Page 5 of Grand Slam

Me: The doorman should let you up when you arrive.

I sentmy sister a text and settled back in my chair planning on taking a nap. It pinged back before I got the chance to close my eyes.

Alizabeth: Got here about an hour ago, already settled and we leave in an hour to meet with Joey.

Glancing at my watch I’m a little confused so I quickly hit the call button and wait for her to answer. “Yes,” she singsongs.

“I thought you flew in this afternoon?”

“Changed our flight,” she says. “I wanted to get an early start with house hunting.” She was up to something. She was always up to something.

“Liz?”

“What?” I give her silence, knowing it will eat at her and she will finally give in. Then I hear it, laughter in the background. “Okay so I may have brought some more people.”

“What people?” Tension fills my veins.

“It’s only for two nights, I swear and they aren’t staying here.”

“Who?”

“Well, Gran and Dad will be here on the fourteenth.” I wait, she is holding back. “But Lisa, Mason, and Mark were able to get tickets to the concert. The tickets suck, but they wanted to come see you when they found out I was coming. They aren’t even staying for a game, just came for the one night and then they are driving back.”

I feel like I’ve been punched in the stomach. “Alizabeth.” I sigh because I can’t get mad at her. Even though I want to be pissed I can’t. But with Mark always came the one person I could go without seeing.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

“Kelton,” she lowers her voice. “Mark and Mason were two of your best friends.”

“It’s not them I’m worried about.” Libby is Mark’s older cousin. She’s toxic, I should have seen it from the beginning. I’ve never met anyone more conniving and manipulative. She and I were never a thing, but she made sure to ruin everything I had with any other girl by placing doubt.

“That bitch isn’t allowed here,” she states firmly. “Mark confirmed before I even told him I was coming that she’s in Florida with friends. Do you actually think I’d let her into your place?”

“They’ve only been here for about an hour and they are leaving when I leave.”

“I should be home in a few hours.” I end the call and let my head fall back against the headrest. I needed a fucking nap.

CHAPTER FIVE

Emerson

I could smell him everywhere,in every room. There wasn’t much here but his cologne permeated the entire space. It hit me the moment we entered. But the comforting reminder of how amazing he smells was nothing like the coldness of the apartment. It appeared unlived in; stark white walls, no accents or colorful art. There weren’t even any throw pillows on his couch.

“He is in desperate need of some color in his life.”

“And that is where you come in,” Liz says as she grabs hold of my shoulder and leans in to kiss my cheek.

“Stop it.” I smack at her hand making her laugh.

“I’ve been dying to either get ahold of this place or any other. He just kept telling me this isn’t where he wants to stay. But he is even worse at house shopping. Which is top priority while I am here. I refuse to leave unless he has an accepted offer on the perfect place.”

And I’m here to tag along. It all seems so strange.

“Shew.” Alizabeth barges into the bathroom right behind me and flips on the shower. Spinning around she sits back on the edge and her shoulders sagged.

“Where is everyone at?” I ask, peeking outside the bathroom and down the hall.

“They left,” she adds with a huff. “I swear I could feel the anger rolling off Kelton through the phone.”

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