Page 41 of Go Deep (A Bad Boy Sports Romance)
“You don’t think I have a right to be upset?”
“Sure you do. Listen, I’m sorry. I’ve been really busy.” I crossed into her room without even being invited in. So far we weren’t getting off to a good start here, but I had a lot to say, and I wasn’t going to be denied the opportunity to say any of it.
“Did you at least bring the write-up?”
Holy shit.
“Damn, Cassidy, I’m sorry. I forgot all about it.” I was striking out here, and I knew it. Everything was falling apart right in front of me, and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it, so I improvised. “Look, I’ve got it all together and ready to go. I’ve just got to type it out.”
“You know what, Slade? Everyone was right about you,” she said, just dropping it on me like it had been weighing on her mind the entire time.
“Right about what?”
“That I’d end up with the whole project on my shoulders. I’ve been putting the pitch together. I’ve typed everything up. I even scheduled our meeting with the owner of The Pet Adoption House so we can sit down with them and give our pitch to him instead of to some stand-in from the prof.”
Here I was running myself ragged, and I couldn’t even tell her everything that was going on, and she was getting shit done on her end like it was nothing. I wanted to thank her, but I didn’t know what to say.
“And all you’ve managed to do is use the project to get me in bed.”
I closed my eyes. She knew. Evan told her about the bet. That fucking idiot.
“In fact that’s all that your boy Evan could talk about when I went by there earlier tonight, but I’m sure he told you everything. Otherwise, you probably wouldn’t have bothered coming here.”
Her words stung, but I’d earned it.
“I’m sorry about Evan,” I told her. “You know he’s an asshat. The guys just talk sometimes, and things got out of hand.”
“What are you saying?”
Now I was confused. What was she trying to tell me?
“Just talk to me, Cassidy. What did he say?”
“Evan didn’t know we’d slept together. He just kept asking if we were going to, or if we’d done it yet. It was like he expected us to. Hell, everyone acts like they expect us to. You’ve got quite a reputation to uphold Slade. I’m actually not as mad at you as I should be, because at least you haven’t been running around bragging about it.”
She didn’t know? She didn’t know! I needed to call it off before she found out.
“I wouldn’t do that, Cassidy.”
That was a half-lie. Before Cassidy had come around, I would have definitely bragged about it. That was how this whole bet came about. Now that we’d found some common ground, I’d never do that to her. Fuck. Stuff got complicated when my conscience kicked in.
“I’m sorry about everything since the other night when I ran out of here. Between that and all the guys talking shit, I’ve had to take some time to get my head clear, you know?”
Good cover.
“Yeah, I know,” she said, softening again. “Something else is going on, isn’t it?”
“Nothing I can’t handle.”
I took a chance and put an arm around her waist. It paid off. She relaxed and placed her head on my chest. Damn, even I felt good holding on to her like that.
“You can trust me, you know?”
I kissed the top of her head. “I know. I’ll take care of the write-up over Thanksgiving and everything else will be fine”
“Are you sure?”
“Positive. We can hang out as that weekend shouldn’t be busy.”
