Page 37 of Not Before Game Night
We landed at O’Hare International, and when we got to the hotel, I went to the restaurant to eat lunch by myself. Mom would be here tonight for dinner.
I’d just taken the last bite of my sandwich when Denver slid in the chair in front of me and looked me over with a mingle of concern and curiosity.
“You cool?” he asked.
“As a cucumber,” I answered, not bothering to hide my sarcasm.
“Cole, you and I have been friends for a few years now, and believe me when I say you are acting weird. What was up with you last night?”
“What happened last night?” I asked, pretending that me grabbing Matt was nothing out of the ordinary.
He rolled his eyes at me. “Dude, you nearly killed Matt.”
I thought it was pointless to say he deserved what he got. There was, however, something I had to say though. Specifically to Denver.
“What is up with you? Didn’t know you cheated on Jayne so much. Aren’t you scared your dick might fall off?” I spat. He chuckled, completely missing the fact that I wasn’t joking.
“Cole, we all do that shit. It’s a thing we look forward to on the road. Jayne knows how much I love her. She’s the long term; that doesn’t stop me from enjoying myself with my fans while I’m away, or otherwise.” He laughed.
As I looked at him, I realized this was probably exactly the way my father had been. Same player ethos.
Mom was long term at home with me, the kid. She was the wife, but he couldn’t see anything wrong with enjoying himself with others.Fans and groupies.
“It’s not cool, Denver. It’s not, and not everyone does that shit. I wouldn’t.”
“Lord have mercy. What the hell has gotten into you? When did you become Saint Coleridge? I swear it was you the other week all over theNational Enquirerwith three models, not just one. Then the week after, there was someone else. That’s just you, Cole. I’m the one who’s a saint compared to you.”
“Maybe that’s true, but I don’t have a girlfriend. It’s different,” I pointed out. He stood up and shook his head at me.
“Man, I’ll come back when you take your Midol. I can’t talk to you when you’re talking shit.”
He walked off before I could say anything else. It was fine because I didn’t have anything more to say. The guys could go on like a bunch of sheep nodding and agreeing with him, making him a bigger ass than he was, but I wouldn’t do it.
I got up to go and stopped short when I saw Gage Cartwright walking through the restaurant door and heading over to me.
Great.
I actually hated that guy from way back when and couldn’t stand a bone in him now.
He always had that holier-than-thou expression on his face that irked me.
He waltzed up to me and squared off like we were going to fight. He had done that once before, and I’d truly thought he was going to punch the life out of me. The thing was, I kind of would have deserved it.
It was back in high school when I let loose that his father was a cheat.
No one knew I was just acting out in the classic cry for attention because prior to finding that out, I’d caught my father in bed with some woman I’d never seen before.
I’d caught him in the bed he was supposed to share with my mother, and the man had had the audacity to try and pay me to keep quiet.
Then the said woman, who’d turned out to be a prostitute, went to the papers and broadcast it everywhere. How she’d bagged my father while his wife was visiting her sick mother. That was the first time my mom found out who my father was. Me too.
“Gage Cartwright,” I mused, standing a little straighter as he stopped before me. “What can I do for you?”
The last time we stood this close was back then, and I’d actually taken pride in the hurt in his eyes because the perfect Cartwrights weren’t so perfect. Them with their perfect everything. Especially him. I’d heard our maids talking about the scandal between his maid and his father. That was how I’d found out. It was something I should have kept to myself.
“You… I do not like you,” he answered.
“Okay, I guessed that awhile back, but thanks for telling me. Now I know for sure.”
