“Yes,” she says with a smile, turning her body to face him. If Tristan thinks he can bring his beautiful and bitchy girlfriend to the party, then she can put on just as much of a show. “You had a great game today.”
Tessa hears Tristan slam his drink on the table as she touches Caden’s arm, and she flinches at the sound.
“You okay, Kelly?” Caden asks, looking over at Tristan.
“I’m great,” he says flatly.
Caden simply shrugs his shoulders and turns his attention back to Tessa. They’re deep in their own conversation when a shrill voice catches Tessa’s attention. She looks over to see Kiana directly in Tristan’s very uninterested face, going off about how he hasn’t taken any pictures with her tonight.
Tessa watches as Tristan takes a deep breath and keeps his eyes focused on the table as Kiana continues rambling about her social media and needing to post something after the game.
Tessa is about to speak up from pure annoyance when Tristan abruptly stands from the table, takes a long drink of the remaining liquor in his glass, slams it back on the table, and then takes off out of the private room.
“Ugh, asshole,” Kiana hisses under her breath, taking her phone out of her purse and taking numerous selfies instead of posing with her NFL boyfriend like she wanted.
Tessa feels a sudden surge of protectiveness over Tristan. This girl across from her has no idea how hard he had to work to get to where he is; how many obstacles he had to overcome and how many sacrifices he had to make. Hell, how many sacrificesshehad to make to ensure he got to this point.
“You’re a real bitch, you know that?” Tessa spits the words out from across the table, taking both Caden and Kiana by surprise.
“Excuse me?”
“Do you care about him at all? Do you notice how hard he has to work every day, what he has to put his body through? How long it took him to get to the point where he’s a super bowl champion? Greatest in the league at his position?”
“Doyou?” Kiana says back. “Aren’t you like a news caster or something?”
“And what are you?” Tessa says. “Professional Instagram girl? Always posting her NFL boyfriend? Is that your claim to fame?”
“You don’t know anything about me and Tristan,” Kiana seethes.
“I know enough. Excuse me,” Tessa gives Caden an apologetic look before getting up from the table and making her way out of the same doors that Tristan pushed through only moments before.
She’s lost in a sea of well-dressed people before she sees another teammate that she knows.
“Isiah! Have you seen Tristan?”
“Uh yeah, he ran that way, I think towards the bathrooms.”
“Thanks.”
Tessa follows the direction that Isiah had just pointed her to, but she promptly gets lost in a long hallway of maintenanceclosets and bathrooms, turning around multiple corners before giving up and attempting to find her way back.
“Who designed this shit?” she whispers to herself in frustration, heels clicking loudly on the hard wood floor.
She yelps when a warm hand grabs her elbow and pulls her backwards, but she immediately recognizes it, and allows him to pull her into one of the mysterious doors.
“Trist! What the hell!”
He closes the door behind them and flicks on a light, revealing that they’re in some kind of storage room with shelves, chairs, and even a spare table with some linens folded on top of it. It’s not a tiny room, so there’s still some space between them, but it’s small enough to feel intimate.
“I need you to stop talking to him in front of me.”
Tessa scoffs at him and backs up, trying to gain some space from the suffocating tension and chemistry firing off between them.
“This is so stupid,” she says, crossing her arms over her chest. “You can’t get mad at me for dating a guy when you keep parading around you girlfriend. We haven’t been together in 10 years, Tristan. It’s insane for you to expect me not to date someone, just as I shouldn’t be upset that you have a girlfriend. This is all so childish and I’m over it.”
“I’m trying to fucking get rid of her,” he says, his voice laced with frustration, throwing his hands in the air. “I tried to do it after the game and she went on this tirade about how she would show up to the party anyway and tell everyone that I was yelling at her tonight, and I couldn’t fucking let her ruin Craig’s birthday. She does this shit every single time. She always has a way to threaten me and trust me, I know I’m a grown man, but when someone is threatening to hurt themselves or someone else if you break their heart, it makes it nearly impossible.”
Tessa feels her chest expand with anger as she looks at Tristan before her and processes his words.
