“Okay. Have fun tonight,” she said, those words sending a piercing pain straight to her heart, as she considered the fact she was leaving him here with Lara.
Time to cut and run, because the tears were coming.
She stepped around him, giving him a quick wave over her shoulder. She crossed the street to the parking lot, feeling his eyes on her the entire way. She didn’t look back because there was no hiding the utter devastation on her face.
She climbed into her car, carefully averting her face from the pub as she pulled out of the spot and onto the street. She didn’t manage to start breathing again until she was a full block away.
She’d only made it one more block before she said, “Call Mom.”
McKenna listened as the phone started ringing through the car’s speakers, aware she probably shouldn’t have initiated this call before she got home. She was only just managing to keep the tears at bay, and she feared the moment she heard her mother’s voice, she’d lose it completely.
“Mickey, what a nice surprise. I figured you’d be out late celebrating with the team.”
“I left early.” She thought she’d done an okay job replying, her voice surprisingly steady.
It didn’t matter. Her mother knew her too well. “What’s wrong?”
She quickly swiped at the bastard tear that escaped its confines, sliding down her cheek. “I fucked up.”
“It’s Tank, isn’t it?”
McKenna was surprised her mother had immediately jumped to the right reason, because while Mom knew all about the redemption tour and the fake dating, she hadn’t told her about the sex or her feelings. It was the first time in her life that McKenna had ever kept a secret from her mom.
“Why do you say that?” McKenna asked.
“Mickey—I follow you on Find my Friends. I can see how many nights you haven’t made it home…at all.”
Jesus. McKenna really had been drunk on lust and orgasms. She hadn’t even considered the fact her mother could see her location. “Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because I knew you’d tell me when you were ready. You’ve fallen in love with him, haven’t you?”
“I…” McKenna paused. She knew the answer to that question, but saying it out loud would make it too real. “I can’t be in love with him.”
“Why not?”
“So many reasons,” McKenna said, the list forming in her mind. It was a long one.
“Like?” Mom prodded, sounding more like someone who needed to be convinced instead of someone who agreed.
“Tank isn’t looking to settle down.”
“He told you that?” Mom asked.
“Yes. He told me exactly that in very plain, easy-to-understand words.”
“When?”
McKenna didn’t understand why that mattered, but she replied anyway. “The first morning I went to his place after that video went viral. He said he wasn’t even thinking about marriage until after he retired from the game. He’s a player. He loves the whole ‘rock star’ kind of lifestyle attached to being a professional athlete.”
“That was months ago, Mickey. Don’t you think he could have changed his mind?”
McKenna shook her head, even though her mother couldn’t see her. “No. Because none of this is real. I told you the whole relationship idea was just an act, part of our attempt to clean up his reputation. It’s all been fake to him.”
Mom fell silent for a moment, then pointed out the two words McKenna probably shouldn’t have tacked onto the end of that last sentence. “To him? But not to you?”
She sighed. “I have a knack for picking the wrong guy. It seems to be my superpower. Always falling for guys who can’t love me back…at least not for the long term.”
“Every woman in the world has a list of duds, of fish they threw back. It’s very rare for anyone to find the perfect guy right out of the gate. You had to go through those idiots to learn what you don’t want in a man. And what you do.”
