Page 59 of In It to Win It

“Then stop looking like youwantme to.”

“I . . .” She swallows. “Don’t do this, JP.”

I sigh. “I’m not doing anything. I’m not going to hit on another guy’s girl.Again.” I bite out the word, remembering how pissed I’d been when Manny jumped me at the wedding because he was jealous.

“Okay, good.” She nibbles her bottom lip. “We can still be friends . . . right?”

I stare at her incredulously. “Friends?”

“Sure. Because of Théo and Lacey.” A tentative smile touches her lips. “And Byron.”

My forehead tightens. “Uh . . .”

“If you’re going to look after my dog, we should at least be friends.”

“Friends,” I say again.

She smiles tentatively.

My heart is withering and shrinking in my chest.

This isn’t a shocker. She’s with someone else now. Why would I think we could be anything more than friends? I draw in a long breath through my nose and straighten my slumping shoulders. “Sure. Of course. Friends. Have fun at your Hollywood premiere.” I stretch my mouth into a smile before turning away from her.

Lacey’s in the kitchen and shoots me a nervous glance when I stalk in. I grab the beer I left on the counter and march through the living room to the doors to the patio. Everyone’s inside now, eating. I lean on the low wall and gaze out at the dark ocean as I tip the beer to my lips and chug down half of it.

Everything inside me is buzzing. I’m wired and edgy. I try to calm myself down, using some of the things I’ve learned about preparing for a game when the adrenaline is running high. Except I don’t really want to calm down. I want to punch something.

I draw in a long breath, let it out slowly, and raise the beer again.

“You okay, man?” Théo’s voice comes from behind me. He slaps a hand on my shoulder as he joins me.

“Yeah.”

“Something’s got your shorts in a twist.”

“I don’t like this shit about making good decisions. It’s too hard.”

Théo cracks out a fast laugh. “Not for me.”

“I’m not you.” The words come out on a growl.

Théo tips his head. “I know, man. And thank God, right? Sometimes going with your gut is the right thing to do.”

“I can’t believe you just said that.”

“Well, in fairness to myself . . . intuition has been shown to be information acquired through associated learning and stored in long-term memory, which is accessed unconsciously to form the basis of a judgment or decision.”

“What?”

“You learn things throughout your life.” He shrugs. “You hold that knowledge in your subconscious and use it unconsciously to make decisions. It’s not just letting emotion guide your decisions; there’s some factual basis for it.”

“Huh. So you’re saying I should go after Taylor?”

He chokes. “Uh . . . that’s what this is about?”

I drop my head forward. “Yeah.”

“She’s seeing that dude . . .”

---