“Ahh.”He laughs.“Getting a taste of your own medicine.”I give him the middle finger, which only makes him laugh harder.“You know what they say?”
“No.”I cross my arms, suddenly defensive, and purse my lips.“I don’t believe in any of that nonsense.”
“The girls usually throw themselves at you.”
“Older women too.”I wink.
Angelo rolls his eyes.“The first girl to turn her back on you has your head all messed up.”
“She’s not turning her back on me.”
He tilts his head.“She’s not?”
“Not exactly.”
“Have you slept with her?”
I focus on my fingertips as I tap them against the wooden bar and avoid looking at Angelo.“That’s kind of personal, isn’t it?”
His laugh echoes in the empty bar.“That’s precious coming from you.”
“Fine.We haven’t had sex,” I blurt out.“Happy?”
“The fact that you’re sticking around this long without sleeping with her shows you’re growing up and may actually want more out of the relationship than a quick lay.”
“Ang.”I lean back and bring my eyes to his.“I’ve never been a quick lay.”
He grunts before throwing a rag from the countertop in my face.“You still act like a dumbass.That much hasn’t changed.”
I crumple the damp cloth in my hand.“Seriously, though.I can’t mess this up.We’re neighbors, and I’ll still have to see her every day if I do.”
“So, you haven’t slept with her because you’re a pussy?”
I groan.“Of course, fucker.Bianca’s different.”
He steps backward and leans against the countertop behind him.“You’re a pussy.”He crosses his arms with a satisfied smile on his face.“This girl is into romance.She doesn’t want the playboy Vinnie Gallo.She wants to know she isn’t going to land in a tabloid as the latest side piece of the hottest player in Chicago, and I’m not talking about football.”
“So, some sort of grand gesture?”
My brain hurts from thinking this hard.I’ve never had to think beyond a smile and a wink before the chick’s clothes would practically fall off and she’d be on her knees sucking me off.
“A sincere gesture.It doesn’t need to be big, but it has to have meaning.”Angelo glances toward the door.“Go let Carlos in.He’s getting antsy out there and probably scaring the pedestrians.”
“I’m going to jet.I have to get to the training facility.If I’m late, the coach will have my balls,” I tell him as I walk toward the doorway where Carlos has his face practically smashed against the glass.
“He’ll have to wait in line behind Bianca.”
I flip him off, hearing his laughter at the hilarity of my predicament and all the snarky comments he’s able to hurl my way.
“Hey, kid.”Carlos smiles, and the lines in his face deepen as I open the door for him.“You look a mess.”
“I’ve never been better.Training camp’s brutal,” I lie.
I am a mess.I’m used to working my ass off on the field, but working Bianca is the hardest thing I’ve had to do in years.They say nothing worth having in life comes easy, but it shouldn’t be this goddamn hard either.
“Go make us proud,” he says as he walks by me, needing his morning beer to straighten his drunk old ass out.
I spend the next thirty minutes while driving to training camp trying to think of all the grand gestures I could make to win over Bianca.Most of them involve money, but I’m not sure something splashy and over the top like whisking her away to Vegas for a weekend would be something a writer on a deadline would like.
