Page 24 of Play Hard
That was a partial lie. While I wasn’t as heartbroken as I guess I should’ve been when faced with the evidence of my fiancé’s infidelity, I didn’t like my business in the streets. But, I understood this was part of the game, that rich and famous game so many people thought they wanted above all else.
I’d been groomed for it, my parents deciding the moment I let out my first cry that I would marry well and live the same wealthy lifestyle they had. Unfortunately, I’d wanted something different. Something just as rewarding but far less spectacular.
“Good,” Portia said. “But if you need to talk, you know we’re here.”
I nodded.
“Thanks.” I didn’t want to talk about this anymore. Didn’t want to sit with the reality that finding out Lindsey Loren was pregnant had cut me deep. Adrian was adamant he didn’t want kids yet, wanted to play in the league for a few more years before he started a family. While I’d already shared with him that I planned to have all the babies that would ever come outof me before my fortieth birthday. I had seven years left on that declaration, and if I didn’t make it, it would be solely because I’d changed my mind. Not because some dumbass guy didn’t know how to keep his dick in his pants and gave his seed to someone else.
“I’m fine,” I said, because I would be.
For the first week or so after Lindsey called my phone, giving me a heads-up that she was about to go public with her soon-to-be baby daddy, I felt like crap. Physically and emotionally. I had the headache from hell for ten days straight and was weighed down by disappointment and fatigue. I’d been working my ass off to close this last deal for Adrian and a few other big endorsement deals for different clients. And exhausted from traveling back and forth with Adrian for the playoff games. After the first two weeks, I realized all my symptoms were a result of stress, not necessarily a broken heart. I knew well how that felt. When I got the call from Michaela that they’d received notification from the commissioner about Adrian’s gambling and their off-the-record hinting that I might be tangled in that mess as well, I spent the weekend curled in a ball on my bathroom floor, rotating between crying and vomiting what felt like everything I’d ever eaten in my entire thirty-three years of life.
“Things between Adrian and I weren’t that great,” I continued when I noticed the women were just staring at me.
“Still, that’s gotta be hard to deal with,” Rylan replied. “Like she said, we’re here if you need anything.”
I managed a weak smile. “Thanks.” I didn’t need anything but to keep doing what I’d been doing these last two weeks. Being in Providence was a great distraction.
No, that wasn’t accurate. The distraction wasn’t this town…it was him.
A glance over Portia’s shoulder put Noah in my line of sight. He jogged down the stairs coming from the Sky Box lounge area. Dressed in dark jeans—blue, I think—and a white Game Changers T-shirt, with crisp white tennis on his feet, he looked amazing. He always had a fresh cut and line-up and his muscled biceps peeking from beneath the short sleeve of his shirt always made my mouth water. His body had only gotten more cut, more magnificent in the years we’d been apart. I noticed every morning we ran together or met at the gym.
I don’t even know how those meetups started. Well, no, I do know how they started…two days after our reunion in the elevator when I’d literally run into him at the park. Then, again, the Monday after he’d brought me to the most intense release I’d felt in years, he’d been parked at the end of the driveway when I came out to get into my car. After the good ten minutes of argument I’d given him, I still ended up climbing into the passenger seat of his black Raptor and he drove me to the park. After that, Noah was at the lake house at quarter to five every morning. We decided on the drive if it was going to be a running day or a gym day. The two days in a row that it rained helped make the decision as well.
“Oh yeah,” Camy said, turning in her seat to follow my gaze. “Your ass is definitely fine as long as you’ve got Noah driving you around town.”
“What?” I scrunched my forehead as I tore my gaze away from Noah to look at Camy. “He doesn’t drive me around town.”
“I saw you in his truck yesterday morning when I was heading to the community center.” Camy was a music teacher at the middle school, so it didn’t really make sense that she would be on her way to work that early in the morning. But I, unlike the rest of the women at this table it seemed, knew when to mind my business.
Portia raised her hand slowly, as if we were sitting in a classroom instead of a bar. “I saw you leaving the Lofts together on Tuesday morning.”
All eyes went to Rylan then. She shrugged, her wavy, shoulder length black hair with gold highlights moving with the effort. “My sighting was secondhand,” she said. “Del told me he’d seen the two of you leaving the gym and getting in Noah’s truck as he pulled up to the Lofts for his workout.”
“Well, damn,” I said. “Small towns do have a lot of eyes.”
It was Camy’s turn to reach over and grab my hand. “But in the best way. I mean, at least from us you know it’s all love. You and Noah look great together. Why’d you breakup in college?”
Camy had no filter and no pause. She said exactly what she thought in the moment she thought it and was totally unapologetic about that shit.
“Subtle, Cam. Real subtle.” Rylan rolled her eyes.
I was saved by the server who came to take our drink orders. Last week at Lakeside, in addition to learning who was coupled with whom in this trio of dynamic women, I was introduced to one of their group practices. Anytime the women hung out, they rotated who would pick the signature drink for the night. It had been Camy’s choice last week, tonight it was Rylan’s.
“You and this damn fixation on chocolate.” Camy shook her head at Rylan. “Guess we’re drinking chocolate martinis tonight.”
Portia raised her hand again, and I started to wonder if the way she kept doing this was directly related to her being an instructor. “I’ll have nachos and a ginger ale,” she said and cleared her throat.
I didn’t miss the quizzical looks on Camy and Rylan’s faces, but it was my turn to order. “I’ll have the crab balls and Old Bay fries.”
After a nod and smile, the server left and Camy immediately went in with, “How come you get to skip the drink of the night?”
“Yeah, I drank that peach bellini you said you loved because of the pretty color,” Rylan added. “And you know fruity drinks aren’t my favorite.”
Portia sat back in her chair and cupped a hand to her flat stomach. “Well, the little one I’m growing in here would prefer I not start introducing her to our drink of the night tradition.”
Both Camy and Rylan’s eyes ballooned, and my lips slowly lifted into a smile.
