Page 86 of Scoring the Player
“Like you’re any better.”
He chuckles. “Takes one to know one and all that, I guess.”
I hum my agreement and then let my gaze go back to Dahlia. She wore my favorite dress tonight. It’s a plain black one, almost like an oversized T-shirt. I’m ninety-nine percent sure it’s one of her own, instead of the skintight, spandex numbers she borrows from Jane. And not that those aren’t killer because they absolutely are, but she was wearing this one the first night I met her. It’s this vision I have of her, no matter how many times we’ve hung out. All wide-eyed and nervous, and fucking beautiful.
I wonder if she knows that. I should probably tell her. The next time I see her that kind of thing might be weird.
“Surprised to see you out tonight,” I tell him. The hockey team has a game Friday at home against one of their top rivals.
“Yeah, it’s going to be an early night, but Daisy told me it was your last night as the boyfriend extraordinaire. Am I going to get to see her throw a drink in your face?” His grin is all hopeful and shit.
“Fuck you.” I laugh. “And no.”
“No, I’m not going to get to see it, or no, she’s not going to go all scorned woman on your ass?”
“Dahlia? Please, she’s too nice for that.”
“Good point,” he says. “It’ll probably be Jane. She scares me. Hope you wore a cup.”
He’s right. It would be Jane. “It’s not going to be like that,” I say. “We’re still going to see each other and hang out. We’ll be friends. Just like before.”
When he doesn’t respond, I turn my head to look at him. “What?”
“First off, you two were never friends. You wanted to sleep with her, and she was a scared rabbit.”
“And secondly?” I challenge.
“It’s not going to be like before. Maybe if you’d kept your hands to yourself, but not now that you’ve been hooking up.” He grins. “I know you are. Daisy told me. And I get it. You’ve always had a thing for her and pretending to be a couple while having real feelings for her can’t be easy. I can see how things could get out of hand.”
“Is there a point or are you just busting my balls?”
“You like her, she likes you…” He trails off then adds, “Is my point really not obvious?”
“It’s not like that. I’m not looking for anything serious and neither is she. She wanted a different life. She wanted people to see her, and they do.” I wave toward her.
Head held high, smiling. She’s changed. I’m not taking any credit for that. She just needed to put herself out there a little more, gain a little confidence.
“She’ll have no problem finding someone new.” Someone that wants to be the type of guy I can’t be right now.
“Oh, I know she won’t. I’ll bet there are fifty guys here tonight just waiting for you to screw up so they can swoop in.”
I grind down on my back molars, and Jordan laughs.
“It’s never going to be like it was before. Might want to think hard about that before you set her free. All I’m saying.”
I can’t completely shake Jordan’s words the rest of the night, but I do my best. It’s easier when Dahlia drinks too much and I can focus solely on keeping her upright. I stay glued to her side, holding her up, and smiling as she rambles and laughs. Everything is funny to her right now and she has zero inhibitions, including not holding back on showing me affection. Every touch feels amplified knowing that it’s our last night together. Fucking Jordan got in my head.
Dahlia and I will always be cool. And maybe we’ll even continue to hook up. That feels easier to swallow than this being the end all, be all for us, so I hold on to that while I walk her home. I’m more carrying her than walking her, to be honest. Getting her up the stairs to her room is a real treat. I fall onto my back beside her once I do.
She lets out a half-giggle, half-sigh as she rolls on top of me. “Felix Walters is in my bed.”
“Yes. Yes, he is.” I run my hands down her sides to the hem of her dress, then glide my fingers underneath and up to the band of her panties. “And he is real happy to be here.”
“How happy?” She sits up and lifts her dress, flashing me her tits in some lacy pink bra.
I lift my hips to press my hard dick against her core. “That happy.”
Her cheeks dot with pink. “Condoms are in the nightstand.”
