Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 119005 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 595(@200wpm)___ 476(@250wpm)___ 397(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 119005 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 595(@200wpm)___ 476(@250wpm)___ 397(@300wpm)
She was everywhere. I’d catch a glimpse of a tall lassie with long, wavy dark blond hair, and I’d feel a lurch in my chest. It was never her. On Thursday night, I finally broke and went on social media. I hadn’t posted anything in a while and still didn’t post now. Instead, I searched for Beth’s private profile, not the Social Queens one.
There were no new posts or stories.
My stomach knotted as I tapped on her last photo. It was one I’d taken of her in Dean Village about a week before it ended between us. She stared at me in the low evening sun, the light catching her eyes and turning them an even more vibrant blue. Her lips were quirked in a sexy, barely there smile.
I scrolled through the comments from her friends. All supportive and positive. Some randoms commented to say they wished they looked like her. Beth had replied, telling them they were beautiful too. Aye, that was Beth. Then I scowled at a couple of comments from some strange men telling her she was sexy as fuck and that they’d DM’d her. Beth hadn’t responded.
Staring at the photo, I could see how people would look at her from the outside and see a young, gorgeous, confident woman and think she had it all. To me, she was even more stunning for knowing the kind comments to those other women were genuine and not said to make her appear to be a nice person. To me, she was even more beautiful for the loyalty she felt toward her family and friends. For the grief she battled every day and the anxiety she fought to defeat. For the way she saw me, just Callan, and not Callan Keen the Pro League football player.
But I’d made a promise to myself long ago.
No one would ever break my fucking heart again.
Even if that meant letting Beth believe all I wanted from her was sex.
I chucked my phone across the room so hard, it shattered against the wall.
CHAPTER FORTY
CALLAN
With a game tomorrow, today’s training was shorter to give us recovery time. Afterward, Baird and John came with me to buy a new bloody phone. I told them I accidentally dropped the other one.
They tried to distract me and took me out for an early dinner at the Orchard. I barely spoke the whole time. The guys thought I missed the looks they shared, but I saw John shaking his head at Baird every time he got frustrated with me.
Wanting to get back to the flat, wondering when I’d bump into her again, I told the lads I was leaving. I left some money with them and turned to go.
Baird grabbed my arm. “You’re my family, Callan, so I say this because I’m worried about you. Please pull your head out of your arsehole before you lose something you’ll never get back.”
Blood whooshed in my ears, and I felt light-headed. I didn’t show him that, though. I shrugged free of his grasp and strode out of the pub.
Between driving and the game tomorrow, we hadn’t been drinking, so I got into my Defender and drove the short distance back to the apartment building with Baird’s warning echoing around my head like a fucking omen.
I frowned at the sight of the limo parked outside the entrance. As I reversed into my allocated space, I watched as a tall figure got out of the back and leaned against the vehicle. He was dressed sharply in a tuxedo. There was something vaguely familiar about him. I got out, grabbed my training gear, and strolled toward the entrance.
I looked at the man. He was older. In his forties, maybe. And still familiar. He nodded at me in greeting, and I gave him a jerk of my chin in acknowledgment.
The building entrance door opened as I reached it, and I stumbled to a halt as Beth walked out.
“Oh.” She startled at the sight of me, her dress fluttering around her legs.
Holy fuck.
She was … so stunning, it hurt to bloody look at her.
Her hair was braided in a thick pleat over one shoulder and wee crystal flowers were clipped here and there within. And the dress … it was a blue silk number that fell down her body like water.
Our eyes met and she quickly looked away.
Without a word, Beth sashayed past me. I turned to watch her go, and my stomach dropped. The bloke settled his hands on her hips and kissed her cheek, too close to her mouth. Beth smiled at whatever he murmured as he smoothed a possessive hand down her lower back and then guided her into the limo.
He turned to give me a curious look before he disappeared into the vehicle after her.
The limo backed out and drove away.
A roaring filled my ears as pain unlike anything I’d felt in a long time crushed down on me.