’?”
“Saving your ass, Ares.” She grinned sassily as she cooed into the phone. “Sky! Hey, It’s Madi. How are you, sexy lady? Good. I’m well. Just sitting here listening to your man gush about how much he misses you. Yes. God, yes, all pouty and whiny.” She winked back at Travis when his brows went up. “I’m about to send him home so he can get back to doin’ what he really wants to be doing, if you catch my drift.” Madi elbowed him and laughed. “I know! Total horndog.” When Travis gaped at her, Madi winked again. “Well, I called you because Hunt has been hounding me about hanging out with you guys, and you know tomorrow’s their day off, so I thought we could all go out for dinner and drinks tonight.” She held up her finger when Travis looked at her with a, “What the hell are you doing?” look on his face. “Nope, no excuses, lady. You know the old sayin’ about all work and no play. Don’t leave a girl hanging, Skyla. I need to be around some estrogen every now and again. You see what I’m up against…” Madi paused and her brows went up in victory as she said, “Alright. Wonderful. See you at six.”
She hung up the phone and looked at him, blue-green eyes dancing. “You’re welcome.”
“Th—thank you. That was…” He had no words.
“I know. And this had better be some random nobody that DM’d you because so help me if you hurt that girl, I will break your man parts off and shove them where the sun doesn’t shine!” Madi growled down at Travis who balked at the normally sweet Madi’s furious tone.
“I swear I don’t know who the crazy bitch is.”
“Good.” Madi looked down at her phone again and began punching numbers.
“What are you doing now?”
“Scoring you some major points, bad boy… I’m sending a huge bouquet of flowers to her… ooh and chocolate-covered strawberries, telling her how amazing she was in bed last night and how much you miss her.” Madison giggled as she turned to leave.
“Thank you!” Travis shouted back, feeling somewhat reassured.
“Sounds like we’re having double-date night,” Hunter said over to Travis and nudged his elbow. “You buying, bad boy?”
Skyla squirmed as she opened the door, nervous but also glad to be getting to see Madison Thomas again. She’d held Travis off as long as she possibly could, fearing being alone with him, knowing she would probably break down into a puddle of tears.
She’d managed to keep him at bay most of the day, keeping busy with all her case prep work, but assured him she would be able to make dinner tonight on time. She didn’t want to disappoint Madi; she’d been so kind this past weekend and Sky genuinely liked her. Sky knew she needed to get her head out of her ass and face her “boyfriend” with the question that had been racing through her mind all day. She was ashamed at how a simple—and probably innocent—direct message affected her, but she was also just getting over a two-year relationship so he had to understand. At least, she hoped he did.
Travis came to her home to pick her up, promptly at 5:15 PM, surprisingly in a white limo decked to the nines.
His smile could light up a city it was so bright and the reassurance she needed was almost fully appeased. She grinned back at him as his eyes fell down her frame.
“Wow, where were you hiding that dress? You look gorgeous.”
“Thank you, I—” she didn’t get to finish because his arms wrapped around her waist and his lips crashed against hers possessively, kissing her passionately and leaving her sex yearning before he pulled back slowly.
“Mmm, I’ve missed you.”
“I see that.” She blushed as he cupped her cheek and looked hard into her eyes.
He opened the car door and helped her into the seat, where yet another bouquet of roses sat, this one white instead of red. The card read, “My darling, one for every hour I’ve died without you.” Damn, she hadn’t realized how sappy he could be. The earlier bundle had said, “My Aphrodite, your silken love quenches the thirst I never knew my masculine soul needed to be whole. Counting the breaths until I hold you in my arms again, your warring god.” He had to be like a closet poet, for sure.
“Travis, these words…”
“Too mushy, I know.” He rolled his eyes with a scowl.
“No, surprising and incredibly romantic.”
“But completely true,” he added and pulled her against his chest.
Having him so close again made her insecurities seem so silly and excessive. She felt she should apologize but didn’t know how to begin.
“How was your day, lover?” His lips stilled at her earlobe, and Sky shivered as his breath hit her bare neck. She’d pulled her hair back into a twist, assuming he might take her out somewhere really fancy; she’d wanted to be prepared.
“Incomplete without you,” she answered in response to his prior romantic words.
He chuckled and cupped her throat. “If I hadn’t promised Madi we’d be there, I’d have Lyle turn this car around right now and take you in this very seat.”
Sky attempted not to whimper aloud. “There’s always after-dinner drinks.”
“Ah, yes, absolutely.”
He stroked her throat with his fingertips, leaving her flesh pebbled in goosebumps as she leaned into him and absorbed his solid frame against her own. He felt good, he felt right.
“Sky,” he murmured in her ear. “Are we gonna talk about the elephant in the room?” Skyla frowned and looked back up at him, his blue eyes piercing her soul. She felt her body flush and started to speak only to have him touch her cheek with his knuckle, leaving her unable to. “I know that you saw the notification about the DM on my Instagram.”
Sky panicked. Dammit. Was that his admission of guilt? She cleared her throat and tried to catch her breath. “I—I mean…”
“I don’t know who she is, just so you know.”
Sky gulped. He’s lying, her heart stated. Her instincts told her not to trust him. “So, this is the reason for the flowers and the dinner?”
“No, I—”
“I saw you, Travis. I saw you talking to some blonde cheerleader at the game on Sunday.”
He got quiet, frowning. He looked thoughtful, like he was choosing his next words too carefully and her inner fat girl began to panic. “Sky, I don’t know what you’re talking about. Cheerleaders aren’t allowed to even acknowledge us. They can get fired for speaking to us.”
“Well, she did and you said something back to her. There was an exchange of sorts.”
“Ok, so now I can’t talk to other girls?” His brow went up in question, and Skyla realized what an asshole she was starting to look like. Heat engulfed her as shame riddled her. Jesus, I sound like a lunatic. Just as she was about to tell Travis to have the d
river pull over, she was gonna be sick, he spoke softly again. “Baby, whatever the case, I honestly don’t remember speaking to a cheerleader, and even if I did, I can swear to you that nothing happened. I didn’t DM her back. I blocked her, in fact. Here’s my phone, I’ll show you.”
Sky shook her head, closing her eyes as humiliation tore through her soul. It was high school all over again, she was still that apprehensive, self-doubting girl chasing after the football hunk that every girl wanted. “I’m sorry,” she whispered and begged herself to simply die so she wouldn’t have to see the conviction in Travis’s eyes when she was finally able to open her eyes again.
“Hey, there’s nothing for you to be sorry for. I know how it looks, but I swear to you, I haven’t so much as looked at another girl since you and I have been together. Ask the guys if you don’t believe me. Ask Hunter tonight. Ask Madi, too. She—”
“I know. I want to believe that…”
“Hey. Sky. My sweet Aphrodite, look at me.”
She couldn’t. She didn’t want to. She simply wanted the earth to swallow her so she didn’t have to feel like an idiot.
Finally, Travis coaxed her back to him and she opened her eyes only to see understanding reflecting back at her. He smiled that smile that took her breath away and all was right in the world.
“There’s my sexy girl. Believe it or not, I understand. Trust me, I feel the same way.”
“You do?”
“Yeah. I haven’t ever felt this way before, either. When I’m not with you, you’re all I can think about. And when I’m with you, I feel like I’ve never been more alive. It kinda makes you a little crazy. I wanted to kill your ex-fiancé. Just the thought of him talking to you made me wanna tear him limb from limb.”
“Really?” was all she managed to get out.
“Really! You aren’t the only one feeling all this for the first time, so don’t feel bad, ok?”
Sky nodded then lowered her head, trying to rein in her feelings.
“But listen to me, very carefully, alright? I’m not your ex, Skyla. I’m not going to hurt you like he did. I would never do anything to hurt you. There are going to be many women approaching me, talking to me, messaging my social media accounts, throwing themselves at me. I’m used to it, and I know you aren’t, but that doesn’t mean that I’m interested in them or that I would do anything to jeopardize what I have with you. I have to be cordial, I have to be professional, but I will never, never cheat on you. I swear that I won’t be that guy. I will always talk to you, I will always be here for you, and I will always love you.”
UNSPORTSMANLIKE CONDUCT (Gods of the Gridiron Book 1) Page 23