Chapter 26Annie
Chapter 26
Annie
NOVEMBER | Balance: $49,382
Nick and I sat at a high-top table against the wall at a dive bar near his place, sharing a basket of mozzarella sticks. The basic domestic beer tasted perfect after a long day at the rink, and some fooling around. We were laughing about this one look Guy gets when Kitty hurts his feelings the tiniest bit.
“Are you coming to their Thanksgiving? Or are you headed to see your family?” Nick asked.
“Oh, yeah, I’ll be there. I can’t afford to go home right now.”
I said it, then immediately wished I hadn’t. Nick’s mozzarella stick hovered above the marinara sauce cup between us as he studied me. “Aren’t flights from LAX pretty cheap?”
My eyes wandered the room, wanting to be anywhere but in this conversation. He realized his blunder.
“Sorry. Not trying to rub it in.” He reached for my hand across the table. “If you want to go home, Annie, I’ll buy your flight.”
I swallowed hard. “No, it’s fine. Thanksgivings are hard anyway since Mom’s been gone.”
His thumb stroked over my knuckles. “Yeah, you said it was her favorite?”
I made an expression somewhere between a wince and a smile. “Yeah. It was. We always spent all morning making pies to take to my grandma’s.”
Nick’s lips curled up as he waited for me to go on, then picked up that I wasn’t going to elaborate. I couldn’t elaborate. It had been five years and I still couldn’t talk about her without getting choked up. “How many siblings do you have?”
“Four. Isn’t that crazy? I’m the oldest of five. My youngest sister is still in elementary school.”
“That explains a lot. You have big-time oldest child energy.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You’re the golden child. You have your shit together.”
I snickered. “Minus the part where I keep getting tangled up in secret love affairs.”
Nick tipped his head. “Everybody’s gotta have some kind of vice.”
I threw my napkin at him and he cracked up. “I’m teasing you, Markham. It’s not your fault. Shit happens. Not like I’ve had a squeaky-clean life.”
“Yeah, you mentioned that. It’s hard for me to picture you as some kind of love criminal. What’s the story there?”
He took a sip of his beer, shaking his head. “In short, I fell in love with my freshman roommate. He had a girlfriend back home that his parents expected him to marry after college. But we were . . . something. I always held out hope that he’d pick me.”
I nodded, chewing my lip. “I get that.”
“I know you do. I think it’s why I like you so much.” His gaze captured mine, a sad smile curling over his lips.
I raised my glass. “Well, here’s to being fucked-up golden children.”
“Now fucking up together,” he said, clinking his pint glass to mine. We both tapped the table before taking a drink, then pointed to each other.
“Hey, you do the thing!” he said.
“You do too!” I laughed. “You must be superstitious.”
“Of course I am. I’m a goalie.”
“Is your underwear on inside out right now?”
“No, but it will be for the game tomorrow,” he chuckled. “I’m actually a terrible player. I’m just propped up on superstitions.”
He took my fingers in his palm again, stroking his thumb over my nails. “Love these nails, Annie. They’re always done up. I picture you having a little gossip in the nail salon.”
I snorted. “That’s cute, but I do my own. It’s one of my ways to relax at home. A cheap thrill, if you will,” I said. “But thanks for noticing.”
His gaze burned into mine with a soft smile lighting his lips. “I notice everything about you, angel.”
The bartender called our food order, which Nick got up to get.
“You gonna come watch me tomorrow?” he asked as we sorted out whose burger was whose.
I shook my head. “Eating up all my weekend days, Oberbeck.”
“Surely you’re going with Kitty,” he said. “And now you have my jersey to wear.”
“Don’t you think that’s going to be suspicious?”
“You’re my agent! You’re supposed to support me! You win when I win!”
“Yeah, well, I won’t win if I lose this job. I don’t have a milli in the bank.” I bit into my pickle, the perfect texture and sourness. “Shit, that’s a good pickle.”
“You want mine?” He held his up.
“Do you not like them?”
“No, I do, but if you love it that much, I want you to have it.”
While he was dangling his pickle over my basket, a familiar face cleared through the thick of people. “Jesus, Nick. Dev is here.”
I slumped down at first, but Nick gave me a scathing look. “It’s going to look more obvious if you hide,” he murmured. “We have an excuse. I’m taking you out as a thanks for today.”
He was right. I turned directly to Dev and waved. He held the hand of a very beautiful woman, approaching us with a big smile.
Dev and Nick exchanged a bro hug and Dev gave me a quick hug. I shook hands with his wife, Priya. “What brings you two out on a Saturday night?” Dev asked, giving me a quick glance.
“Annie was a big help with the goalie school today. The photographer had to cancel last minute, so she had to step up. I felt bad for stealing her Saturday, so the least I could do was buy her dinner.”
“Yeah, Nick had my ass on skates today. He owed me,” I added.
Priya laughed. “That’s going above and beyond, that’s for sure.”
“Right? I deserve a trophy for my performance.”
“You guys wanna join us?” Nick offered. “There’s a couple chairs over there.”
“Oh, no, we’re meeting some friends for drinks. You guys live in the neighborhood?”
“I’m not far in Manhattan Beach. Annie’s in—” Nick started, then realized he shouldn’t admit that he knew where I lived.
“I’m in Westmont,” I said with a smile.
Dev nodded. “Nice. Well, we won’t keep you. Nice seeing you outside the office. Both of you.”
We exchanged “nice to meet you” with his wife and they disappeared to the other side of the bar.
“It was good to see Dev,” Nick said as they walked away. I gave him dagger eyes. He lowered his voice. “What? You can’t just stop talking till they walk away. It’s way too obvious.”
“What did ‘both of you’ mean?” I hissed.
“Don’t read too much into it. It’s probably fine.”
“Yeah, right. He’s been gunning for me since I got you in exchange for Guy.”
“I’m sure it’s fine,” Nick said. My leg bounced under the table on my barstool. Nick looked me in the eye as he placed a gentle hand on my thigh to stop it. “It’s going to be okay, Annie.”
We finished dinner, left a tip, and headed out. Nick put a soft hand on my lower back to usher me out the door but quickly pulled it away. “Sorry,” he mumbled as he waved over his head to Dev and Priya.
Nick walked me to the passenger door of his truck, but before he opened it, he put my back against it. I looked around, making sure we were fully alone and out of view of the restaurant.
He stroked his thumb along my cheekbone. “Hey. I’m sorry about that. I’m sure it’ll be fine, but know that if it’s not, I’ve got you, okay?”
“What do you mean, you’ve got me? This is my career, Nick. It’s how I make money. Feed myself. You’re just in an exclusive fucking-around relationship with me. That has nothing to do with how I eat and pay my bills.” I shifted, not meeting his eyes. “I wanna go home.”
He folded his lips between his teeth. “If you really want to go home, I’ll take you. But it’s not just fucking around for me, Annie. I care about you.”
“We can’t have feelings, Nick. This can’t be.”
“What about friend feelings?”
I looked up to find his eyes earnest. “Friend feelings with physical stuff? You can handle that?”
“I’m a big boy. I can handle it.” He leaned to kiss under my ear, making me squirm. “But I’m feeling pretty needy physically.”
I huffed a laugh. “You might make me a little needy too.”