Total pages in book: 94
Estimated words: 89658 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 448(@200wpm)___ 359(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89658 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 448(@200wpm)___ 359(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
I finish swallowing back my beer and set the bottle on the table. Slowly I turn to look at her, giving her a not interested look. I glance down to where her hand, which has some viper-looking bloodred nails, still rests on my arm. “Not interested.” I hear the shock of my teammates, but I ignore them, taking another drink.
“Are you sure about that? You seem stressed. I can make that all go away,” she rasps. Her voice sounds like she’s smoked one too many packs of cigarettes. Her hand moves up my arm, and I’ve had enough.
Abruptly, I stand and take a step back from the table. “I’m out.” Reaching into my back pocket, I pull out a wad of cash and toss it on the table. I don’t make eye contact with my teammates. Instead, I turn and stalk out of the hotel bar and toward the elevator. My body is shaking from anger. I knew better than to go. My reputation is going to make me lose the best fucking thing that’s ever happened to me.
As soon as I step into my room, my phone is to my ear, and to my relief, she picks up on the first ring.
“Brock?”
“Sunshine,” I breathe, already feeling lighter at just the sound of her voice.
“What’s wrong?” When mine is full of panic, hers is full of concern.
“There was a woman.”
“Okay.” Her tone doesn’t change. She’s giving nothing away.
“She laid her hand on my arm.”
“Okay.” The same one-word reply that still tells me jack shit of how she’s feeling.
“I didn’t like it.”
There is silence on the other end of the phone, and then it’s her soft laughter filling my ear. “Is there any more to this story?” she asks.
I go on to tell her about the locker room, and the guilt Caleb threw on me, and then the woman from the bar. “I promise you I don’t want her. I don’t want anyone’s hands on me but yours.” There’s no humor in my voice, even though I can hear it in hers.
The woman tonight freaked me the hell out. One, it’s new for me not to give a fuck about the random football groupies. I knew I wasn’t interested, but for me to react as I did, that’s a big fucking deal, and I know I’m going to have my best friend to answer to. Speaking of, I get a text and pull my phone from my ear. I hit the speakerphone button and open his message, not wanting to miss a second of my call with Joey.
Caleb: You good, man?
Me: Yeah. Just tired. Calling it a night.
I know I have some explaining to do, and I don’t know what I’m going to say. I can play the exhaustion card, but that’s not going to continue to work. I just hope that Joey decides we can tell him. Soon. I don’t know how much longer I can keep this up. The lies are harder to come by when all I want to tell him is that I’m madly in love with his little sister. Sure, that’s also a new development, but it’s one I’ll gladly latch on to.
“Hang up. I’ll call you right back.” She catches me off guard.
“Jo—” I start, but the line goes dead. “Fuck.” Sitting on the edge of the bed, I grip my phone in one hand, waiting for her call, while my other grips my hair. “She’s pissed, and I need to be there. I can’t—” I start, but before I can finish my thought, my phone rings, and it’s a video call from Joey. I fumble with my phone to hit the green button. “Sunshine.”
“I wanted to see you.” She shrugs.
“I’m sorry,” I mutter.
“Hey.” Her eyes soften. “You didn’t do anything wrong.”
“I let her touch me.”
“Brock.” She smiles. “She put her hand on your arm.”
“She’s not you.”
“I trust you. We have to have that trust with your job.”
“I know. I just hate sneaking around. I hate that you’re not here with me. I hate that it’s been days since I’ve held you and kissed your lips.”
“This is our reality.”
“No. If you were mine openly, I’d bring you with me.”
“That’s not feasible.”
“The hell it’s not.” I say.
“A waste of money.”
“No.” I shake my head. “It’s worth every cent in my bank account.”
That earns me another one of her beautiful smiles. The one that lights up her face. “Now you’re just talking crazy.”
“We have to tell him, Sunshine.”
“I know. Just a little longer.”
“Okay, baby. If that’s what you want.” I hate lying to him, but I can’t say no to her.
“Were you sleeping?” I ask when I finally calm down to notice she’s in bed.
“Just reading.” She pulls the phone away, and I can see she’s wearing a Ramblers T-shirt.
“Is that mine?”
She points to her chest. “We’re both yours.”