Page 47 of Text Me Baby One More Time

“I’d step away if I were you, Joe.” Another teammate, Braxton, joins the conversation, and I appreciate the help. “Don’t you know this is the same girl who got Gerard knocked out last month?”

Braxton was there that night, the only one able to talk some sense into me before I broke shit beyond any sort of repair. He was insightful enough to know it was about the girl Gerard was talking about, but how he knows Denny is that girl is beyond me.

His voice carries enough to catch many people’s attention…including Denny’s.

Standing on the outskirts of the circle, mid-conversation with another one of the guy’s dates, she sends me a questioning look.

I avoid her stare, suddenly finding the bubbles in my glass very interesting as I take yet another sip.

I fucking hate champagne.

“Is that so?” Joe says, grinning. “You have one hell of a right hook.”

“I know,” I tell him, my voice conveying the message instead of my words.Back off, dude.

He gets it, loud and clear. Still grinning, he holds his hands up, backing away. “I’m tapping out. I saw the aftermath, and my face is way too pretty for that kind of reconstruction.”

I dare a peek over at my date.

She looks confused, and I already know I’m going to be hammered with questions on the ride home.

Goddammit, Joe.

A reporter corners a handful of the guys, leaving just me and Braxton off to the side. The press knows better than to bother me too much.

“How’d you know that was her?” I say out of the corner of my mouth, not looking at him, eyes still settled on Denny.

“Because of this right here.”

I glance at him, confused. “Let’s use some real fucking sentences, shall we?”

“That right there, that small flick of a glance my way—it’s one of about five times you’ve looked away from her all night. You might have introduced her as Bucky, whatever the hell that’s about, but it’s easy to see that’s Denny.”

He didn’t go to college with me and Gerard, so he has no idea who Denny is…how important she is to me. None of the others that night knew either, not even Gerard, which is probably why they were so freaked out when I pounced on him for bragging about what an easy bang Denny was.

I don’t try to act like I’m a good guy, don’t hide the fact that I can be a huge fucking ass and have been one in the past. I’ve made massive mistakes, ones that have changed relationships with people I love. I’ve bragged about my conquests. I’ve treated women like toys. I might be a king, but I never said I wasn’t an asshole too.

That said, I am trying to change, trying to be a better man, one worthy of love.

One worthy of Denver.

I just hope she can see that too.

Like I conjured her up, she appears in front of us.

Braxton steps toward her, holding his hand out. “Hi, I’m Braxton James. I play with this douchebag over here.”

“Oh, I know exactly who you are, Mr. James. You have one hell of a batting average.”

She takes his hand, and the strength of the champagne glass I’m holding is tested when he brushes his thumb over the back of hers in a not strictly friendly way.

Fucker.

“I’m Denver, or Denny to some, Bucky to this asshole, and I’m only here with him because he’s blackmailing me.”

“Blackmailing, huh?” Braxton looks my way. “Yeah, that sounds like him.”

I flip him off and he laughs.

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