He was talking about the freckles on my chest, and my stupid, stupid nipples reacted as if he were calling them to attention. “Umm….”
A tendon in his neck flexed, and Kulti gave me what could have been considered a grimace. “I’ll behave.” A shaky sigh made its way out of his chest and reached straight into mine. “I need to tell you what my lawyer said.”
“Is it bad news?” With my luck lately, I shouldn’t expect any different.
“No. She looked over your contract, drew up our own, and she’ll be sending that to Cordero tomorrow with a check to buy you out.”
There were so many keywords in one sentence. Leaving the Pipers was really happening. Jesus Christ. “That’s all?”
“Yes.”
It would all be over soon. The reminder that Kulti was paying to get me out of the Pipers made my stomach feel just the slightest bit weird. It was happening. Oh man.
“I—”
“Don’t say anything about your contract.” He shot me an even look. “I had no idea how much it was worth, and frankly, it was insulting once she told me the number.”
To him it would seem like chump change. Well, to most professional athletes it would definitely seem like nothing. What couldyou do? I enjoyed playing, and I made ends meet with what I did with Marc. It wasn’t a big deal. I didn’t need a luxury car, a massive house, or name-brand things to make me happy. But it was the thing he said about how I would do it for him if the tables were turned that kept me from kicking up a huge stink. He was right. I would buy him out if he were in my shoes, so I wasn’t going to be a huge hypocrite about it. Maybe I could pay him back somehow later on.
“Has your agent heard back from any of the teams?” he wanted to know.
I shook my head. “No. She told me to be patient. Chances are, I won’t get any offers until the season is over, so we’ll see.” I gave him a brave smile that I only partially felt. “I’m going to try not to worry about it. If it’s meant to be, it’s meant to be. If not, then… I’ll figure something out. This isn’t the end of the world.”
“It isn’t,” he agreed.
I sighed and decided to change the subject. “Everyone was asking where you were today.”
Kulti snickered. “I was very disappointed not to be there,” he deadpanned, which made me laugh.
“Yeah, right. What did you do instead?”
“I bought my bike and went for a long ride,” Kulti explained.
He triggered my memory, and I suddenly remembered what I’d been meaning to ask. “Hey, I kept forgetting to bring it up, but where did you go those two days you missed practice? When I texted you and you didn’t respond. Thank you for that, by the way.”
“I was home.” Kulti glanced up at the ceiling.
“So you were just ignoring my text messages?” The fact he didn’t even try and bullshit me made me respect him a little more.
He lowered his gaze to side-eye me. “I was furious with you.”
If I remembered correctly, I’d done the same thing when I’d been angry with him for being weird in front of Franz and Alejandro. Bah. I reached over and patted his knee. “Well, like I told you in my text, I’m sorry for what I said that day. I was frustrated, and I didn’t mean it.”
“I know that now.” He blinked. “You aren’t a quitter, and I wouldn’t let you give up anyway.”
Talking about those nearly back-to-back conversations made my eye twitch. “Don’t be a dick and accuse me of sleeping with your friend then.”
Kulti made a face that was almost remorseful. Almost. “I was… agitated. I didn’t like the idea of you spending time with him in secret. It bothered me.”
I wasn’t sure why it took me so long to understand what had upset him, why Franz and me practicing bothered him so much. Was this real? If he wasn’t full of crap about what he was saying, a lot of things finally made sense. Why he was so adamant about us not going on dates with other people when Sheena had suggested. The face he made when I’d told him about my ex.
“I don’t like the idea of you being with another man.”
Iwillnotsmile.Iwillnotsmile.“I wouldn’t like the idea of you spending time with another woman and not telling me about it either.” There, I said it. I just went right out and said it. All right. I cleared my throat, bit both my lips at the same time, and shrugged. “There isn’t anything wrong with that. I thought you were just being an asshole about Franz. I sure as hell don’t like thinking about you being with other women, or even being reminded of your ex-wife, if I’m even allowed to say that. I know I don’t look like the women you’re usually interested in, or dress like the women you used to date, but you know that and you’re still here. That has to count for something,” I told him honestly.
“I’m not going anywhere,” he claimed.
“You can say that all you want, but you told me you are the way you are and you’re never going to change, so I’m going to tell you the same thing. I am the way I am, and I’m never going to change either. I wasn’t built for a whole bunch of drama, Rey. Everything going on right now, this is it. I’m maxed out. I want a steady, stable life. When I commit to something, I’m in all the way. I don’t share or even play around with the idea of infidelity. You’re my friend right now, but I don’t want something to happen that makes me want to move on with my life. I don’t want to be forced to pretend like these last few months haven’t happened. You mean too much to me.”
