Total pages in book: 139
Estimated words: 130380 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 130380 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 652(@200wpm)___ 522(@250wpm)___ 435(@300wpm)
She took a bite while the rest of us offered her sympathetic looks of understanding.
“They’re idiots,” Giana said.
“Is there any other way you can play?” Julep asked. “Like a women’s league or something?”
I smiled a bit at Julep offering a solution, because this time last year, that girl was a walking rain cloud with no optimism or silver lining to be found. Holden had changed that.
“Actually, kind of,” Riley said with a shade of hope. “The Women’s Football Alliance. It’s a minor league, and the pay isn’t great, but… the Boston team is really good. They’ve already reached out with some interest.”
“See!” I said, nudging her knee.
Riley smiled on a nod. “Yeah. It’s cool. It’s just…”
“You should be able to play in the NFL,” Julep finished for her. “You should be able to at least have the chance.”
Riley shrugged, but we could all feel her agreement in the air. It was a tricky situation. To play on a field full of massive grown men could be dangerous for her. But as a kicker, would she really have that much contact anyway? And she wasn’t just a good kicker, she was the best one playing college ball right now.
But because she was a woman, she didn’t even have the chance to prove she could handle it.
I couldn’t imagine her frustration.
“Anyway, how’s the wedding planning?” Riley asked Julep.
“It’s great,” Julep said with a bright smile as she picked up a piece of chocolate. “If spending hours on seating charts and flower arrangements is your cup of tea.”
“Sounds fun!” Giana said, which made us all snort.
“It’s fine,” Julep added, without the sarcasm this time. “Mom has been helping a lot — which is… weird,” she admitted. “And also nice. I just wish Holden could help, too. And he wants to, but even riding the bench, the team gets ninety percent of his time. And I’m happy for him. He’s living his dream. And I know it’s just the season where he’ll be like this. I’ll have a little more of his time come February.”
“That’s why you planned the wedding for April, right?” Riley asked.
Julep nodded. “Yeah. And he helps when he can, but he’s tired after practice or games, and let’s be honest — what little time we get together, we’re not spending on filling out our registry.”
Giana waggled her brows at that.
“Does it ever freak you out?” I asked, trying not to project my own insecurities but failing. “Him on the road, all the women throwing themselves at him both in person and online…”
“It’s hard sometimes,” Julep admitted honestly. “I mean, any woman who says it’s not is lying. It doesn’t matter that I trust him, that I know he’d never do anything with anyone else. It’s still sharing, even if he’s not a participant. He’s part mine, and part the rest of the world’s, too.”
I nodded, a thick lump in my throat at the fact that it would be the same with Leo. Then, I mentally slapped myself for even thinking that far ahead when we’d literally just slept together. But I couldn’t help it. He’d been so engrained in my past, threaded through the very fabric of my being for so long… and now, he was in my present, saying things and touching me in ways that made me think he wanted me.
That was as exhilarating as it was terrifying.
“I’m excited for you,” I told Julep. “It’s going to be perfect. And tag us in if you need us. We’re here to help.”
She smiled her agreement, and after sucking a shot from the bottle of tequila, she handed it to me. “Okay. We’ve got the feelings tunnel lubed up. Are you finally going to tell us why you sent an S.O.S. text or are we going to have to hold you down and tickle it out of you?”
I winced as I drank from the bottle, even though it was nice tequila. We didn’t have a lime to polish it off with, so it burned every centimeter on the way down.
“I wish it was easy to explain. I feel like a crazy person,” I admitted.
“Why don’t you just start talking and see what comes up?” Giana offered.
So, I did.
I had to fill Julep in on why I had spent the last seven years hating Leo, since the other girls had heard the backstory before we went out the other night. Once she was caught up, I proceeded to tell them about the bar, about the scene he made with Nero and the blow up that followed when I chased him outside. When I told them about the tattoo, they freaked out and demanded photos, and then, I told them about what happened when we got home.
Although, I left out all the details, because my friends didn’t need to know I peeled a Magnum off Leo’s gargantuan cock and licked him clean.