Page 43 of If You Love Me

“What is it?” I sniff the contents.

“Just cranberry and soda water. You okay? You’re a little pale.”

“I’m fine.” I sip the drink, my mouth ridiculously dry.

“Okay.” She touches my shoulder. “But if you decide you’re not fine, and you need to talk about it, I’m always here, and I’m a vault.”

My dad returns a minute later. “I have to take care of a few things, but I’ll call you first thing in the morning, and we can go for breakfast before my flight.”

“Sounds good, Dad.”

As much as I’m sad my time with him is cut short, it may be for the best. I can’t have the people I work with figuring out what happened in New York three years ago. Not when we’re this far into the season and I’m finally making the progress I need with the team.

CHAPTER 15

ROMAN

“Ireally hoped you’d bring a date this year.” Peggy adjusts my tie as we take the elevator to the conference hall.

“And ruin my perfect record?” I joke. But not really. Next year everything will be different. I won’t be part of this team. Hell, I could be coaching kids who might end up on the Terror. And all the red tape surrounding me and Lexi will have disappeared.

She rolls her eyes. “Seriously, Dado, you need to start dating.”

“She’s right,” Hollis agrees.

I motion between them. “You two don’t get to gang up on me.”

Peggy slides her arm through Hollis’s and rests her cheek against his biceps. “If you had a date, we’d be evenly matched and you wouldn’t feel ganged-up on.”

“I’m going home if you don’t drop it.” I almost mean that. Keeping stuff from my daughter and my best friend is high on the list of things I don’t enjoy. But there’s someone I want to see tonight more than I want to forgo the frustration that comes with Peggy and Hollis trying to set up online-dating accounts on my behalf.

“Don’t be such a grump.” Peggy pokes me in the side.

The elevator doors slide open, giving me an escape.

Tonight is the Terror’s annual holiday party. Everyone on the team attends and brings their significant other, if they have one. Even the guys without serious girlfriends usually bring a date. But there’s only one woman I want on my arm, and I can’t have her.

As soon as we’re through the doors, Peggy kisses Hollis on the cheek and tells him she’ll find him at dinner. She flounces off, her gold dress billowing behind her as she rushes across the festively decorated room to be enveloped by her friends. My little girl is all grown up.

“They were together almost all day getting their hair and nails and makeup done,” Hollis grumbles.

“They’re not having a slumber party tonight, so you’ll survive.” It comes out with more bite than I intend.

Hollis turns to me. “You okay, man?”

“Yeah. I’m great.” I’m the opposite of great. I’m on edge. It’s almost five thirty, and I haven’t seen Lexi since practice yesterday. I love practice as much as I loathe it these days. I can’t escape her when I’m sleeping. She’s on my mind every waking moment of the day. I’m jonesing, and I need a fix. I can’t escape her, and I now know I really don’t want to. The future possibilities hold too much allure.

“We gonna talk about this?” Hollis asks.

“Huh?”

He arches a brow. “Dude.”

“What?” I wish I could shove my hands in my pockets, but I’m wearing a tux and that’s impossible.

“You gonna tell me what happened in New York?”

“We beat them, but it wasn’t clean.” That lead weight is back in my stomach, but still, I try not to be obvious as I scan the room.

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