Page 18 of The Chase

“I don’t deserve her.”

Benny narrowed his eyes. “Who? Maxine?”

I nodded. “I don’t deserve anyone.”

Benny paused and looked at me with pity in his eyes. Dammit, I didn’t want my teammates to look at me like that. “TJ, who told you that? Who told you don’t deserve someone to love you?”

“Forget it, man. I need a drink and a quick lay to forget about it,” I said and got out of his SUV.

Revealing my darkest secret to my teammate wasn’t something I ever wanted to do. The only person I let myself be real with was my sister, and that was because she knew me better than anyone.

I walked over to the bar and ordered a lager, hoping my sister would distract Benny so he wouldn’t ask any more questions. I looked over and saw her with her legs wrapped around his waist and her tongue in his mouth. As gross as it was, I was glad because my sister kept him from nagging me.

When I turned back around, I came face-to-face with a pretty blonde, but not the one I wanted to see.

“Taylor, hey,” I said.

My ex gave me a friendly smile. “Hey, T. Rough game tonight.”

I sighed. “Don’t remind me. You want a drink?”

“I’m good. Just trying to cash out.”

I loosened my tie a bit. “How’ve you been?”

She gave me a polite smile. I knew I broke her heart, and I felt like a dick about it. “Good. Things are great. How about you?”

This was the most awkward conversation ever.

“Awful,” I muttered.

She gave me a pitying look and squeezed my arm. “You’ll figure it out. It’s still early in the season.”

The bartender finally came over and gave me my beer while Taylor asked to cash out.

“It’s not that,” I said and rubbed a hand over my face.

“What’s wrong?”

I sighed. “Can I ask you something personal?”

“Okay…” she said but looked unsure.

The bartender came back with Taylor’s credit card receipt while she waited for me to explain.

“Did you ever fake it?” I asked.

She gave me a quizzical look. “Fake what?”

“You know…with me?”

Her brown eyes widened in recognition, but then she vigorously shook her head. “No. T, I knew what you were like when we started hooking up, but you never failed in that department. Did that happen to you?”

I nodded. “Why would she do that?”

She shrugged. “Some women can’t come. She might have been afraid of hurting your feelings.”

I nodded. That was sort of what my sister said, too, but it didn’t make me feel any better. I knew I definitely shouldn’t be having this conversation with my ex, though. Especially after I was such a colossal dick to her.