Total pages in book: 102
Estimated words: 105306 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 527(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 351(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 105306 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 527(@200wpm)___ 421(@250wpm)___ 351(@300wpm)
It was my idea to get down on my knees and give him a blow job.
It was my idea to rub my ass against his dick in the middle of the night after I heard him going to pee, knowing he’d want to have sex again.
But flirty games and sex do not mean he reciprocates my feelings in any way.
Sure, I’ve caught him staring at me when I wasn’t paying attention, and yes, I’ve felt him sniffing my hair…and neck…but in no way has Dallas Colter indicated he wants a relationship—a real one, not this fake bullshit we’ve somehow backed ourselves into.
What a mess.
What a flippin’ mess.
How did we get here, and how…
…do we get out?
thirty-two
dallas
“When someone says you can’t do something, do it twice and take pictures.”
– Eli Cohen
The paparazzi are camped out in front of my house.
Lucky for me—and too bad for those assholes outside—I have a back door and I’m not afraid to use it.
Wearing all black and a baseball cap, I shove through the doorway and step down into the backyard, making my way across the grass to the detached garage where I’ve instructed the Uber to pick me up.
I toss my backpack into the back seat before climbing in, giving the dude a nod as I buckle in. “Sup.”
He adjusts the rearview mirror and looks back at me. “Dallas?”
“Yup.”
He hesitates before putting the car into drive, and I almost roll my eyes.
“Sorry for havin’ you pick me up back here. It’s a clusterfuck out front.”
The guy nods, taking a right onto the road at the end of the alley. “No problem. It’s kind of dark back here, but so is everything else.”
It’s true that the neighborhood doesn’t have a lot of streetlights since it’s primarily residential and who wants lights blinding them at night when they’re trying to sleep.
On the other hand, it’s kind of inconvenient if you’re trying to walk safely from one place to another in the dark, a problem I don’t think about ’cause I’m not a female, but dudes have been known to get jumped.
Squished into the back of this guy’s Nissan, my legs are bent up uncomfortably all the way to Ryann’s apartment. I stretch on the curb when the dude dumps me off, bending this way and that, not noticing the small group of people clustered in the yard.
“Fuck.”
More photographers.
What the hell are they even doing here?
Trying to get a glimpse of my girlfriend, that’s what.
I pull the hood of my sweatshirt up over my head, over the brim of my ballcap, and sling my backpack over my shoulder before walking with my head bent to the front.
They barely notice me until I’m reaching for the door, their shouts muffled when I slam it behind me and stomp the weather off my sneakers on my way down the hall.
Ryann doesn’t know I’m coming, and I hope she’s home. Would sure suck if she wasn’t ’cause I’d be forced to go back outside and hop a ride, fight off the bloodthirsty paps.
I knock twice on her door.
Nothing.
Knock again. “Ryann? It’s me.”
On the off chance she’s home but just not answering because she doesn’t want to open the door to a reporter…
“It’s Dallas.”
Several doors in the hallway crack open, and I sigh toward the ceiling.
“So fucked up,” I mumble as Ryann’s door opens, too.
“Hey.” It opens all the way as she invites me in, stepping to the side to give me room.
When I’m inside, we stand and look at each other as if we haven’t seen one another for days, because the truth is we haven’t.
“You didn’t come to class today,” I accuse, setting my bag down in the kitchen and putting my hands on my hips.
“I didn’t think you would go, either.”
“Well, I went.” I live with this shit all the time, and I’m used to it. Didn’t cross my mind that she would bail on a class, and I feel guilty knowing all this is my fault. “Everyone was lookin’ at me. I mean, they’re always lookin’ at me, but still.”
That does the trick and breaks the ice, Ryann giving me a gentle shove.
I grab the hand making contact with my body and pull, bringing her in for a hug.
“Let me hug you for a second.”
This warm-and-fuzzy shit is so unlike me, but I can’t stop myself from wanting that connection with her; it’s been a shitty few days thinking about her and wondering how she’s doing, not having the time to check in on her personally.
My coach and special teams coaches had a meeting with me. My agent called, giving me a metaphorical slap me on the back for following his directions and giving my reputation a much-needed makeover. He’s coming to town to see me within the next week or two and wants to meet Ryann. Told me he’d just seen my brother, Duke, who wants Eli to check in on me.