Page 31 of Delayed Offsides

“That still doesn’t make it right.” I think about giving up, but then she cracks under the pressure and peeks over at it. “Damn you…” And then her face is beet red. “Is that really his penis?”

I nod, my lashes fluttering as I remember what the magic cock gives to me. “Oh yeah.”

Ami coughs and covers her mouth, sputtering over her muffin she just took a bite of. “Evan will kill me if he knows I looked at Leo’s penis.”

“Can you even say the word dick?”

She rolls her eyes, pushing away from the counter to stand. “I thought we were going shopping.”

“We are…” I smile wider. “Just say dick one time for me and then we’ll go.”

“Dick,” she whispers, soft-spoken and red-cheeked.

I love how innocent she is. “That’s my girl.” I wrap my arm around her as we walk out my door.

* * *

At the mall,I’m thankful the Christmas rush has died down, and you can actually get a parking spot.

Ami and I start out at Crate & Barrel, one of her favorite stores these days. She’s redecorating Evan’s man pad with a more girly appearance. “So you haven’t talked to Leo since New Year’s?”

“Nope.” I pick up a candle that costs a hundred dollars and set it back down. “Boned and bailed.”

Ami snorts, shaking her head and walking ahead of me a few steps. More than likely her cheeks are red. “From what I hear.” Ami pauses, turning her head to give me a pointed look, maybe for effect, I don’t know, but her lips quirk into a smile. “He wasn’t happy you were with Scott last night.”

“He’s just a guy who works at Nordstrom’s. I told you that.”

Ami picks up another candle, smells it, and then sets it back on the shelf. “Yeah, but Leo doesn’t know that.Heleft before he sawyouleave alone.”

She’s right. But I saw him leave with another girl. So if I really mean something to him, why’d he leave with her?

Because I showed up to a home game with another guy.

That’s why.

“I don’t know what his problem is. It’s not like we’re dating.”

“But you know he has feelings for you,” Ami points out.

“No, I don’t know that. He asked for a date, but he wasn’t serious. And that was before Dave. We have sex, Ami. It’s not like what you and Evan have. We’ve never had that. We’re not in love. Just fucking.” Okay, I’m in love with him, but you know him. We’ve been over this. He’s not capable of love. Ami stops walking, forcing me to do that as well when she hooks her arm around mine. “He does feel that way. Evan told me that you’re all he talks about and when they were in Florida, he freaked out that he couldn’t get a hold of you.”

Based on the text messages I got, I know Leo freaked, but how much of that was just Leo Orting, the headstrong guy who has an obsessive-compulsive disorder when things don’t go his way?

Most people who know Leo know the fun-loving, practical jokester, even me.

There’s more to him than that. He’s had a rough past, one that most don’t know anything about. He has daddy issues, a brother who uses him, and he hates to be ignored. When he doesn’t get his way, he resorts to obsessive tendencies. Like texting you fifty times in a week

Because I ignored his messages, he went home with another girl. I’m not playing that game with him. I’ve been there before, and I don’t want anything to do with it. I want to change. Be better. Love myself no matter what.

Somewhere between throw pillows and butter dishes, I coax Ami from the Crate & Barrell. “Come on. I picked some stuff out for you the other day.”

“Are you going to at least call him? Mase talked to him this morning, and he didn’t sound himself.”

I look over at her as we jostle through the small crowd gathered at the exit. “What’d he say to him?”

“I couldn’t hear what they were saying, but they met up in the lobby before I left, and he looked like shit. I don’t think he slept last night.”

I groan. “I don’t need to hear that.”

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