Total pages in book: 124
Estimated words: 122514 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 613(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 408(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 122514 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 613(@200wpm)___ 490(@250wpm)___ 408(@300wpm)
It was ruthless, but so captivating, and I was back at my high school gym, watching my brother throw up a winning shot. It was the end of the fourth. Three seconds on the clock, which could get stalled out to twelve seconds, plus a time out.
Adrenaline bounced around inside of me.
I was on my feet yelling, and I didn’t give a thought what happened with Marie. If I’d been a long-term thing, if things had been serious with Reese and me, then maybe. But I wasn’t. We meant something, but that was all I could deal with.
I did keep an eye out for Marie on the off chance I saw her on the way out.
I sent Reese a text, letting him know I got separated from Marie. But he never replied, so after waiting a while, I decided to take things into my own hands. I headed out, calling an Uber, and I looked up a hotel on the north end of Seattle. It was a 3-star, so I was hoping I could get a room if worse came to worst.
For now, I got out and headed for the hotel’s bar.
Then I waited, an empty sensation settling on my chest.
REESE
“What do you mean she’s missing?”
Marie held her hands up, arms wide, and panicked—right here in the team waiting room at the stadium. She’d been on the verge of panic since she first came to me, telling me Charlie wasn’t in the seats when she went to sit with her.
“I don’t know. I gave her the tickets. Candace kept asking me questions, so I couldn’t get away as fast as I wanted, and when I got there, she wasn’t there. We didn’t exchange numbers, and I kept asking you for her number, but you weren’t answering either.”
“Fuck!” I threw my head back, raking my hand through my hair.
I’d showered after the game, knowing Juan wanted us to go to his place for a low-key party. But I was fucking agitated. Roman had been here. Word had gotten to me. I’d tried to have him banned from the stadium, but there was only so much security could do. He’d gotten in and was live-tweeting the game until they’d found him and escorted him out.
“I forgot my phone at the house. Stan was being a dick—”
“Hey!”
I didn’t even look. “You were, asshole. No wonder she ditched. She said she would.”
Juan was laughing, shaking his head.
“Thanks, man.”
“Hey.” He lounged back on a couch and spread his arms on both sides of him. “Your girl, she was a trip at camp, and she’s still being trippy. She’s hilarious.”
Marie sat down, perched on the edge until he wrapped a hand around her shoulder. Juan tugged her back.
“I like her,” she said. “Go find her, and make sure she’s fine.”
That was the plan—but fucking hell. That meant a drive to my place. Post-game traffic sucked getting anywhere.
“Where would she have gone?” Stan asked.
I whipped around to my manager. “Now? Now you want to be helpful? And why are you here? Roman’s been kicked out. My order of protection was served to him. Your job is done.”
He tugged his blazer shut, smoothing it down. “You just had a game. Your new girlfriend is missing, and I feel like I had a hand in it.”
Juan kept laughing, the sound getting louder.
Marie was giggling with him. “It’s not that funny.” She let out another giggle.
I gave her a look. “You sure you didn’t go to the wrong seats?”
She hiccupped, shooting upright. “What are you saying?”
“How much have you had to drink?”
“Oh, dude.” Juan groaned.
Marie was on her feet, advancing to me. “Are you kidding? Do you know what I put your girl through? I railed her ass up and down and sideways, and then I flipped her over, and she took it. All of it, until she put me in my place… I forgot why I started with that.” Her fight left her quickly.
Juan tugged her back down next to him.
“I might’ve drunk too much tonight,” she admitted.
“It was a good game, wasn’t it?”
She turned to Juan. “Yeah, baby. You were amazing.”
They began nuzzling each other.
“You guys are all fucking worthless to me.”
I wanted to do violence—to someone, my manager, Roman, anyone at this point. Charlie was alone. She wouldn’t have been allowed to stay in the stadium this long. Security would’ve kicked her out. We were waiting out the traffic in the team’s waiting room, and I couldn’t do a damn thing. I needed to get home, get my phone, and then get her ass back. Now. Five hours ago. Yesterday even.
The panic almost choked me.
“You really like her, huh?”
I didn’t respond to Marie.
“I’m sure she’s fine.”
“She doesn’t know where I live. I picked her up from the airport just this morning.”
I was helpless. And I hated feeling helpless. She couldn’t have just asked a stadium employee where to wait for players, because how many people tried that route? It was an unofficial rule. If a player wanted someone to know where they were, they told them how to get there. Too many fans had tried before, and everyone had been on alert anyway because of Roman.