by CoraLee June
I could already feel the blisters on my feet. I hadn’t worn comfortable shoes today. “Sounds great,” I forced out. I didn’t want Oakley to go off partying, but we made a deal. I wouldn’t cramp his style if he let me do my job. I was going to do my best to not annoy him.
“And then,” Oakley continued, reaching out to tuck a strand of blonde hair behind my ear. “I can find some hot piece to bring home. Would you mind sleeping in the lobby? I shouldn’t be more than a couple of hours.”
Nope. I drew the line there. I opened my mouth to protest, but Oakley burst out laughing, interrupting me. “I’m kidding, Solver. Let’s go back to the hotel and grab some take-out. I just want to eat and sleep. I’m fucking sore.”
I let out a sigh of relief just as Dale exited the showers buck naked.
Oh. Em. Gee. I looked away quickly. Oakley threw Dale a towel. “Come on, man, Amanda’s here. Cover up.” Funny how Oakley suddenly cared about nudity.
“Did I just hear you say that you’re not coming out tonight? After your big victory, you’re not even going to celebrate? I know that’s not what I just heard,” Dale said as he wrapped the towel around himself loosely.
Damn, I was so close to being able to go back to the hotel and lie down. I hated Dale. I was busy cursing him for ever being born when Oakley replied, “Yeah man, I’m just going to go back to the hotel with a super hot girl. You’re right, I’m totally not celebrating at all.”
My first takeaway was that we were still going back to the hotel and I could take off these godforsaken shoes. That was followed very closely by the fact that Oakley said I was super hot. Did he really think that? Or was he just saying that to get Dale off his back? Fortunately, I had the entire walk back to the hotel to obsess about it.
13
Oakley ate like he was a man on death row enjoying his last meal. He devoured. He didn’t care that he had spaghetti sauce all over his face and dripping down his chin. He didn’t care that he chewed with his mouth open. He definitely didn’t care that I was staring wide-eyed and terrified at his sloppy mouth opening and closing. It was nice to know his hotness wasn’t limitless. He did have his faults; aside from being a huge partier, he was the world’s messiest eater.
“You better eat up,” he commanded while nodding at my salad plate. Now that the game was over, our agreement was off. He burned a lot of calories at the game and needed to refuel. It would be physically impossible for me to keep up.
“Just because I don’t devour my meals like a rabid animal doesn’t mean I won’t eat…”
He took another messy bite with a snort. I nearly gagged. We were both sitting in our pajamas at the small two-person table in our hotel room. I was comfortable, and my face was makeup free. I’d showered as we waited for our food to arrive and was happy to wash the sweaty Oklahoma humidity out of my hair. I probably should have cared that I looked like a drowned rat right now, but I couldn’t bring myself to care. I was too freaking tired.
“My sister used to say that,” Oakley laughed. He then wiped his mouth with his napkin. Oakley had a distant look on his face. I realized just then that this was the first I’d heard of him ever speaking of his family. I wanted more information but didn’t want to push him too far.
“Oh really?” I asked gingerly. I didn’t want to have a repeat of what happened when I asked before. I definitely didn’t want him to think I was trying to push for information and shut down. But I also wanted him to know that he could trust me and talk to me about his family. It got past the point of a normal pause in conversation, but Oakley still hadn’t said anything. So I sat there silently, taking a little nibble of my salad. I wanted to let Oakley decide if he wanted to talk or change the subject.
He got a faraway look in his eye as if he was remembering something pleasant and painful at the same time. After an almost uncomfortable amount of time, he said quietly, “Yeah, she was always teasing me about how fast I ate and would say that I couldn’t even be tasting it if I devoured it like a starving animal.”
I decided to push it, just a little bit, and asked, “She was always teasing you?”
Oakley looked down for just a second but then looked directly at me. “I don’t really talk about her much. She was an amazing big sister, and everything feels so empty without her. She died almost two years ago.” He didn’t break eye contact with me as he continued, “It happened on campus. She went up to the roof of the math building with a couple of her sorority sisters to see the moon. It was full that night, and they wanted to get pictures with it for Instagram. Daisy started walking on the ledge. She used to be a star gymnast and was trying to do some of her old tricks and she fell. There was nothing anybody could do, and they said she didn’t feel anything.”
I sat there in stunned silence. My heart panged for Oakley and his family. I tried to filter through my memory to see if I’d heard anything about this. Universities were quick to sweep deaths under the rug. No one wanted to send their kids away to schools with a bad reputation. It was Public Relations 101. No wonder Oakley could get away with anything. The school probably liked having him here and definitely wanted to show that they’d managed to support the Davis family.
“I was offered a full ride here, you know,” he continued bitterly while staring at his plate. “I didn’t take it though. My mom didn’t want any of the university’s blood money. They made my sister sound like some stupid party girl. And don’t get me wrong, she had her fair share of fun, but I didn’t like how the university was quick to drag her name through the mud to save their ass. She didn’t even have that much alcohol in her system, according to the toxicology report.”
My purpose for working with Oakley suddenly felt...wrong. “They want a redemption story,” I mumbled. “Oakley, I’m so sorry.”
“It’s not your fault,” he whispered. “But yeah. You working with me this season serves many purposes. You see, the building wasn’t up to code. The door to the roof wasn’t even locked. If we wanted to sue them, we could have.”
The question escaped me before I could filter it. “So why didn’t you?”
“No amount of money can make up for the fact that she’s gone.” He stood up and looked around the hotel room, avoiding my eyes. “I’m really worn out from the game today. I’m going to brush my teeth and go to bed.”
I felt terrible for Oakley and disgusted with the university. I couldn’t imagine attending the same school where my sibling died. I had a lot of feelings to work through. A surge of angry energy flooded my system, and I needed to take it out on the treadmill. I told Oakley goodnight and let him know I was going down to the gym next to the lobby.
I cranked the treadmill up and let the pounding of my feet drown Oakley’s voice telling me about his sister and the university’s cover up. I ran until all I could think about was the screaming in my thighs and I just couldn’t go anymore. I sat down on the floor next to the treadmill to cool off and stretch.
How could Oakley even stand to be around me, knowing that the university was just using me to try to paint a pretty picture with his family’s tragedy and his skill on the football field? It explained a lot about his attitude toward me at the beginning. As I was working out the tension in my knees, I decided I would tell Oakley that I was going to step out of this internship as his publicist. I wouldn’t be able to graduate early, but I would be able to live with myself.
I went back to the room to find it completely dark and Oakley in bed. I slipped into the bathroom to take another shower, trying to be quiet so that I wouldn’t wake him. I scrubbed my hair free of the sweat while thinking about his sister. That could have easily been me. I was headed down a one-way street to self-destruction, and the only thing that saved me from that was a heavy dose of embarrassment.
I used to be so desperate for attention and validation that I’d do anything. Was that what she was doing? Showing off for the approval of her peers?
I shut off the water, slipped into my matching pale blue pajama set, then slid under the
covers with a sigh. This job no longer felt right. What was I going to do? How was I going to graduate early?
Two strong arms wrapped around my stomach, and I was pulled tightly against a warm, hard, bare chest. Was he shirtless? Oh my Post Malone, he was shirtless.
“Hey, Solver?” he whispered in my ear while nuzzling my neck. I allowed myself to indulge in this for a few seconds, then pushed him away.
“Yeah?” I croaked.
“For what it’s worth, I’m glad you started working with me. At first I just wanted to be the mess they made her out to be. I wanted to make it hard on them. Now, I think I can prove them wrong.”
Emotion crawled up my throat, and my eyes watered. My heart swelled three times its normal size with affection for this man. I wanted to tell him so many things in that moment. That he had potential. That the university was a steaming pile of shit. That he didn’t have to prove anything to anyone.
But instead, I swatted his large hand and said, “Yeah, yeah. Get back to your side of the bed, Mr. Davis.”
I reluctantly woke up the next morning to sunlight streaming in the window, hitting my face, instead of my usual alarm. Huh, that’s strange, I thought before I even opened my eyes. I must have forgotten to set it, which never happened. It wasn’t a big deal, though. My flight home wasn’t until noon, so I had plenty of time. I squinted my eyes open, and the first thing I did was look over at Oakley’s side of the bed, disappointment flooding my chest when I found it empty. I pushed the covers down and stretched my arms out, then slowly sat up.
There was a note on my nightstand, scrawled out in Oakley’s almost illegible handwriting. Seeing the note reminded me that the team had left stupid early that morning. I picked it up and read:
Amanda - you looked so peaceful I didn’t want to wake you. See you at home. I kind of promise to behave on the ride home, even without you babysitting.
P.S. Eat something before you get hangry
There was a protein bar sitting by the note. Ugh, did he really think I was going to eat that? If I were going to indulge in some calories, I sure as hell wasn’t going to eat one of his nasty protein bars. I picked it up and tossed it.
My flight home was uneventful aside from the man I had to sit next to. He spent most of the flight staring at my boobs and coughing. I could practically feel myself breathing in his nasty-ass germs.
Shelby was home when I walked through the front door of our condo. She was also buck ass naked. She was also doing yoga. I also saw her lady garden. Thank fuck she was all natural, because I only saw a seventies-worthy bush, but it still made me drop my luggage and scream at her spread eagle pose.
“Fucking hell, Shelbs. I told you I was coming home today.”
She didn’t even stumble.
“What’s wrong?” she asked on a breezy exhale.
“Couldn’t you do that somewhere else? This is like a bad porno.”
She rolled her eyes and stood up on her yoga mat and stretched her arms above her head. “I don’t like to be restricted by my clothes, Amanda. Also, I tried one of your meditation videos. The one about harnessing your sexual power was truly enlightening.”
I shook my head and sprinted to my bedroom, slamming the door with an angry thud and then plopping on my bed. I had two papers to write and needed to check my email for a follow-up review of Oakley’s weekend. I still felt weird about my job. I knew that my future as a PR rep would have a lot of shady gray areas, but Oakley’s reveal had me questioning what lines I should draw.
I was just about to type up an email to Dr. Haynes, asking for guidance, when my phone started ringing. Mom.
“Hey, Mom! I was just thinking about you. What’s up?” I answered.
“Eleanor got a sports car! And it’s RED! Can you believe that?” she blurted out. It sounded like she had been dying to talk about Eleanor’s new sports car for days. Eleanor was my parents’ neighbor and had been for the twenty-five years my parents had owned their house, although she had been there much longer. Eleanor was like an aunt to me; she used to color chalk on the sidewalk with me, sneak me M&M’s, and when I was a teenager, she was a safe space for me to rage about how unfair my mom was being. I loved Eleanor. Her husband, Bob, had passed away unexpectedly right before I left for college. I had only seen her a handful of times since Bob passed, and I made a mental note to send her a letter.
“That’s great?” I replied, not really sure how my mom wanted me to react to the news of Eleanor’s choice of new car. “What kind is it?”
“What do you mean, what kind is it? It’s red! And a convertible! At her age…” Ok, I guess we were feeling judgy about the car.
“Oh yeah. Well, when you put it like that!” I indulged my mom and rolled my eyes just a little. “What are you up to?” I tried to change the subject.
“I’m so happy you asked! We’re coming to visit. Surprise!!” she said excitedly.
I internally cringed. Surprise, indeed. “Oh nice!” I lied. “Where are you staying?”
“Well, with you, of course.”
I stared at my bedroom door, where on the other side, my naked roommate was ohmmmmming herself to sexual prowess. “Mom, my place isn’t big enough,” I sputtered. “Don’t you think you’d be more comfortable at a hotel?”
“Nonsense!” she replied. “We can get an air mattress and relive the college glory days. I woke up on quite a few frat couches back in my prime. Can we get boxed wine? Gosh, it’s been ages since I’ve slummed it with the cardboard Jesus juice.”
I shook my head. “Sure, Mom. That sounds like fun.”
“And I already checked the football schedule. There’s a home game that weekend! It’ll be so much fun.”
She started rambling about plans and what she was going to wear to the game as I politely listened. After listening to her babble for a minute or two, I faked a meeting to be able to get off the phone.
“A meeting? Amanda, it’s Sunday. Are you just trying to get me off the phone?” she asked, sounding hurt. Oh shit.
“No, Mom. It’s a study group,” I told her. “Text me your travel plans!” I said with as much fake excitement as I could produce. When we hung up the phone, I thought about talking to Shelby to see if she could be anywhere else while they were here, but then I remembered her au natural downward facing dog and winced. I’d just talk to her at dinner.
I sat on my bed and pulled up my calendar to look at what I had going during the time my parents were going to be here. Since they were just going to be here over the weekend, I wouldn’t have any classes. The only thing on my calendar was the game. At least, with my parents there, I might actually know what was going on this time.
I started a list of other things I could take them to do, preferably that didn’t include other people. I could take them on a tour of the campus, show them my favorite spots to study, and maybe I could even introduce them to Dr. Haynes? My mom would love his full head of gray hair. She had a thing for silver foxes. I didn’t think there was that much damage that could be done meeting him. I felt strongly that my parents would behave around a man of Dr. Haynes’s caliber. Oakley, on the other hand, could not happen.
I felt like I had a pretty solid plan to survive next weekend.
14
The library was my favorite place to hang out. It was a quiet space with open tables, with the smell of old books and pot permeating the air. It had been three days since my weekend with Oakley, and I was still reeling from what he had told me. As an only child, I’d always been mystified by the idea of having a sibling. I couldn’t imagine the pain of losing one.
“This seat taken?”
I looked up from the paper I was writing and smiled. Oakley looked like he’d just gotten out of the shower. His hair was damp, and his face looked freshly shaven. And don’t even get me started on the gray sweatpants he was rocking. If I were brave enough to stare, I could probably see the outline of his team captain.
I had checked his schedule this morning—not because I was a cre
epy stalker, but because it was my job to know what he was doing at all times—and remembered that practice was cut short this afternoon for some sort of annual team building ritual that happened prior to the first home game.
“Have a seat,” I replied, gesturing to the chair across from me. Oakley dropped a Caesar salad in a plastic container in front of me, along with an apple, fork, and water bottle.
“I brought you dinner because I need your help tonight.”
My stomach growled at the sight of the food, and my love button growled at the sight of Oakley’s ass as he passed by me to sit down. I wanted to tear into the salad and hoover it into my mouth as fast as I possibly could. Instead, I politely thanked Oakley for bringing me something that I would actually eat and opened it with dainty ladylike manners.
I always forgot just how hungry I was until I saw food. Or smelled food. Or heard someone talking about food. After I had taken enough nibbles to be slightly satiated, I remembered that Oakley had just said he needed my help. What did he do now? Or what was he planning to do that he knew he needed my help in advance? I looked over at Oakley and asked with a slight panic in my voice, “What do you need my help with?”
Oakley flashed me a winning grin, complete with adorable dimples, and said, “It’s too quiet in here. The library kind of gives me the creeps. When you’re done eating, let’s take a walk and talk about it.”
“Of course places of knowledge and learning give you the creeps,” I teased, then packed what was left of the salad in my bag and stood up. A walk outside sounded nice, actually.
“I’ll have you know, I’m actually pretty good at school,” Oakley retorted, grabbing the apple in front of me and stealing a bite with a loud crunch before I could pack it away. I watched his jaw work through his food and the steady bob of his Adam’s apple as he swallowed.