Page 16 of The Late Hit
Fucking double standards.
And Will just stands there, letting Tiffani attack Brynn, knowing damn well who Brynn is. I mean, Jesus, he was just with her the week before.
As that thought leaves my mind, Tiffani turns and sees Will. She runs and jumps in his arms, causing Brynn to roll her eyes.
“Baby, great game!” she squeals, and we are lucky there aren’t any windows around to break. Will places Tiffani back down on her feet, and the two of them take off, hand in hand, with Tiffani’s minions following close behind. I’m just about to approach Brynn when Tiffani turns back over her shoulder. “Q, you might want to double wrap it before you jump in bed with that.” She says, her nose wrinkling in disgust.
“Bitch,” Brynn mutters, but not quiet enough for my parents to miss.
I hear my mom gasp. I take a deep breath because I know I’m going to hear about this later.
“Really, Brinley?” my mother hisses. “It’s appalling, the way you talk.”
Turning her attention to my mom, I can see the smoke coming out of Brynn’s ears.
Throwing her arms out in exasperation, Brynn claps back. “You stood right here and enjoyed the show of her running her mouth about me.”
Making her way over to me, my mother gets closer to Brynn before saying something that shocks even me. “Well, Brinley, your reputation certainly implies that you should visit the health clinic more often. Thank God, my baby is smart enough not to go crawling in bed with you.”
“Mom—” I cut in just as my dad says, “Abigail.”
But the damage has been done. Brynn turns and storms off toward the exit. That’s when I notice that even more players have filed out of the locker room to watch the shit show unfold. I turn to see Grant give me a sad, knowing look. He knows that I feel more for Brynn than I let on.
Without even acknowledging my parents, I turn and go after Brynn. I hear my mom yell my name, but there’s no way in hell I’m choosing her over Brynn. Not after all that.
“B, wait up,” I yell after her.
She stops with her back to me, waiting for me to catch up.
“I’m sorry about my mom.”
I sling my arm around her shoulder, pulling her into my side. Leaning down, I kiss the side of her head. She’s quiet, and I know she’s processing. She allows me to lead her through the exit to the staff and player parking lot.
I swear, if my night is fucked, I’m going to go off on every single person who mouthed off to Brynn. All I want to do is celebrate a win with my friends. A win that I fought hard to get. A win thatI madehappen. But nope, they’ve got to constantly fuck up everything good that happens to me and make it about themselves.
“Q, just give me a minute. I need to breathe.”
She pulls away from my grasp and reaches into her bag and pulls out her vape pen. Bringing it up to her mouth, she wraps her lips around the tip and sucks. My body twitches as I watch her. It’s getting harder and harder to ignore my body’s reactions to Brynn.
“Oh yeah, and that’s the way to breathe,” I mutter, giving her the space she asked for.
“Don’t start with me, Quinton.”
She takes another inhale on her pen before she starts walking toward my blacked-out Tesla Model S. Following her, I get to her side of the car first and open the door.
“I know, B. I’m so fucking sorry for that. That’s not why I invited you down to wait on me.”
Leaning down to get in the car, Brynn looks up at me through her long eyelashes. She looks so fucking good today. I finally get a chance to fully check her out. A tight, distressed denim skirt, a barely there crop top that has my number on the back, and those boots. Goddamn, those boots. I can imagine what those white boots would look like wrapped around my dark skin.
Fuck, get a grip, Q.
“I’m not mad at you, Quinton.” She tilts her head toward my seat, her crimson red stained lips smiling up at me. “C’mon. Let’s go celebrate.”
Closing her door, I make my way around to the driver’s side of the car. Opening the door, I slide into my seat and start up the car. “Goosebumps” erupts through the speakers. It was the last song I was listening to on my phone, and, thanks to the Bluetooth, it starts right up.
“Want to grab Whataburger?” I shout over the music.
Brynn looks over at me with a smirk that I swear makes my blood rise. “Do I want to grab food from Whataburger? Q, c’mon, you know that answer.”
