“Great. Do you have a minute to talk then?”
“Yeah, sure.” I gesture to the press chairs. “Let’s sit down.”
He and I both sit, and I wait for him to speak. It’s several seconds before he does.
“So,” he says at last, “what’s going on between you and my daughter?”
I blink at him. “We’re, um, dating?” Somehow this feels like a trick question too, so I stick to the basics.
He pulls out his phone, touches the pad a few times, then turns it to show me the pic of me and Gray on the dance floor at the club. My hand is nearly on her breast, and her face looks painted in the throes of ecstasy. The way my body presses into hers makes it look like I’m thrusting my cock into her, and I feel my face heat. I didn’t pay much attention to the pic before, but it looks so much dirtier on the phone of the man whose daughter I felt up.
“This your idea of dating?” Raymond asks.
“Um…no, sir. But in fairness, we both had a little too much to drink,” I say sheepishly.
He raises a brow as if to say, ‘Notmylittle girl.’
Fine.Ihad a little too much to drink.
When he remains silent, I attempt a defense. “Don’t tell me you never drank too much and let things get a little too intense with a woman.”
He puts the phone away. “Of course I have,” he says. “Hell, I didn’t need to drink too much to let things get more intense than they should’ve,but I’m not a famous athlete. My fuck ups don’t make the tabloids.”
I wince. Score one to dad.
“Fair point,” I say, “and I’m sorry for any problems I caused Gray or your family. But let me just assure you-”
I cut myself off, suddenly not sure what I intend to tell the man. It’s one thing to lie to the press. It’s quite another to outright lie to the father of the woman I’ve dragged into the clusterfuck of fake dating a pro athlete. I need to tell him something true.
“Let me assure you,” I start again, “that the last thing I want to do is hurt Gray, and I will do everything in my power to make sure this thing between us doesn’t come back to bite her.”
I do a quick mental check and confirm everything I said is accurate.
He nods absently as he takes me in, and I have the disturbing feeling he’s either searching my face for subtle ticks, or he’s mentally counting the pulse beats in my neck to see if my heartbeat is elevated, like he’s a God damn human polygraph.
“This thing between you serious?” he asks.
Again, I give myself a second to decide how to answer, and I hope he doesn’t see that as a sign of evasion.
“I can only speak for myself,” I say, “but I’m pretty invested right now. Things are still new, and – drunken night at the club aside – we’re taking things slow. I don’t want to call things serious-serious, but neither of us is seeing anyone else.”
He nods again, and I pray to God he’s not forward enough to ask me if we’ve had sex yet.
“It must be decently serious if you took her up to meet your parents,” he says. “She skipped Thanksgiving with her own family for that.”
My mouth drops open. His words are more an observation than an accusation, but I still feel like an asshole now.
“I’m really sorry about that, sir,” I say. The address just slips out again, and I wonder if it’s the veteran hat that makes me say it. I’ve never called anyone else’s dad ‘sir’ before.
“It’s hard for me to get up to see my parents during the season,” I go on, “so I have to plan visits around holidays. I’m sorry I had to steal Gray for that last one. But yeah, I guess it’s semi-serious between us. I feel like I might want more than she does right now, but she’s been willing to go along with things.”
I don’t mention that the ‘more’ I want is sex. After sharing a bed with her, I want to fuck Gray so bad it’s almost all I can think about.
We left the option of sleeping together up in the air after our ride home from Canada. I don’t think she’s opposed to it, but she’s hedging. If she ever gave me the go-ahead, my pants would be around my ankles before she finished getting the words out.
Raymond nods, as if my response passed some kind of litmus test.
“I’m sure Gray can arrange a day for us to all get together and-,” I start to suggest, but Raymond waves a dismissive hand to stop me.
