Page 28 of The Girlfriend Game
Thirteen
Zeke
My feet are glued to the floor.
I stand and stare at Kendall in disbelief, my brain not comprehending what this could potentially mean or what the fuck is actually happening right now.
She watches me with a dazed expression, her skin turning a shade of green like she might be ill.
I’m feeling a bit queasy myself.
I finally take a step forward, slowly slogging toward her until I reach her table. I cock my head to the side, furrowing my brow in question, hoping she has the answer to this bizarre situation. Tipping the bouquet of flowers at her, my words spill out of my mouth in a rush. “You’re not…you can’t be…are you?”
Kendall bites on her lower lip, fighting indecision and maybe even a wave of nausea by the way her brows knit together.
“Yes. Yes, I am,” she bemoans, dropping her gaze to her hands in her lap, her ponytail swaying to the side as she shakes her head. “I’m The Other Sister.”
The world does some sort of tip and bow, like I do out on the court with a pass fake, and I grab the chair to steady myself. Dragging the chair out, I sit down across from her, placing the bouquet on the table.
“Wow. Well, this is really awkward,” I acknowledge matter-of-factly, watching her reaction carefully for any sign she might bolt. “I didn’t see this coming.”
Her chin bobs in defeat and she keeps her eyes averted from me. “I should’ve known better.”
I reach a hand across the table, using my index finger to lift her chin. When she glances up, I give her my most charming smile and then a long and meaningful look.
“Hey, we didn’t know. I guess we found one of the drawbacks of the site.” I snicker.
Kendall rolls her eyes. “You think?”
I bend down so I can look her in the eyes.
“Hey, it could be worse,” I tease, gesturing with my palms up toward the ceiling, smiling cheesily. “At least I’m not the serial killer you thought I might turn out to be.”
This grants me a laugh, albeit a brief one. But at least it gives me an opening to keep the conversation going. It’s easy to see Kendall wants to shut it down.
But I don’t. I’m not opposed to this arrangement at all. I didn’t spend all this time getting to know Kendall online, developing a strong basis for a relationship, just to end it here and now because we know each other. Or the circumstances around how we are acquainted.
I don’t give up that easily.
Now that I know Kendall is The Other Sister, I find her even more appealing.
Of course, I thought she was gorgeous from the moment I met her. This only solidifies that she’s my dream girl. Beautiful, smart, amazing ass. She’s also independent and has a life of her own that she’s passionate about. Why wouldn’t I fall for her? I’d be stupid to just let her walk out of here and forget this thing ever happened between us.
Kendall is the first real connection I’ve made with a woman who wasn’t just interested in me because of my basketball career. The women in my past were either fangirls or hoop honeys who only wanted me for the notoriety and press they’d receive when seen out with me. It was shallow and baseless.
Kendall places a hand over her chest and offers me a plaintive smile. “I’m sorry things worked out this way, Zeke, because I really like you, and I enjoyed getting to know you as your Mountain Man persona. But you know we can’t move forward with this. It’s unethical for me to see patients outside of my practice.”
A bitter taste crawls up my throat and I swallow it down to rid myself of the unwanted thoughts. I don’t want this to negatively impact her career, but there has to be another course of action. I can’t just walk away from her.
“No.” I shake my head adamantly, watching as her eyes grow a darker shade of green.
“What do you mean, no? There’s no other option. I’m sorry.” Kendall begins to stand, the legs of the chair scraping against the cement floor. I halt her with a hand around her wrist.
“Please, Kendall. Don’t leave like this. What we started online is worth exploring further. We wouldn’t have made it this far to unlock the app if there wasn’t something between us.” I stand, desperate to keep talking. To keep her from leaving. “What if we just kept things casual? Just hung out over the summer while I’m in town. We wouldn’t have to call it dating. We could just be friends.”
She gives me an unconvincing glower, brows narrowing and her full lips, sparkling with a shimmer of pink gloss, pursing together.
“I can’t associate with you outside of the office, Zeke. Not even casually.”
