I’d let Tiff get to me. A girl I hadn’t seen in over three years. A girl who’d never been my girlfriend, despite my attempts otherwise. A girl who wanted nothing to do with me. How the fuck could I be so screwed up over someone who didn’t give a shit about me? Sometimes I was just like my mother, which didn’t sit well with me.
My mind flipped back through the years I’d known Tiff. All the laughter and tears we’d shared. The good and bad. The healing we’d done, or at least I’d done. The very tragedy that bound us together drove us apart, and there wasn’t a chance in hell I could fix it, not without her help.
I was sipping coffee and nursing my headache when Gage and Co. came bursting in the front door a few hours later, pizza boxes and a case of beer in hand. We rarely cooked, and pizza was our food of choice.
Logan and Mason grabbed beers. Mason tossed one to Gage, and the three of them dug in, plopping onto the couch and easy chairs scattered around the room, courtesy of Uncle Coop and Aunt Izzy.
I rubbed my eyes and took another swig of the strong black coffee. My stomach lurched at the aroma of cheese and tomato sauce. I lifted my gaze to Gage, then Logan and Mason. They watched me with a mixture of concern and amusement. None of them spoke.
“Good practice?” I asked, unable to stomach the silence any longer.
Three heads bobbed as they stuffed their face with pizza.
“Was Coach pissed at me?”
“Nah,” said Logan, still chewing. He shot a glance at the other two. Only then did I realize they were keeping something from me.
“I know that look. What’s up?”
Logan and Mason deferred to Gage. We all did. Not only was he the team’s leader, but he was also the leader of our pack.
“A couple things. Preston broke his leg in practice today. He’s out for the season.”
“Well, fuck, as if this season couldn’t get any worse,” I groaned.
“You’re our new backup.” Gage watched me closely, as if probing for weakness. Gage didn’t like weakness. Once he discovered a guy’s Achilles’ heel he went after it like a rabid jackal hot on the trail of a wounded antelope. Otto and I’d watched something similar on Animal Planet last week. The attack had been harsh, but survival of the fittest ruled in nature and in football.
“Don’t worry. I’m not getting hurt. I never miss games from injuries. I’m the man of steel.” Gage flexed both arms to show off his biceps. None of us was impressed.
“Knock on wood,” Mason said, and crossed himself, though I didn’t believe he was Catholic or had ever seen the inside of a church.
“I hope not, because I’m not qualified to start. You said a couple things. What else?”
“Our new neighbors.”
“Yeah, the gay guys. So what about them?”
“Uh, turns out it’s only one gay guy living with two hot chicks.”
“And this affects me how?” I said.
Again, that quick look among the three of them that totally left me out in the cold.
“What’s wrong? You’re acting like it’s something as crappy as Tiff moving in next door.”
The shocked expression on their faces sent a wave of pain right to the center of my already bruised and beaten heart.
“Tiff is living next door? Did you see her?” Someone up there must hate me. I’d never been overly religious, and perhaps this weird twist of fate was payback.
“Yeah, just now.”
“You don’t even know her. How would you know if that’s her?”
“Remember the hot item I was making out with at the party a few weeks ago? She was walking up the sidewalk next door along with a blonde when we pulled up. I said hi, and she introduced her friend. Tiffani Vernon.”
“Oh, fuck.” My stomach might’ve been queasy earlier, but now it was in full rebellion mode. What kind of fresh hell was this? What had I done to deserve such a fate?
“Does she know I’m here?”
“Nah. We never brought it up, but we did mention we’re on the football team.”
I put my head in my hands as the pounding inside my skull increased. She’d told me to go to hell in so many words. Now I had to put up with her living next door?
“Instead of being a coward, why don’t you go after her?” Gage said.
I stiffened and shot him a death glare that would’ve made Uncle Coop proud. “She is so done with me.” Not that she ever started.
“Since when do you give up that easily?” Gage smirked and shoved an entire piece of pizza in his mouth and chewed, his cheeks stuffed.
“Yeah, usually women say one thing and totally mean another,” Mason said.
“I’d go after her. She’s smokin’ hot.” Logan craned his neck to get a better view out the window without being too obvious. He shot a calculating glance my way. “You don’t care, do you, Ry-man? I mean, you don’t seem interested. Maybe I’ll ask her out.”
“Like fuck you will,” I growled without pausing to think.
Logan’s smug smile said it all. He had me. “Then go the fuck after her.”
“I wish I could.”
“Throw her over your shoulder and spank her ass,” Logan said. I shot him an annoyed glare.
“Romance her, my man.” Gage patted me on the shoulder. “You know, flowers, candy, little notes, all that crap that gets their panties wet.”
“Wear her down with persistence, just like you wore Coach down when it came to being the backup QB,” Mason said helpfully.
I rubbed my stubble-roughened chin. These idiots might actually have something. “It could work.”
“Of course it’ll work. Start with flowers and expand on it. You’ve got the bucks. Use ’em.”
I did have the cash. Uncle Coop was overly generous with deposits into my account each month. To date, I’d stashed most of it in savings, but I’d spend every penny I had to win Tiff over.
Gage tossed me the phone. “Call a florist.”
I snatched the phone out of thin air as it went sailing past my head and asked for the nearest florist. A few seconds later I was ordering flowers and paying a hefty charge for a custom bouquet to be delivered the following Tuesday. I’d give her a few days to miss me, and then I’d start my campaign.
These idiots were right—for once: the way to a girl’s heart was through romance.
* Tiff *
The next day, I walked around in a stupor. Still numb from what I’d done, I couldn’t get Riley’s face out of my head. My visions alternated between the horror in his eyes when Jacob pointed the gun at him and his stricken expression when I once again broke his heart.
I was a bitch. I hated myself right then. I hated what I’d done to him, even as I told myself letting him go was the kindest thing I could do for him. He’d move on and forget about me, but I feared I’d never move on from him.
I met Alisa and Wayne for a lecture in the early evening, and we walked back to the house afterward at the same time a car pulled up at our neighbors’. When Alisa saw the three hot guys get out, she wandered over and said hi, one of which was shockingly Gage, her hook-up from the other night.
Alisa and Wayne panted after the hotties long after they’d gone into their house and closed their door. I rolled my eyes. I’d been too busy with classes and my horse to notice the guys next door, but I hadn’t a clue how they’d passed Alisa’s notice over the past two weeks. That girl was losing her touch.
“Seriously, you two. Let’s go inside.”
“What’s the hurry?” Alisa said, bending down to pluck weeds from an overgrown flower garden near the sidewalk. “This needs tidying.”
“Since when are you a gardener?” I asked.
“Since she discovered Gage lives next door, and she’s angling for a repeat performance,” Wayne said. He propped his hands on his hips in his best gay guy pose. The look was so not Wayne, despite the fact that he was gay.
I turned to Alisa, scrutinizing her with the eye of a friend who’d known her for over a decade. “You never do repeat performance
s.”
“I seldom do them,” Alisa corrected, her eyes glued to the neighbors’ front door. “But for the hot jock with the big cock, I’ll make an exception.”
Both Wayne and I made gagging sounds.
“I’ve heard enough. I’m going inside.” I hurried up the sidewalk with Wayne close behind. Alisa reluctantly followed. Glancing over her shoulder, she stumbled and almost fell on the porch steps. I tried not to laugh. Alisa had always been the heartbreaker. She never had her heart broken. I wasn’t sure what the hell was going on now.
I had more immediate problems than Alisa’s love life. My neighbors played football and obviously would know Riley. There was a chance he might actually visit them on occasion. Just what I needed—to feel as if I had to hide out in my own neighborhood. Home was supposed to be my one safe place. Why did fate pull this crap on me? Of all the places to live near campus, we had to rent a house next door to the team quarterback? If I was lucky—which I usually wasn’t—Gage and Riley couldn’t stand each other and never hung out.
Right.
Chapter 7—Boy Next Door
* Tiff *
The rest of the week flew by. Riley respected my wishes and stayed away. If he hung out next door, I never saw him, but then I was avoiding coming home most nights until late in the evening, just in case.
While I was able to settle into a semi-peaceful routine, I mourned his absence. He invaded my thoughts more than I’d like despite my efforts to clear my mind and come to terms with my decision.
Riley and I were over before we’d ever started. I’d been a fool to come back here to the very school he was attending, but I’d done it anyway. That’s how messed up I was.
I’d been night-terror-free all week, something that hadn’t happened much since I’d returned to Seattle. I took my restful nights as a sign that I didn’t need Riley in order to heal, even if my heart didn’t agree.
I spent my spare time at the barn and the library, not an exciting life by any means, but one that suited me just fine. Besides, I worked some extra hours, and I could sorely use the money. Barns always needed help. I cleaned stalls, exercised horses, oiled tack, whatever was asked of me.
The Chinooks played an away game in Colorado over the weekend, and I couldn’t stop myself from watching. Riley looked so hot in those pads, helmet, and tight pants that hugged his fine ass. His power and speed had always amazed me. He was even faster and stronger than he’d been in high school, and he’d always been a phenomenal athlete. I was such a glutton for punishment, but I really was getting over him.
Really.
I was.
That Tuesday, Wayne busied himself in the kitchen fixing his awesome spaghetti. He’d make enough to last us the rest of the week, which meant no cooking for days, though we’d be sick of spaghetti by Saturday, and he’d dirty every dish in the house.
The doorbell rang and Alisa bolted for the door. She was probably hoping Gage had stopped by to borrow a cup of sugar and to strip Alisa of her panties.
Alisa stood back from the door and called out to me. “Tiff, it’s for you,” she said in a singsong voice, and giggled. Alisa rarely giggled, which spiked my curiosity and Wayne’s. We both peeked over her shoulders. A delivery boy stood in the driveway completely dwarfed by a bouquet of lilies, roses, and hydrangeas in a clear triangular glass vase. The arrangement was breathtaking.
“For me?” I gaped at the flowers. No one in my twenty-one years had ever sent me flowers before. I immediately thought of my dad and his girlfriend, who were trying their damnedest to earn my forgiveness.
The pimply-faced delivery boy glanced at the card pinned to the pink bow. “Tiffani Vernon?”
“Yes, that’s me.”
He thrust the flowers at me as if glad to be rid of his heavy burden and left without another word.
“Thank you,” I called after him.
“Who are they from?” Giddy with excitement, Wayne clapped his hands as he bounced up and down in front of me.
Alisa tried to grab the card, but I yanked it out of her reach and hid it from their prying eyes as I pulled the small card of out the tiny envelope. The simple message read:
Just wanted to brighten your day.
Ry
As much as I’d like this to be someone’s idea of a joke, I had little doubt Riley had sent them. The message and the flowers were so not him, but he would know what kinds of flowers I liked. My hand shook as I jammed the card in my pocket. Alisa relieved me of the vase before I dropped it, filling it with water and placing it on the coffee table.
She stood back and admired the bouquet. “These had to cost a fortune. They’re from Riley, aren’t they?” She cocked her head at me with a knowing smirk.
I nodded. My eyes stung, and I blinked rapidly. Riley wasn’t going down without a fight. He never had been one to give up. And this older, more determined, more confident version was even more of a force to be reckoned with.
“Girlfriend, it’s time for some tough love,” Wayne said.
I rolled my eyes at Wayne and groaned. “Seriously? Girlfriend?”
“Just playing the part of the gay best friend.” He grinned even wider as I scowled.
“She does need tough love,” Alisa added as she propped her foot on the coffee table and painted her toenails. “What are you afraid of exactly? He’s one of the hottest guys on campus, with a great body, and he’s a sweetheart.”
They couldn’t possibly understand. I was afraid of a lot. I was afraid of falling hard and fast for him, if I hadn’t already. I was afraid when the relationship went sideways—and in my experience all relationships eventually imploded—loving him and losing him would be my fatal blow. I’d never survive that kind of hit. I was living from day to day as it was, barely holding together the broken and damaged pieces.
My phone rang, and I jumped. It was my mother. As if I didn’t have enough to deal with, I had to deal with my mom’s drama, too. I glanced at Alisa and Wayne, who were poised like cats ready to pounce. For once, I was glad for the interruption even if I was trading one crappy conversation for another.
“I have to take this. It’s my mom.” I smirked at both of them, and they glared right back, knowing I usually didn’t pick up when she called.
“Hi, Mom, how’s it going?” I said much too brightly as I escaped to the privacy of my room and shut the door.
“That bastard. You won’t believe what he’s done now,” she said without any pleasantries or small talk.
I sighed. Maybe I should’ve put up with my roommates’ lecture on my love life. “What?”
She sniffled dramatically. “He took her to visit his parents.” She said the word her with more venom than such a short word deserved.
I waited to see if there was more. I could almost hear her building up steam toward another your dad is an ass tirade. I made a lame attempt to quell her anger. “He can do that. They’re his parents.”
“They’re my in-laws. How dare he take that tramp to meet them.”
I sighed. “Mom, he’s with her now. What he does is none of your business. The divorce is all but final. And that’ll be taken care of in a few weeks.”
She wasn’t listening. “What did I do to deserve this? I gave him the best years of my life, and this is what I get in return?” She was on a roll—again. Mom had never worked. She’d stayed home and planned charity galas, played tennis, and gone to luncheons with her country club crowd. Now she’d lost her coveted life. She didn’t care about my dad; she cared about the standing he’d given her and the clout she’d wielded as the wife of a wealthy man.
Throwing myself down on the bed, I let my mother ramble while I stared at the ceiling and thought about a certain determined blue-eyed football player willing to fight for my heart.
“Mom?” I asked quickly when she paused to take a breath, having not heard more than a few sentences of her tirade. “What was it like at first with you and Dad? You met in college, right? Did he pursue you? Make you feel like the only wo
man in the world for him?”
My mom was shocked to silence. “Why, yes, he did. We were madly in love. He was the only man for me and the only man I’ll ever truly love. And now that tramp has ruined everything.”
“Mom, please.”
She was silent for a moment. “Why do you ask?” she murmured, and I could almost feel the shame wash over her.
I hesitated, not sure I should open this large can of worms.
“Riley is back in my life.”
“Riley? Riley Black?” Her well-oiled wheels turned as she digested this information.
“Yes. Riley, whose uncle was the captain of the Sockeyes. Riley who plays football for Tyee. Riley who covered my body so I wouldn’t be shot.”
Mom cleared her throat. She might be a PITA and wallowing in her own pity right now, but she loved me fiercely, as did my father. I never questioned their love for their only child even once, not even through Dad’s midlife crisis or Mom’s self-absorption with the upheaval of her comfortable lifestyle.
“He was a very handsome young man and very sweet.” Mom had always adored Riley, but he had a knack for charming the older ladies. I’d always joked with him about becoming a gigolo if his football career didn’t work out.
“He still is.”
“So exactly how is he back in your life?”
“He wants to start something, but I’m not sure it’s the right thing to do?”
“I see. You’re wondering if he’s The One?” Mom momentarily forgot her own problems and went into full Mom mode. She might like bitching and moaning about the current state of her life, but she relished fixing my life even more.
“Does love ever truly last?”
“Don’t take your father and me as the sole example, honey. You’re a different person than I am, and Riley is kind and loyal.”
“So is Dad.”
“Humph. Just go on believing that.” I hated the bitterness poisoning my mother’s voice and permeating her attitude. She didn’t used to be like this.
“I did this to you, didn’t I?” I had to ask, because I felt somehow responsible for the breakdown of my family.
Sacked in Seattle: Game On in Seattle Rookies (Men of Tyee Book 1) Page 5