Page 47 of Nailing Heat
“Well, goody, I thought Dad was going to wait to call me and let me know that he’s disappointed in the outcome, but I guess that is not the case.” He rolls his eyes and picks up the call, “Hey, Dad, how are things?”
August sighs deeply. I can’t hear a lot of what Maxwell is saying but I’m sure they’re not the nicest things to August. He can’t change the outcome of the game and he’s not even a coach. But he’s the owner and I’m sure that he bears the responsibility of the record and the image of the team. I stare out the window and watch the city of Kansas City pass me by. It’s brightly lit; there are lights on the trees and people are sitting outside at tables having their dinner or drinks. As we move through the city, I think of how this might be a cool place to visit. But I don’t mention that to August. The game didn’t go our way, and he’llassociate it with the city. Same as they did in New England and same as I did in college.
I lean forward and adjust the vents so that they are pointing the cool air directly at me. It’s hot and sticky here, same as Tampa. I steal a quick glance at August and see him pinch the bridge of his nose, moving the phone away from his mouth so he can sigh loudly.
“I’ll work on getting that taken care of, Dad,” I hear August say. “I’ll see what I can do about making it to one of Drew’s playoff games. Have a good night.”
With that he clicks off the line. “My brother’s team is going better than mine, and he likes to remind me of that. Apparently, he would like to see me at one of those games in the box. For optics or some shit like that, I don’t know. Wanna come with me?” He looks over at me, grinning.
I chuckle. I’ve met Drew a few times. He’s a polar opposite of August. A straight-laced businessman through and through. If they didn’t look alike, you’d never know they were brothers.
“Yeah, sure, why not. It would be nice to see Drew again.”
“And watch baseball. Baseball is fucking boring. Why couldn’t Dad have bought a hockey team or football team, you know?” August says.
“Probably because your dad played baseball,” I remind him.
“Whatever.” August shakes his head. “Well, either way, I hate watching it.”
I nod, and we say very little the rest of the way there. I help him carry out all the pizzas and bring them into the hotel. The team is already there when we arrive. The team and the coaches are broken into smaller groups, and the sound of several separate conversations fill the conference room the hotel is letting us use as a dining room. I look over at a longer table and see Mac, Danny, Cassie, Jase, Hendrix and Amelia are gathered around it.
“Set them down and back away. I guarantee they are hungry,” August tells me over his shoulder.
I barely get my stack of pizza boxes situated and sure enough, the table is swarmed with hungry athletes waiting for their hard-earned dinner.
I make my way over to the table where Amelia’s group is still sitting. “Did you guys not hear? The food is here.”
Mac nods. “Yeah, we’ll get there.”
I nod, noticing the somber tone of her voice.
“Go eat,” Danny says, rubbing her shoulder.
Jase whispers something in Cassie’s ear and she gets up. “Come on, everyone, we should eat.”
The girls all leave and head to the table where the food and Gatorade that Coach Watts put out is.
I steal the empty seat that will be next to Amelia when she returns.
“Oh, to what do I owe the pleasure?” she asks me as she sets her plate down.
I grin and look in her direction. But before I can answer, August speaks for me. “Oh, don’t do that. Don’t speak to her with that panty-dropping smile. We don’t hit on the players.”
I shake my head, laughing at him and then I flip him off. “I was only being friendly to my roommate. A situation that you set up, so you can fuck off, Cromwell.”
My comeback is met with snickers around the table.
“You fucking tell him,” Hendrix retorts. “Let him see that girls and boys can actually be friends.”
I nod and feel a twinge of guilt. The thoughts I’ve been having about the curvy center back beside me are not exactly those that you have for a friend. Sure, they are friendly. But friends probably don’t study the curve of her hips and think about what it would feel like to run my hands along them. Trailing down to those toned legs and stunning ass. One that I would like to bite a time or two before using it to hold her up to fix the height difference. I swallow.
I look up at August and he’s grinning at me knowingly. “You know, I think I’ll look for another seat.”
Her hand shoots out, and she grabs onto mine. “Just stay right here.” Our eyes meet, and the affection that I see in those brown eye has me staying put.
“Okay,” I reply and she winks at me. A warmth spreads in my chest, and I know in that moment she could have asked me to scale a fucking mountain or fetch her something from the next continent, and I’d happily have gone.
“You know the food is for you too,” Amelia tells me.
