“Sounds good, kiddo.” Ash places his suitcase on the bed and begins to open it while I turn and leave.
“Awesome, I’m gonna jump in the shower while you do that. See you in a bit.”
I leave him in the guest room and head to the shower. Stealing a look at my phone, I see that I have no more texts from August.
Chapter Ten
~AUGUST~
It’s game day for the Blaze, which means it’s a long day for me. I’ve worked all day in the office and pretty soon I’ll need to head out to the box to watch the game. It’ll be nice since Danny is coming to hang out with me tonight. He doesn’t have a swim meet and isn’t traveling with his team. It’s been a while since we’ve been able to do this.
I sigh and look out the window. The Tampa Bay sun is shining brightly. I haven’t been outside since I arrived at eight this morning. Looking over budget numbers has been a long, exhausting process. I need to make sure that we can endure during the playoffs, because the chances of a home game are slim, so travel will need to be accounted for. I thought Finance budgeted for this and they had, just not as much as I had hoped.
My phone chimes, pulling me away from the large Excel spreadsheet that is covering my second monitor, while I have the email from Finance explaining our situation on the other screen. I glance over at the phone and see that it’s a text from Hendrix.
Hendrix: Hey, my brother, Ash is in town. I think Danny invited him to hang in the box with you. Please be nice to him. He knows exactly who you are and he’s not a fan.
I sigh and blow out a loud breath in the quiet of my office.
August: Hey you, nice to hear from you. What exactly does that mean?
I lean back in my office chair, ignoring the spreadsheet and the dilemma I’m looking at.What could that possibly mean?I wonder. And how much shit is this man going to give me about her? Does he know about our night together? I’m hoping he doesn’t.
August: Does he know about our night?
Her bubbles show up immediately, indicating she’s typing, and I’m wondering if she’s fired up.
Hendrix: Nothing happened, what’s there to tell?
I laugh at her response.
August: Denial doesn’t look good on you, baby.
Hendrix: Can you promise to be nice?
August: Since when am I not nice?
I can just picture her now—the scowl on her face and her fingers frantically flying across her phone’s keyboard. I wish I was there right now to see her face and maybe kiss her until she smiles.
Hendrix: Seriously, August, just don’t talk to him about the thing that never happened or anything about me, okay? Just be nice, please. I’m begging you.
August: I like to hear you beg. But don’t worry, baby, I always deliver.
Hendrix: Come the fuck on, August. He hates you, so please don’t piss him off further.
August: Relax, I know how to behave. Now stop worrying about your brother and me sharing space in the box and get ready for the game.
I pinch the bridge of my nose. Of course, the fucker hates me. Tonight, should be interesting. I told Danny when he texted earlier that Hendrix’s brother was welcome with us. It had to have been a favor to her. I wonder why she didn’t just ask me. I mean hell, she had guts enough to text me to be nice, but not enough to ask if we could hang out. I shake my head and look at my phone to see there are no more text bubbles coming from our chat. Maybe she’s getting ready. Or maybe one of her teammates saw her on her phone and she didn’t want to tell them who she was texting.
She’s probably ashamed that we spent the night together because she puts so much energy into hating me. But the other night she came into my bed too willingly for her loathing to bereal. But it’s okay, I’ll let her keep up the pretense, until she’s ready to admit that we are so good together.
A knock at my door startles me from my thoughts. I look up and see Danny standing there, leaning against my doorframe. He’s got on his custom-made Blaze jersey with Mac’s last name and number on the back. I grin at him.
“I love that. I love that you wear that for her,” I say, pushing away from my desk and standing up. I raise my arms over my head so that I can stretch my back. It feels so tight from sitting.
“Thanks, I really love it too. Thanks for offering these,” Danny says grinning back at me.
“I didn’t do that. It was probably somebody in merchandising or something,” I lie easily.
