“You have fun.”I tuck the hem of the shirt into my pants, making it impossible for her to reach underneath and scrape her pointy fingernails across my abs.
“I need a date,” she says like I should care.“And guess who’s taking me?”
“Marty?”I shrug and play stupid.There’s no way in hell I’m being her date for anything.
“You, silly.”She giggles and my skin crawls.
“I can’t.I have to work at the bar tonight.”
“Oh.”She raises her eyebrows, and a smile spreads across her face.“I can hang out there instead.”
I immediately regret letting that information slip and have to backtrack.“Go to the party.You deserve a fun night.”
She reaches out to touch my forearm, but I back away.“I gotta run.I’m late.”
Tracie’s eyes narrow as she pulls her arm back against her chest like she’s been burned.“Maybe I’ll see you tonight.”
“Sure.Sure.”I nod, but I already want to call some buddies to work the door at the bar, banning her from walking inside and causing a scene again.
The last time Tracie showed up at Hook & Hustle, I almost had to carry her out of the place.She scared away practically every female customer in the place, stating they were being a little too flirtatious with me.She went as far as to announce to the room that I was her man and strictly off-limits.I’m still catching shit for her little stunt, and it was two months ago.
I start to walk away when she says, “Don’t forget who you belong to.”
I feel my entire body stiffen at her words, and I spin around to face her with no amusement on my face.“Tracie…” I lower my voice and deepen my tone.I don’t want the other people in the locker room to hear what I’m about to say to this woman.“Let’s get something straight.”
She crosses her arms and smirks as I stride in her direction.“What’s that?”
I stop a few feet away, just out of touching distance.“I am not now, nor will I ever be,yours.”
She pushes off the lockers, walking in my direction, looking at me like I’m prey.“You’d refuse me?You know who my granddaddy is, right?”
I stand my ground, crossing my arms over my chest and puffing out my body as big as possible like a wild animal.“I know exactly who your granddaddy is, Tracie, but that doesn’t give you the right to lord that shit over my head.We are nothing.We always will be nothing.If you want to run off to your granddaddy with some lie about me—” I glance toward the locker room door “—then go right ahead and get it over with already.”
She places a hand on my chest and pouts.“I thought we had something special, Vinnie.”
“We don’t,” I say, driving the point home again because Tracie can’t seem to fathom that I don’t want anything she’s offering.
“We had a moment.”
“We had nothing, and anyway, I have a girlfriend.Imagine the scandal that would cause your family.Your granddaddy wouldn’t be too happy.”
She raises an eyebrow, digging her fingernails into my chest through my T-shirt.“Who?”
Like a dumbass, I blurt out the only chick who’s been on my mind.“Bianca.”
We passed each other in the lobby this morning, her coming back from her workout, all sweaty and hot, and me heading to the team’s training facility.I said hello, but she just stared at the ground and grunted as she ran by me without so much as an upward glance.
“Bianca,” Tracie repeats as if the name is acidic in her mouth.
“Yo, Gallo.Coach needs to see you,” Tre, our best tight end, says as he walks around the corner, seeing Tracie and me a little too close for anyone’s comfort.
I give him a chin lift, wishing I could thank him for saving me in this moment.“On it,” I call out without moving my eyes away from Tracie.“I have to go.We’re done here.Either talk to your granddaddy, or get off my case.You’re not going to blackmail me into sleeping with you, Tracie.Maybe it’s time you find a new victim.”
If looks could kill, I’d be a dead man.
“Gallo,”the coach says as he rocks back in his high-back office chair, staring at me across his desk.“We’re impressed with your ability on the field, and the guys on the team seem to like you, which isn’t always the case.”
I can feel a but coming somewhere in this conversation.I brace myself for the “But you don’t have a hope or prayer to start this season,” or “But we think you can do better.”
