I stay for a few more minutes, looking up at the sky, thinking about what Dex said. I know that he’s right. I just don’t know how I can stay away from her. She’s so fucking addictive.
Chapter Thirteen
~HENDRIX~
Ilook at the clock and see that it’s after nine in the morning. I’m so glad that we are off today. I don’t think that I could handle heading to the field house for a practice session. When I left the bar last night, Jase gave me a long hug and told me to keep my head up. I wasn’t sure if I could do that the next day. I need a day to sit and wallow.
I roll out of bed and wonder if Ash is awake. It’s a Saturday morning, and I imagine that he is up checking his emails or doing something for work. While Ash may be away from work, he can’t actually be on vacation. The office seems to go with him wherever he goes. That is how he has become so widely successful at such a young age. He works nonstop and only appears to have a life when he plays pick-up basketball with his friends.
After I freshen up in the morning, I go in search of Ash. But he’s not here. Not in his room, not in the kitchen or living room. I peek out the window, hoping to catch a glimpse of his car, but my apartment is not set up that way. So, I can’t tell if his car is gone or not. In the kitchen I find a note on the counter.
I went out for a run. I needed to clear my head in the Tampa sunshine. I’ll see you in a bit with some coffee.
I smile reading his note. I decide to use this time to ready myself for the day. Maybe we can go sightseeing or something. It might help me get my mind off of things and help me move forward. For whatever reason, my confidence feels completely shaken since I got to the Blaze, over one bad game. Then I made that utterly stupid decision in the locker room to let him fuck me from behind. I just wanted to forget how bad it was, and August was always so good at helping me forget things when we were in college. Hating him is so much harder than I thought it was going to be. Especially when all of your friends are coupled up and you are lonely. He’s a great distraction from all of that. And he’s a willing participant in it who knows what he’s doing. Oh my god, does that man know what he is doing.
August knows that I do not like it soft. I want it hard and fast. I want him to bite me on the shoulder like he did last night. I love the way that he drives in and out of me. It was just what I needed from him last night.I need to be careful, I think to myself,because that could easily get out of hand.He could ask for more than I’m willing to give, or willing to admit that I want from him.
It’s a tangled web I’m weaving with him. And one that just got more complicated by the fact that Ash has shown up in Tampa and I have no idea how long he’s planning on staying. He’s being very cagey about that. Speak of the devil, here he is.
“Good morning, Henny,” he says, coming in holding two cups of coffee from the shop down the street. “How did you sleep?”
I grin at him, accepting the cup he offers. “Thank you for the coffee. I appreciate it. I slept okay,” I say, considering it. Ican’t say that I slept well because of the orgasms that August so eagerly served up to me in the locker room.
“How are you feeling about the game? Any better?”
I nod. “Yeah, it’s nice that we are all off today. So at least there’s that.” I pick up my phone and look at the texts that are coming in through the girl’s group chat.
Mac: Wanna go to the bar tonight? Shoot some pool and throw some darts? We should show Ash that we are not a bunch of sad sacks that cry into our beers.
There are several texts from Amelia and Cassie, all agreeing. Apparently, the boys are in too.
“The girls are trying to get together at the bar again tonight, if you are in. They want to show you that we are not always so pouty. Play some pool and shoot some darts. If you’re up for it,” I say, placing my phone down on the couch beside me.
“Sure, sounds like fun.” He stretches out on the chair across from me. I can see that he’s studying me. Ash has figured something out. I’ve seen that look too many times. It’s the one that he used to give me when we were kids, when I took an extra piece of dessert from the table. Or stayed out too late after curfew. Not that our parents ever noticed. But he did and he was there to attempt to get my ass back in line.
“What are you thinking? I can see those wheels turning. So just out with it. What do you want to talk to me about?”
“Don’t you want to tell you friends that we can make it tonight?” he asks me.
“Ash, out with it.” I level him with a stare, hoping that he just up and says it.
“What was your deal last night at the bar? You were so quiet. When I fired shots at him, you were uneasy. And you got evenquieter when he left the table. So please tell me, was it the game or was it him?” he asks me.
I stare at him for a moment. I think about lying to him. I think about taking the easy way out and reminding him that I was scored on five times. But neither option sounds like a good choice. So instead, I just plainly say, “It was a bad night.”
“Was it the game or was it him?” Ash asks me again.
I freeze for just a second—a millisecond—but he catches it.
“Jesus, you didn’t.” He gets up and comes over to sit beside me on the couch. “Please tell me you fucking didn’t.”
I stare at the floor, not bothering to look him in the eyes. I can’t do it. “It wasn’t planned.”
“Hen.” He says it in a scolding tone like I’ve just been caught stealing tequila out of Mom and Dad’s liquor cabinet.
He runs a hand through his hair; I catch the action out of the corner of my eye. “He’s the owner. He’s your ex. He ghosted you because Daddy said so. That’s not a man you fucking fall back into bed with. Use your head.”
“I didn’t fall. And we didn’t use a bed,” I tell him. I have no idea why I reveal so much, but I do.
