Total pages in book: 160
Estimated words: 155798 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 779(@200wpm)___ 623(@250wpm)___ 519(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 155798 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 779(@200wpm)___ 623(@250wpm)___ 519(@300wpm)
I bit off a growl as he strode back inside. I went right after him, having never imagined myself in this position or that this was how the night would go. He went to a table, and I cut through to the area where Olvander and I always sat. He and Billie were in the back booth, her head barely visible as she was scrunched all the way against the wall. When I got there, Olvander was laughing his ass off—bent over, his beer spilling because his body was shaking, and he pounded the table with his hand. “I can’t even! My man. My boy. And you—I should’ve stayed.” He let out a long laugh, resting his hand on his chest. “I’m going to regret that for so long.” He saw me, and his head tipped back in another round of laughter, loud and not caring about the attention he was attracting.
I ignored him. “I’d like to give you a ride home,” I told Billie.
She had stopped laughing, her eyes getting big, just like all the other times I’d been forward with her. She was so unlike the other women I came in contact with. So many of them were the aggressors. I hardly had to say anything. But here Billie was, always having a different reaction to me. I never knew what I was going to get.
I caught movement behind me, and saw the date coming in.
“Billie, I’d like to give you a ride home,” he said.
“I…” Her eyes trailed behind me as he rounded my side and stood next to me.
He stopped short at the sight of Olvander. “Whoa. Hi.” He smirked, motioning between Ole and me. “Do all footballers hang out like this? I heard some do and some don’t.”
I growled. “So glad you found us. Now you can go. I’ll give Billie a ride home.”
“I—” Billie started.
“I brought her. She’s my date,” the guy countered. “I’ll make sure she gets home safely.”
I faced him. “She will, because I’ll take her.”
“I don’t think so. Lo entrusted her to me. Lo has no idea who you are.”
“She will when I introduce myself, when I get her home.”
“She doesn’t live with Lo.”
“We’ll make a stop on the way.”
“Then you’d be interrupting either bath time, teeth-brushing time, or if the kids went to bed early, something else.” His grin was tight. “I don’t think that’d be a great first impression.”
I narrowed my eyes. “You have an answer for everything?”
“Pretty much, yeah.” His grin became more relaxed, and he settled back on his feet. His shoulders loosened. “Look. Get her number. Let me take her home. I brought her here. It goes against the man I am to not make sure she gets home safe.”
“And for you to take your shot.”
He shrugged. “You’ve had two shots.”
“You’ve had six months where you could’ve gotten that done.”
“A woman like that you’d wait years for, and you know it.”
He had me there, and seeing that, he scanned the rest of the table. His head whipped around. “Wai—where’d she go?”
“Oh yeah.” Olvander lounged, one of his arms along the back of the booth. “She called an Uber thirty seconds ago, but keep going. I am thoroughly enjoying this. I don’t need to talk about my wife anymore. I got that hashed out with her before you two even joined us. Also, Kayla will love meeting her.”
Travis cursed, reaching for his wallet as he took off.
I wasn’t going to race him out of the place. Billie’d be gone by now. I was starting to know her, and I knew that much. I slid into her vacated seat. “You called Fred?” Fred was Olvander’s cousin, and on the nights when Ole wanted to drink, Fred was his driver.
Ole beamed. “I called Fred. He’ll get her home.”
I knew he would. I’d witnessed Fred’s ability to handle himself. He had skills, and I never wanted to ask where he’d gotten them.
I’d not gotten her phone number. I’d not asked where she lived. I didn’t know that Travis guy’s last name, or what Lo’s full name was.
Fred wouldn’t tell me if she didn’t want me to know. The only thing better now than an hour ago was that I’d gotten to her.
I’d gotten under her skin. That meant something.
“I was going to draw this out. I was going to enjoy watching you wallow in your misery, but I can’t handle the fucking crestfallen look on your face.” Ole pulled out a slip of paper he’d hidden under his napkin and slid it over to me. “She left her digits for you.”
I snatched it up. “I got her number?”
“You got her number.” He studied me thoughtfully. “First time I’ve seen you like this.”
I didn’t respond to that, but it was the first time for myself as well. I wasn’t sure I liked it, but I was sure I liked her.