13. Allie
Chapter thirteen
Allie
“ C lose the door!” I say, ripping the comforter off the bed and only partly succeeding. I grunt and pull harder, then give up, haphazardly wrapping it around my body. Though why I’m acting shy in front of Kenz, who is basically a sister to me, is beside the point.
Probably because getting a spray tan naked together is clinical and not weird. But being naked in her brother’s bedroom while he is basically naked in bed is a whole different thing entirely. I glare at her.
“Leave!” I hiss. “You can’t be in here.”
She drops her jaw in shock at my words. “I can’t be in here!” She closes the door and stands guard in front of it, as if I have any intention of leaving without clothes on. “You can’t be in here, Allie. What the hell is going on?!”
I look at Jake, who has taken a pillow and put it over himself, looking between us as if this is my problem and not his, too.
She holds up my phone. “I’ve been calling you since six o’clock. I needed you to come get me from David’s house. He’s amazing, by the way. Not that you answered any of my twenty-five texts about him last night. I could have been kidnapped and by the time you get out of my brother’s bed,” she turns up her nose, “this morning, I would have been in Timbuktu!”
I just sputter at her. “This isn’t about you.”
“Oh, right. It’s about you and my big brother.”
We glare at each other and then she sighs.
Jake takes that moment to finally speak up. “Have fun last night?”
I stare at him. Why is he inciting her?
Kenz looks at her brother with narrowed eyes. “None of your business. I’m almost thirty years old,” she says coolly.
“Huh, imagine that. An adult wanting to be treated like an adult.” Jake gloats at her.
Kenz groans and rolls her eyes so hard that they may not recover. She looks at her brother’s smug face and then at my angry one. “Oh my God. Fine! You two can do what you want. But literally, not in front of me. That is so gross.”
I relax just enough to realize that I’m still in a predicament. “I need my clothes.”
Kenz looks at me with the comforter half pulled off the bed and wrapped around me and then at Jake with his silly little pillow over his covered up crotch and a smile quirks her lips up. Then, she starts to laugh. “You have no idea how ridiculous you both look.”
I can’t join in the humor. “Kenz, I’m serious. Coach came by already looking for Jake and asking where I was. This is a big deal—it’s my job on the line!”
Kenz sniffs at me, her humor gone. “Well, you should have thought about that before you did… whatever you did with my brother last night.” She shudders and makes a barfing sound.
“You are so immature,” I mumble.
She scoffs. “Well, at least I don’t shit where I eat.”
At that, I groan out a protest, and Jake throws a spare pillow at her. “Get the woman some clothes, Mackenzie Williams,” he barks out.
She takes the hint and slips out of the room, tossing me my phone and swearing that if I ever disappear on her again, she’ll go straight to Ron and tattle on me. And honestly, in her most immature moments, I do think she’s capable of it.
She’s back in five minutes, a smug expression on her face. I see that she’s wiped off last night’s makeup and also taken the liberty of putting some leggings of mine on along with a tank top.
She holds up the clothes as if they’re the last meal on earth and I’m a starving captive. “You’ll never believe who I just ran into.”
Jake is showered and dressed in record time, breezing by me as I stand still wrapped in the comforter. He pulls it apart in the back just enough to smack my naked rear end, subtly enough that only I know it happened. I give him a look and he laughs.
“You are no help at all,” I mutter to him.
He tries to sidle past his sister, but she stops him. “Um, let me guess. Coach.” Jake looks bored, his go to face when he wants to get results fast, I’ve noticed.
“Nope. Strike one. Try again.” Kenz says heartlessly, holding my clothes away from me and Jake.
He shrugs at her.
“Gator. And guess who arranged for everyone to gather outside on the back deck for a nice, cozy little breakfast?” She preens like a queen. “Me. So now you both owe me. You,” she jabs her chin at Jake, “can sneak into breakfast without raising an eyebrow from anyone. And you,” she looks at me, “can sneak into your room not in yesterday’s clothes.”
Jake pats her head like she’s five and not in her late twenties. “Aw, look who finally caught up to the plan Allie and I made like half an hour ago. Without you.”
Kenz fumes at her brother while he looks back at me. “You okay?” he asks.
I don’t even know how to answer that question, so I just shrug. As Jake leaves, Kenz throws the clothes at me, making sure I know that while she’s going to play nice, she’s not going to play too nice. She’ll make me earn her good graces again. I groan, grab the clothes as the two of them leave the room, and slip them on before listening hard at the door. Then, when all is silent in the house, I dash to my room, cheeks burning.
***
“You can go outside and eat, you know,” the cool voice of the chef makes me jump.
I am piling eggs and toast into my plate, planning to eat alone in the living room while going over Jake’s rehabilitation plans for the day. Jake, Kenz, Dr. Jones, and Coach, along with Gator and another two players I don’t know well, are all outside talking and laughing while they eat.
I gather my nerve, remembering that no one knows of any lines I crossed with Jake last night. “I prefer to get to work,” I say evasively, glancing up at her. “Sorry, I never caught your name.”
“Jennifer.” She watches me like a hawk. “You’re not his usual type, you know.”
I chortle. What the heck would a chef know about Jake’s type? I feign ignorance. “Dr. Jones?” I say, knowing Coach is too old for me to pretend that she’s referring to him.
She doesn’t crack a smile. “All athletes are the same. I never slept with him or any of them. But my sister is a bartender and part time dancer.” Her eyes look out the window. “Those guys out there are wild. Trust me. And Jake, he likes his women glamorous, skinny, leggy, and very, very busty.” Her eyes drop to my boobs. “At least you check one of those boxes. Sort of.”
I clench my jaw and don’t reply. If she wants to be mean, then let her. But I’m not going to let her plant seeds of doubt in my mind. Jake did do a lot of typical jock things in his twenties. But he’s not that guy anymore. At least, that’s what I’m led to believe. I grip my plate tightly, try to give her a knowing little smirk, and then retreat to the living room.
But I’ve lost my appetite. I feel small. Insignificant. Why does it always come back to this with Jake? We have an amazing connection. Amazing sex. And then someone has to remind me that he’s a player. That he likes to sleep with lots of different women. I’m not sure I want to keep feeling this way.
Jennifer follows me into the living room, holding out silverware. I realize in my haste to leave that I forgot it. She pushes her red hair behind her ear as I take the offered fork and knife.
“Thanks,” I say in a clipped tone.
“Men like him make every sexual encounter feel exciting. They make sure you feel like you’re the only one. But you’re not. Just check his phone. My sister said that they make sport of all the women they lead on and sext with. I’m just a girl looking out for another girl,” she says, holding up her hands as if she’s innocent. And maybe she is. Maybe she’s just a nice girl who doesn’t want to see me get hurt.
I fiddle with the fork and knife, then give up pretending to have an appetite, placing them by the plate.
“I’ve known Jake since I was a kid.” I know I’m not reasoning with her. I’m reasoning with myself, trying to ignore the red flags that everyone else seems to see.
“I’m sorry,” Jennifer says in an icy voice. “But reality sucks. And you need to run far and fast before it’s too late.”
I jerk up to look at her. “Excuse me? Are you threatening me?”
She laughs without humor. “Nope. That’s not my place. I mean, before you fall for this a-hole, have you even looked him up online? Have you seen all the crap that’s written about him?”
I gulp. I have not done that. I’ve seen some recent headlines. But I haven’t intentionally gone out there online looking for bad things about him.
“Why do you care?” I ask her as she turns to go.
“I have six close friends, and my sister has friends. And none of them but me have escaped the clutches of a hockey player. Between the pro team and the b players, hockey players in Charlotte are a dime a dozen.” Her face drops, and she looks hurt. “I was lucky. But some girls I know weren’t. Just… watch your back. Don’t trust any of those guys.”
She leaves me there, sitting in my own feelings. But I can’t feel much. I’m numb.
“Hey,” Kenz says, smelling like bacon as she sits beside me, munching on a slice of bacon in her hand.
I look at her with tortured eyes. “Tell me everything you know about your brother. I think I made a big mistake in sleeping with him.”
She wrinkles her nose. “Never say that to me—that is so gross!” Then she sees that I’m serious and she grabs a piece of my toast, munching on it, surveying me. “Okay. What do you want to know?”
I take a deep breath and then say, “All the dirt. Every nasty thing. Even if it’ll hurt to hear it. I deserve to know the other side of your brother.”
Kenz leans back, pressing her lips together. “Well, it’s your funeral. But okay.”
She takes my hand and squeezes it, leading me to my room. With every step I take, I feel less and less certain of my life choices ever since I first started working with the Eagles.