Page 113 of Play of Love
Chapter 1
Scott
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Ilooked over at Abi and smiled. Nothing was funny about this situation, but I had to laugh at the opportunity that fate had dished my way.
Fate, karma, life, coincidence. Whatever it was, I was grateful for it. I’d been thinking about her for a while now, even before I’d found out about the wedding. From time to time, she had crossed my mind purely because I’d had my longest relationship with her. I knew I took absolute advantage of her and that I’d been a complete asshole to allow her to leave the way she did.
I knew that now, or rather a few years back when reality began to sink in.
My grandfather always told me that one day the fast, reckless way of life would catch up with me and that I’d burn out from it. The old man couldn’t have been more right. Fortunately, nothing bad had happened as such. It was simple, really, and began with the news of my friend and teammate Gage Montgomery, the infamous Gladiators quarterback getting married. This was a guy who I saw with one woman after another and preached that he’d never settle down. But, yet, he’d found Evie, the one woman who could change his mind and change his ways.
Who was even worse was Josh Mancini, whose wedding to Amy, his former assistant, took place at the end of last summer. That guy used to be the poster boy for womanizing, and, yet, like Gage, he’d found one woman who could change him, and Josh had one hell of a change to make.
I couldn’t have been more shocked and surprised at the two of them. It was all good stuff, and I was happy for them both, but the whole occurrence was something that flagged itself to me. It made me question my own life. It made me think about the one woman who’d been good to me, the one woman I could remotely classify as the kind of person that I’d want to be serious about.
There was just one massive problem: I’d ruined my chances with Abigail Winters, singeing any hope with her to within an inch of its life.
Right now, my car felt colder than Antarctica with the coldness the said woman was giving me and the icy, emotionless glances she occasionally threw my way.
Abi did not want me.
She hated being in my car, and she was most probably calculating an alternate route to Phoenix.
It was her love for Margo that made her decide to go with me. I knew she wanted to get to her as quickly as possible and, honestly, while I was worried about my sister, I admittedly took advantage of the situation to spend some time with Abi. I knew I had no chance in hell, but that didn’t mean I’d turn away an opportunity for her company.
I looked over at her reserved form sitting next to me in my Range Rover. She was looking through the window, watching the scenery as we drove by. Her hands were clasped on top of her purse, which was the same peach color as her long, perfectly-manicured nails. As the wind picked up, she tucked a wayward strand of her light brown hair behind her ear. It reminded me of warm, liquid caramel, and it looked just as smooth too. Her hair and her large green eyes were a perfect combination. Her eyes were the first thing I had noticed that night I’d first met her. I’d thought they were beautiful with their olive-green shade and specks of brown that made them unique.
It was amazing how that night had always stayed in my mind. The three nights with her that I remembered the most were, the night I met her, the night I first made love to her, and the night she left me.
That last memory was the worse.
“Do you think Cole believed you?” I asked breaking the silence.
“Yeah,” she answered without looking at me.
Before we left, we had gone back to the lobby to speak to Cole. I didn’t think Cole believed Abi for one second about Margo being delayed, and then he got this uneasy look about him when I tried to comment, and he asked me if I was okay. There was something amiss, here, and the only person who knew what was going on was my beautiful ex who was sitting next to me.
“He didn’t look like he did. How come you didn’t tell me Margo was stuck in Phoenix?” I’d guessed that Margo had asked her not to, but the question was ‘why.’
“I told you enough.” Again, she didn’t look at me.
I glanced across at her as we stopped for a traffic light. Wow, she was definitely hell-bent on ignoring me. I smiled as the Cranberries came on the radio and started singingAway. Abi loved the Cranberries, and I knew she loved this song, in particular. I drove across the lane when the lights changed, moving into the fast one. As much as she didn’t want to talk, I was determined to get her to warm up to me.
“Do you remember this song?” I looked over at her again.
“No,” she said, a little too quickly.
I couldn’t resist the smile that tugged at the corners of my mouth. She remembered the song, alright. It was one of her choosing, and she loved playing it when we made love.
“Are you sure?” I teased. “I seem to remember you loving this song. A lot.”
She turned around and glared at me. “I don’t remember the song, Scott. Please stop pestering me.”
“Pestering?” I laughed. “Babydoll,come on.” That was what I used to call her when we were together because she’d reminded me of one of Margo’s dolls she used to play with when she was younger. Petite, beautiful, and delicate with golden, smooth skin which always glistened in the sun. “I haven’t seen you in all of six years, and you think I’m pestering you? Look how nice I’ve been too.”
She narrowed her eyes at me. “Scott, considering what happened at our last meeting, I wonder what you could have expected,” she retorted with cold sarcasm.
