Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 91497 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 91497 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 457(@200wpm)___ 366(@250wpm)___ 305(@300wpm)
I lean closer to her too, smiling. “I know.”
“Like 10 out of 10,” she stresses emphatically.
“I know,” I respond with a little wistful sigh.
Then, remembering, she adds more mildly, “Michael was cute too!” She’s trying to save my feelings, so she tacks on, “And nice.”
“So nice.”
There’s a healthy pause as we look away, then back toward each other. “But Grant…”
We both start laughing.
Then Harper runs back into the room with a whipped cream mustache across her upper lip and wide sugar-filled eyes. “Aunt Tate, you’re the BEST!”
THIRTEEN
GRANT
I’m not in the mood to be at this club right now. I want to be on the field or in the weight room, or better yet, in a boxing ring, unloading my anger and annoyance on my opponent. Maybe someone who happens to look a little like Michael.
Jesus, it’s crazy in here.
Dustin’s managed to find the loudest club in Manhattan. I can’t even hear my own thoughts, let alone what anyone is saying around me. People shout and I’m just nodding like, Whatever you say, man. Sounds good.
It wasn’t my idea to come out tonight, in case that wasn’t already very obvious. It was Dustin’s plan to leave from the stadium after our game and head straight here with the guys. There was no getting out of it. I think if I’d tried to break away, they would have wrangled me into the back seat of the Uber anyway.
They know I’m in a bad mood. I have been since last night. Getting into a fight with Tate on Instagram was dumb as hell. Typing out ten more replies to her last message and never actually having the guts to send them? Yeah, I don’t really recognize myself these days.
I don’t know what came over me when she introduced me to Michael on the field. I should have shaken his hand, signed a baseball for him, and been on my way. Instead, I turned into a seething asshole. I mean I swear I almost cracked bones in the dude’s hand when I was shaking it back and forth like a menace.
Ask me how many girls I’ve felt this possessive over. Zero. The answer is zero. I’m not marching around the streets beating my chest and marking my territory. Well, I wasn’t before I met Tate. Who knows what the future has in store for me. Maybe this is who I am now. Annoying as hell.
Anyway, tonight, Dustin’s arranged for some girls to meet us at the club, but they aren’t our girls. The fact that I even think of Sophia, Daphne, and Tate as “our” girls is part of the problem.
“I want to set you up with someone tonight,” he told me in the back of the Uber as we were heading over here. “She’s great. Real chill.”
I was staring out the window and didn’t bother looking over at him. “I’m not interested.”
“You will be when you see her.”
“Why don’t you go after her?” I suggested, thinking that sounded like a brilliant plan.
He pulled a face. “I’ve messed around with her sister. Just seems wrong.”
Now, I lean on the high-backed bench in our booth, scanning the club. It’s awkward how many gazes I catch. Everyone’s staring up here, squinting, gossiping, trying to figure out who we are. Most of them realize right away. I can read their lips enough to know they’re saying our names.
We just had our last game against the Twins tonight, and we blew it out of the park. This city is in love with us, the girl to my right is evidence of that. Lizzy is the woman Dustin wanted me to meet. She’s really nice, and yes, beautiful. Her hair is dark brown, almost black, and her eyes are a vivid green. She works at a daycare. All day she wrangles toddlers. I can’t even imagine.
She leans closer to me and asks something, but I can’t for the life of me hear anything over this music. I think I’ve gone deaf.
“Sorry?”
She shakes her head, as exasperated as I am.
“Where are you from?!” she shouts into my ear.
Goddamn, Dustin. I’m going to send him the bill for my hearing aids after tonight.
“Phoenix. You?”
“Tulsa.”
I want to nod and turn away, but then I’ll be right where I’ve been all evening, pissed off about a situation that can’t be helped. I might as well make some kind of effort here, if for no other reason than so I don’t make this girl inadvertently hate me.
“Your parents still there?”
She smiles and nods. “Yeah. And my siblings. I miss it.”
“Do you make it back often?”
She shrugs. “Airfare is expensive. I try to go around the holidays and they usually come up to visit during the summer at least once.”
She scoots a little closer to me, nothing too obvious or anything. It’s not like she’s rubbing her hand up and down my leg, but it’s a signal all the same. She’s interested. I’m…distracted.