“Can you leave in a way that makes it seem like we’re traveling together? They want you to go first to divert attention. They said they’ll pay Cole for staying with me.” It feels silly to say, like I’m some child to be babysat.
Decker’s hesitant but finally agrees. There’s something that shifts in his demeanor, though. “I don’t want to leave you here. I don’t care what they?—”
I hold up another hand. “Decker, please. I know this isn’t how we saw the day going. But at this point, timing is crucial and I’ve already screwed it up enough.”
“Because you said you wanted to do this on your own accord.Ouraccord.”
I can’t meet his eyes. “I know, but you said it yourself. This is a business deal, regardless of how unprofessional it feels. Business. I’m a musician, not a businesswoman. I think it’s best from here on out that we listen to our teams. Stick to the plan.”
“Stick to the plan,” Decker repeats, running a hand through his thick hair. When he sighs, I know he’ll comply even if he doesn’t agree. “So when should I leave?”
“Probably now.”
A hush falls between us until Cole meanders from his office.
“The paps found us. Can you stay with Lena ‘til her ride gets here?” Decker directs his request at Cole, but doesn’t look at him. His eyes are locked on me.
“Yeah, sure. Whatever you guys need.” Cole looks confused, but bless him for being a good friend.
Decker backs away toward the exit. “Jason will send over suite details to Antonia. Not sure who will be in there tomorrow, but my mom never misses a home game.”
“Your mom?”
Decker lifts a corner of his mouth into a wry grin. “Time to meet the parents. See ya tomorrow night, Lennie-Pie.”
And just like that, he disappears.
“How long did you say you two have been seein’ each other?”
My attention snaps to Cole. “We didn’t, but it’s still pretty new.”
He sucks in his bottom lip, nodding as he processes it. “So tomorrow you’re meeting Darlene for the first time?”
My body stiffens like I’ve been doused in laundry starch. Why didn’t I ever ask Decker about his family, or at the very least, their names? I wanna knock my head against the wall for being so caught up in everything else that I never even got the names of his family members. So I nod, hoping that my apprehension passes as nerves. I try my best to commit her name to memory so I don’t screw up at the game.Darlene.
“Calm down, girl. You look like you’re gonna be sick.” Cole gives me a once over and I force a smile onto my lips, a little embarrassed that I could pass for on-the-edge-of-vomiting, but mostly just grateful that he didn’t pick up on my lack of knowledge about Decker’s family. “No need to freak out. Darlene’s seen a lot, and I meana lot,throughout the years. Decker doesn’t always seem to have the best taste in women.”
I stare up at him.
“Besides you.Until you, I should say.”
“They can’t all be that bad,” I say, trying to be the girls’ girl all my fans claim I am. To be clear, I’m supportive of other women, but Vista City can be small in some ways. I’ve met a couple of the girls on his dating roster, and I have to admit, their beauty seems to soak in about as deep as their moisturizer. Though they were kind enough to me, I watched one dump a drink on a waitress because the bartender forgot the extra lemon peel in her cosmo. Not exactly the type I’d want to bring home to the family.
“Trust me. They were.” He runs a hand over his buzzed hair, bugging his eyes. “You two seem much more natural together. Him and those other girls, I don’t know. It felt forced. He’d pick ‘em up treats from here and then tell me the next day they refused them because they’d ruin their cleanse or something.” He shrugs. “You two seem to have a better flow, ya know? Most girls of his I meet are so rigid. Like, if they crack a joke or smile,they’ll ruin theiraestheticor whatever. And Decker’s a funny dude. His jokes deserve laughs.”
“Did he tell you to say that to me?”
Cole’s smile is broad. “Nah, but sometimes his humor’s so cheesy I figured I’d give him a boost.”
“You’re a good friend.”
He winks at me. “I try. That’s why I’m happy he’s finally with someone that looks at him the way you do.”
My heart stutters like someone zapped it with a cattle prod. “The way I look at him?”
“Yeah, like you’re not rolling your eyes at him all the time, even when he deserves it. I’ve literally watched his dates walk away from him when he cracked some subpar joke and laughed at it himself. Trust me, I can already tell you’re genuine. You guys are endgame.”
And I do trust him—though I feel a bit guilty because he shouldn’t trust me—but I ask, anyway. “Then why’d he bring them home to meet his family?”
