“Then no, I don’t.”
“I gotta say, Anderson.” The chair next to me scrapes across the tile, and his voice immediately puts me on edge. “I would have never thought that we had anything in common, yet here we are.”
Every hair on my body stands on end. The twisting in my gut over Gia immediately turns to gut wrenching anger as the jackass that marked my fucking body plops down next to me, and leans back in his chair casually, as if we’re the best of friends.
“We have nothing in common. Now get the fuck back to your own seat. That’s Declan’s spot.”
“Declan can suck a dick. As a matter of fact,” The expression on his face tells me I’m not going to like what he says next. His smile is devious, his eyes narrowed into condescending slits on his face. But that’s not what bothers me the most about him. It’s his unfounded arrogance. The aura that he portrays, letting everyone know that he thinks that he’s better than all of us. I know it’s not right to hate people, but I hate this guy. Every fucking bit of him. Even with all of that hatred, all of my disgust, I’m not prepared for what he says next. “So can Gia. That woman’s got a mouth like a hoover.”
“The fuck you just say?” I’m no longer trying to keep my voice down, as to not interrupt coach. In fact, I could give two shits less about the man in front of the room, in the middle of his annual preseason pep talk. My eyes are focused on Colton, my breathing raw and my eyes wild. This motherfucker has no right to even say Gia’s name, let alone, say some shit like that.
I don’t even realize that I’m on my feet until I have to lean over to spit my words at him. The entire room falls silent, all eyes focused on me. I could give a fuck less right now.
“I said your girl can suck a dick. How do my sloppy seconds feel, anyway?”
He can miss blocks and let me get creamed into the turf. He can glare at me all fucking day and threaten to take my spot. He can talk shit about my game and tell me that he’s better-I give no fucks about any of that. But this shit? Making up stories about an innocent woman? My woman?
That’s where I draw the line.
I grab his shirt and rip him right out of his seat. His eyes widen as I slam him into the wall, lifting his entire weight with just one hand. I hear Declan shouting behind me, but then I see both he and Jude in my peripheral vision, holding their arms out and not letting any of the other guys on my team break this shit up. Coach roars at me to put him down, but I block him out. The only thing I’m focused on is Colton’s face. The one about to be broken into fucking pieces.
“Fuck you, Andrews,” I growl, pulling him back from the wall just to slam him into it again. “Leave my girl out of this.”
“Your girl?” His sinister laugh grates against my skin. “Is she, though? That bitch ain’t yours any more than she was mine. I’ll give it to you, the pussy’s good. But the only man she’s ever going to belong to is Cole, and you know it.”
My entire body stills. In fact, my hand releases him with a thud before I can even make sense of his words. The second that they sink in, though, anger floods through me, coursing through my veins. His head snaps back as my fist connects, blood spewing from his mouth and covering the wall behind us.
A single punch is all that it took to knock him the fuck out and stop him from speaking. But the damage has been done.
His words have already sunk in.
30
Gia
There are a few things that will stop a single woman’s heart. A fist beating on the door in the middle of the night is one of them. Normally, I’d chalk it up to Wyatt trying to hunt me down, but he’s across the country, likely sleeping peacefully after continuously rocking my world earlier today. I tiptoe down the stairs, the phone in my hand, ready to hit send on my emergency call. One peak out of the window though, has me dropping my phone and swinging the door open, glaring at the intrusion.
“Cole?” My ex-husband wobbles on his feet, his beautiful features twisted up in agony. One thing that I always loved about him, was how he could remain calm under pressure, his entire demeanor always cool and under control. But as I stare at him, with his shirt half open, his tie a twisted mess and his hair haphazardly falling all over his head, I can’t help but be concerned.
As messy as our divorce was, I still can’t find it in me to hate the man.
We have too much history for me to just slam the door on him right now, and even though I’m not in love with him anymore, I still love him, and his appearance makes me uncomfortable.
“What are you doing here?”
“How many times, Gia?” As his voice fills up the night air, so does the overwhelming smell of booze. Cole is piss ass drunk.
“What are you talking about?” I sigh, opening the door wider and letting him in. He stumbles past me, running right into the wall before falling backwards into one of the sitting chairs in my showroom. Great.
“It’s one o’clock in the morning, Cole. I’m too tired for beating around the bush. How many times what?”
“Wyatt Anderson.” His eyes narrow, and lock with mine. “How many times did you wish I was him?”
“I’m not doing this.” I lean over and snatch his keys out of his hand. He doesn’t even fight me on it. Cole never acts like this. He’s not one to get drunk enough to lose control. As the district attorney, he has a reputation to uphold, and getting caught drunk driving would end his career. The fact that he did it on the way over here makes me unsettled.
“You’re drunk, and I’m tired. Delilah is sleeping upstairs, and I’m not interested in hashing up the past. What’s done is done. Wyatt played no part in our divorce.”
“No, but Colton did.” He rises to his feet, sways, and then grabs a hold of the wall to keep him upright. “It’s like you just can’t leave these football players alone. Meanwhile, you’re making me look like a jackass, making out with all of these different guys like a fucking tramp. Once again, you’re trending on social media. And people aren’t being nice about it.”
“I don’t care.” That’s a lie. In fact, I care a whole bunch, but after reading some of the comments, I realized that most of the brutal things being said were coming from jealous women. Plus, Wyatt and I aren’t anything official, and there won’t be any further pictures circulating of us. The hype will die down the second that something else gets caught on camera. “And I’m not making you look like a jackass. In fact, if anything, you should be thanking me for how much I held back the last time. I protected you. When all of the news broke about me, never even once did I mention why I did what I did. I kept you out of it, kept your indiscretions to myself. I took the heat, and like a bitch, you let me.”
“Oh, now I’m the bitch.” He waves me off. “Whatever, Gia. You were already checked out of our marriage long before Angie and I hooked up. All that you cared about was this.” He motions around my showroom in disgust. “You stopped loving me long before any of that shit happened.”
“You’re right.” The second that I agree with him, his eyes flash. I’ve never owned it, never admitted it even though he’s said this exact thing many times in the past. Part of me just didn’t want to admit that I fell out of love with Cole long before we fell apart. The other part of me doesn’t want to admit that perhaps I never loved him like I should have in the first place.
After Wyatt walked away from me, I stayed single for a few years, and busied myself working on me.
But of course, Cole was there and was always around, and somehow, we fell back into each other. He was always my safe place. The thing that was familiar to me. The way I felt about him didn’t scare me. When I got pregnant with Delilah, I made the decision to marry him and to try to make it work. Of course it didn’t, because it was never meant to.
That’s why I don’t want to do this with him. I don’t want to have the same conversation, again and again. It doesn’t matter-it’s not going to change anything. All that we can do, is continue to move forward peacefully, for the sake of our daughter.
“
That still didn’t give you any right to sleep with my partner and help her steal all of my clients. I would have never done that to you. I protected you, Cole. You hung me out to dry.”
“Do you love him?” It’s a fair question, but it’s one that I don’t have an answer to. All that I know, is the feelings that I have for Wyatt scare the shit out of me. They scare me because no matter what they end up being, they’ll never be reciprocated on the level that I need them. Wyatt can talk about our future, but his history with women is something that just can’t be overlooked. Hell, his history with me can’t be overlooked. He walked away from me once already, completely unscathed, and history always has a way of repeating itself.
“I don’t know,” I answer as honestly as I can. “But what I am is none of your business. Go upstairs, and sleep this shit off, Cole. Tomorrow, when you’re sober, we’ll discuss how many boundaries you crossed tonight. Until then, snuggle up next to your daughter. She’s the only one here who will be happy that you’re here in the morning.”
I have no idea how long my eyes are closed for, but somehow, I managed to fall asleep in my showroom, on one of the small loveseats that are hard as a rock. By the time that my eyes open, the sun is starting to rise, the birds are chirping, and yet another fist is beating on my door.
I peak out of the window, surprised as hell to find Wyatt standing on my front porch, with wild eyes and a clenched fist. I pull the door open immediately and stare at him.
“Wyatt? What are you doing here? What’s the matter?”
I’m starting to sound like a broken record over the two men in my life. Without any warning, he pushes past me, making his way inside before I can even invite him in.
“You need to tell me the truth, Gia, right fucking now.”
I reel back as if slapped, his words taking me by utter surprise. I’ve known Wyatt for a long time, and never once has he talked to me in this tone. It shocks the hell out of me.
“The truth about what? Are you drunk?”
“Hardly.” His eyes narrow, anger radiating off of him and smacking into me. “Did you hook up with Colton Andrews?” As my mouth drops open, and I struggle to find the right words to say, his eyes darken.
“It’s a yes or no question, Gia.” His words are forced through clenched teeth, but what he doesn’t understand, is the answer isn’t quite so simple.
“It wasn’t like that.” My hands raise and then flop at my sides, but when I steady myself and reach for him, he backs away from my touch.
“That’s a yes.” He growls, his eyes turning wild. “How could you? Is this just what you do? Fuck football players for kicks?”
“Fuck you.” He has a lot of nerve, even more than my ex, to abruptly show up at my house at six o’clock in the morning and start accusing me of this kind of shit. I am a lot of things. A fucking lot-and I’ll openly admit every one of them. But being accused of being a football slut is a stretch and he knows it. At least he should know it. If he knew me at all, he’d take every fucking word back.
“I trusted you. I fucking fell for you. And all that you’ve been doing is playing games with me.”
“I’m not playing…”
“The fuck if you’re not, Gia. All that you’ve been doing for the last few months is stringing me along. Playing with my fucking heart as if it’s a goddamn game to you. Here I’ve been falling all over myself, trying to make you fall in love with me. It was never going to happen, was it? You were just trying to get a few minutes of fame with me, the same as you did with Colton. Maybe you were just doing it for revenge, who the fuck knows. But as much as I fucking hate that guy, I hate what you’re doing more.”
“Wyatt…” I reach out for him, trying to grab a hold of him to calm him down enough to hear me out. “You’ve got it all wrong. You don’t understand. Colton is the reason that my business went up in flames. The reason that I haven’t worked in a year. He’s the reason that my marriage…”
“Fuck all of that, Gia.” He jerks his arm away. “Take some blame for once in your life. You fucked him over, and then you moved on to fucking me over. Stop acting like you haven’t been getting your kicks out of making me bleed for you, babe.” He grunts in disgust. “I was ready to lay it all down for you. Give up my entire way of life, for you. When were you going to drop the bomb, huh? Or were you even going to? What was your plan, Gia? Play me hard and then run back to Cole?”
Because fate isn’t on my side today, Cole picks that exact moment to stroll down the stairs, his bare chest on display and his shirt in his hands. I inhale sharply and reach for Wyatt, whose murderous gaze is now fixed on my ex-husband.
This looks bad. I know that it does, but even though nothing happened between us last night, Wyatt isn’t willing to buy any of it.”
“And there’s my answer.” He grunts, as he and Cole’s eyes lock. “Doesn’t matter what I say, doesn’t matter what I do, you’re always going to pick that guy.”
“I’ve never picked him over you!” I’m screaming now, my voice hysterical. “If you would have let me, I would have picked you back then! You didn’t give me a chance!”
“That turned out to be a blessing.” The way that he stares at me makes my stomach turn. The hate spewing from his eyes at me causes my breath to catch in my throat and my lungs to seize. I hate this feeling. It’s the worst one ever.
But it’s the one that I knew was coming. I fucking knew that eventually, he was going to break my heart. I just never imagined it to go down like this.
“Fuck you, Gia. Have a nice life with your prince, Princess.”
31
Gia
I love wedding days. The excitement bubbles all around me, wrapping me up like a cocoon. The idea of happily ever after hangs in the air, filling me with content. As I glance around the Hamlin Hotel, I smile despite myself. The last two days have been terrible, but now the wedding day is upon us, and it’s going to be a good day. Couple that with the fact that as of tomorrow morning, I’ll have no reason to interact with Wyatt ever again, makes it that much better.
I hate to admit that the last two days have been terrible.
I don’t want to acknowledge that not seeing ten missed calls a day from him stings more than it should. But it had to happen like this. I knew it from the start, I just foolishly let my needs get in the way of what my brain already knew. I’ve prepared myself for seeing him today. Obviously, I had to. What other choice did I have?
But this is it. The last moment our paths will cross. Tomorrow I’ll wake up and start over. Removing all thoughts of Wyatt Anderson from my mind will be easy. If only I can get through today.
“Have you talked to the bride yet?” Serena enters the ballroom, eyeing the décor appreciatively. Even I have to admit that everything here looks amazing. The tables are all lined up, white linens looking fresh with gorgeous bouquets of fresh flowers displayed on the center. The bright sunlight from outside casts a mirage of colors onto the stark white, bringing unexpected colors to the show.
The church looks equally beautiful, with matching bouquets flanking every pew, petals strewn across the white linen runner that travels down the aisle. Every last detail nailed out with perfection, and the setting itself straight out of a story book.
“Yes.” I glance up at her and straighten a few stray flowers in a vase. “She was just leaving the salon.”
“The champagne is chilling in the bridal quarters,” Serena tells me, and I make a mental note to check that off of the list. “Cold beers are in the groom’s quarters. The bottle of scotch requested by the bride’s brother is also being chilled in his changing area.”
I appreciate that she doesn’t say his name, but I hate that she feels the need to protect me. It’s just a name. The name of a man who loves himself first, that’s all. No reason to pretend that he doesn’t exist.
“His name is Wyatt, and it’s totally fine to call him by his name. It doesn’t bother me.”
“Right.” She mutters and rolls her eyes. “You d
on’t seem bothered at all.”
“I’m not.” I shrug, acting as nonchalantly as possible. “In fact, he could walk through those doors right now, and I wouldn’t even look at him twice.”
Five minutes later, my words prove to be false. As Wyatt steps into the ballroom and whistles loudly, my attention snaps to him and as our eyes lock, the rest of the room fades away.
“Not going to look at him twice, huh?”
Ok, so my theory was proven wrong, but in my defense, there isn’t a woman alive who wouldn’t stare at him the way that I am right now.
His skin is twice as dark as it normally is, making him look even more like an Adonis than he does on a normal day. He has his tuxedo slung over his shoulder, causing the thick muscles in his arms to flex under the weight, which does nothing to calm the fire burning inside of me from just the sight of the man.
“Completely unbothered.” Serena nods in my direction. “Got it.”
“The place looks nice.” He dismisses me immediately, his eyes shifting to Serena. “Hey Serena. Thanks for helping the wedding planner set things up.”
The wedding planner. No he did not just bypass my name like that.
“Serena?” I smile sweetly at my friend even though my teeth are clenched hard enough together to chip a damn tooth. “Can you please show the brother of the bride to his changing room?”
“Well, this will be pleasant,” she mutters at me, before turning a smile in Wyatt’s direction. “I’d be happy to show Wyatt to his room.”
“Oh, wedding planner?” Wyatt calls out to me, right before Serena reaches him. “Is there another room available? My date wants her own space to get ready, too.”
“Your date?” My eyebrows skyrocket right before my eyes turn dark. A beautiful woman with dyed blond hair and surgically enhanced breasts enters the room and glances over me quickly before linking her arm with Wyatt’s. Jealously courses through me, but I keep my emotions in check.
Hard Pass (Saints of Love Book 3) Page 18