“I think I broke my hand.”
“Are you sure that you don’t want to go with us?” Mitch asked, looking hopeful.
Haley forced herself to smile. She liked Mitch, but she didn’t see it going any further than friendship. Unfortunately, Mitch had become rather persistent over the past week and it was getting kind of annoying.
She held up her icepack-encased hand. “Thank you, but I think I’m going to go relax. You guys go have fun. Hit the clubs or bars or whatever you guys do. No doubt Jason’s going to want to hit the all-male review.”
While the other men laughed, Jason stuck his tongue out at her as Haley glanced at the front desk. “Ah, guys, did you remember to check-in earlier?”
“We have the room reserved on a credit card. It will be there by the time we get back,” Jason said, shrugging it off.
Haley didn’t think it would be since hotels had a tendency to give rooms away when you didn’t show up on time and since it was now nine o’clock at night, she doubted that the room the guys reserved was still available. She opened her mouth to tell them that but decided against it since they really didn’t seem to care.
“Have fun, guys,” Haley said before making her way to the elevator and damn near groaned when Mitch moved to join her.
“Haley, wait up!”
“What’s up?” she asked, forcing a warm smile for the man that had spent the entire day doing his best trying to charm her into going out with him.
“I was going to ask if you wanted company,” Mitch said with a charming smile that probably worked on most everything female.
Her eyes shot past him in time to see Brad grab Jason by the arm and hold him back. What the hell was that about? Haley wondered as she gave herself a mental shake and focused on Mitch as she stepped onto the elevator.
“That’s really sweet, but I’ll be fine. I’m just going to watch a movie and go to bed. I’ll see you tomorrow,” Haley said, relieved when the elevator doors slid closed before he could push her for more. She might not have the best track record when it came to dating, but she could spot the guys that were just looking to get laid and Mitch definitely wasn’t looking for anything more than sex.
A few minutes later, Haley was closing her hotel room door behind her and hoping that she remembered to pack her Advil. God, her hand was killing her, she thought as she searched through her bags. When she didn’t find any Advil, she called room service for something to help with the pain and decided to order a large ice cream sundae while she was at it.
Twenty minutes later, Haley was sitting in a bubble bath while eating a decadent hot fudge sundae and thinking about Jason and just how good it felt to have his arms around her today. When she realized where her mind was going, she reminded herself that they were just friends and forced herself to stop thinking about him.
Nothing was ever going to happen.
Jason was a really good friend and she wouldn’t ruin that for anything in the world. Friendship was one of the things that she valued most in the world and she wouldn’t risk losing him over something that probably wouldn’t last. It wasn’t worth it.
Besides, he was probably with a woman right now, Haley told herself only to end up deciding that she didn’t want any more ice cream when the thought of him with another woman turned her stomach. She placed her half-eaten sundae on the floor and groaned. Sometimes friendship sucked, Haley thought as she lowered herself into the water with a pathetic whimper.
Chapter 8
“Come on, let’s go back. Those women were hot!” Mitch said for the hundredth time since they’d left the club.
“No,” Brad and Jason said in unison as they headed for the hotel.
“I know why Brad doesn’t want to, he’s married, but what’s your problem?” Mitch asked, sighing heavily as they headed inside.
“I’m just not interested,” Jason said, shrugging it off.
“What the hell is wrong with you?” Mitch demanded.
“Nothing,” Jason bit out.
He wasn’t in the mood for this conversation or for Mitch. All night, he’d somehow resisted the urge to punch the asshole in the face. When Jason wasn’t thinking about punching Mitch, he was kicking himself for leaving Haley. He should have stayed and taken care of her. She’d brought them to a great game and they’d ditched her when she’d needed them. Plus, if he was going to be honest, he probably would have had a better time with her just sitting around a hotel room, watching a movie than going to a club and having a bunch of women rub all over him trying to get his attention.
God, there was something seriously fucking wrong with him…
“There’s a problem,” Brad said as he joined them.
“What is it?” Jason asked, not really in the mood to deal with any more bullshit tonight.
“They gave our room away since we didn’t check in on time and there are no more rooms available.”
