Chapter 25
Chapter Twenty-Five
Rochelle
“Excuse me,” a handsome voice calls from across the front desk.
I look up into the most thrilling pair of green eyes and smile.
“Last time I was here, I fell in love with the most gorgeous woman in the world.” I put my hand on my hip to sass him, but decide instead to let him have his way as he rounds the corner and takes my breath away.
Dressed in his uniform, ready to go to the field, my mouth waters as he pulls his ball cap lower on his head.
“You see, I couldn’t help falling in love with her. She came barreling into my world, almost fell at my feet, too, when she came stumbling out of that supply closet.”
“Is that so?” I grin. His eyes dart up to the closet in question before settling back on mine.
“Mhm,” he murmurs, as he grabs me around my waist and the world around us seizes to exist. “You see, she stole my heart that day, and something tells me, I’ll never get it back.”
“Well, she sounds like a smart woman,” I whisper, as he pulls me closer.
“And how do you reckon that?” He asks with a grin.
“Well, for starters…”
“Hmm?” He teases.
“If I had a chance to score a guy like you,” I say, as his lips rest above mine. “I wouldn’t give you back either.”
Tipping his ball cap back, his lips crush against mine with tender admiration, as he presses me up against the back wall.
His clean scent from his pregame shower, his soft uniform, his chiseled abs and arms, his tempting length hardening, it all clouds my thoughts.
He fists his hands in my hair and attempts to deepen the kiss just as Melissa, my boss, says, “Hey, Romeo, hands off the staff. I don’t care how good you look in your uniform. ”
We spin around and she gives us both a wink before going back to cutting a woman’s hair. Glancing back at Hunter, he gives me a devilish grin.
“You know, the first time I met her, I wasn’t sure I liked her too much,” he says.
“Really? Melissa is like a second mom to me. She’s the one that helped convince me to go back to school, along with Momma, after I begged her time and again for a job here.”
I steal a glance back over at the woman across the room and silently thank her for taking a chance on me when no one else in the world seemed like they would. Until Hunter, that is.
“Well, then I like her even more, Angel,” he grins before changing the subject. “What time are you done here?”
“Not until eight,” I pout. “Melissa needs some help closing up tonight. We are down a stylist, and if we get any walk-ins, she said she’d let me take them since I’m barely a week away from being licensed.”
Hunter looks over at Melissa and around the shop before looking back into my eyes.
“Well, my game is at four. I should be done and out of there by 7:30, I’ll swing back by and pick you up.
I’ve got a mad craving for something…” he kisses my right cheek and whispers, “Warm.” He kisses my left cheek.
“Sweet.” His lips hover above mine. “Wet and fucking willing.” He crushes his lips against mine.
This time, my mouth opens and grants him access.
His tongue brushes against mine only once, but it does so so seductively it steals my breath away.
He breaks our contact and leaves me sex-crazed, glued in one spot, mouth agape from his comment.
He rounds the corner and winks at me once before pushing out into the southern California sun.
Shaking my head a few times, I try to focus on what I was doing before he walked in.
Still wrapped up in thoughts about what exactly Hunter plans to do to me later, I startle when the door chimes and two girls walk in.
A redhead and her blonde best friend walk toward me, giggling and caught up in their own conversation.
“Can I help you?” I ask once they have reached the counter.
The blonde looks at me and smiles. “Hey, yeah sorry,” she says. “We both just need an updo. Do you have time to fit us in?”
I look at Melissa who nods as she finishes up the girl’s hair that she is working on and takes the drape off of her shoulders. “Sure, we should be able to. What are your names?”
“I’m Eva Monroe and this is Gwen,” the woman says as I write their names down in the log. “Gwen Coppola.” She peers over the counter, watching to see if I spell their names right. I look up surprised.
“God Ev, give the girl some space. You’re not a journalist yet. Who cares how she spells our names?” The redhead, Gwen, says as she looks at me and winks.
Melissa makes her way over and rings up her client. As the woman turns to leave, she glances at the two girls in front of me and smiles. “Up-dos huh? Fancy plans tonight?”
Gwen squeals as Eva rolls her eyes. “I’ll say, only one of the biggest sorority parties Long Beach State throws every year. And this year, I got my BFF here to celebrate with.”
“I hate parties,” Eva says with a roll of her eyes.
Gwen pushes her and huffs. “Shut it, Ev, suck it up. We’re only young once.
One day, you’ll be old and married and you won’t have time for luxuries such as this.
You’ll be too busy wondering what baby needs changing or which beer your husband is on while your ass gets stuck with housework! Live it up while you can!”
Both girls round the corner as Melissa ushers them back for a shampoo and looks at me with a grin.
“Yeah, that’ll be the day,” Eva says while I grab a bottle of our finest wash and motion for her to sit in a chair.
Melissa does the same and I watch as Gwen takes the seat next to her.
“You won’t catch me shacked up anytime soon.
Goals Girl! It would take one hell of a man to knock me off my feet and make me lose sight of what I want most. And that sure as shit ain’t him pounding back beers while I am barefoot and pregnant in the damn kitchen. ”
Gwen laughs. “I’ll remember you said that.”
“Remember it. Write it down. Take a picture. Just promise me this. If I ever, ever, lose sight of what is most important to me, you’ll kick me in my ass and make sure I get my head back in the game. Some things just aren’t worth giving up everything you ever wanted.”
She’s got that right. I take the faucet and start to wet Eva’s hair as she adjusts in her seat. But still, I can’t help but think that given the right man, at the right place and time she would quickly find herself back stepping on that promise.
Gwen laughs. “I’ll remember you said that, Ev. But trust me, sometimes, even meeting someone at the wrong place and wrong time can twist you, turn you, make you wish you had a second chance. If only for one night.”
Something about what she says hits home. I pause for a moment as her words resonate.
“Oh, you’re getting deep on us now. Anyone, in particular, you have in mind, Gwendolyn? You wouldn’t be talking about someone with the last name Roberts now would you?”
I lather up the blonde’s hair and look up at Melissa. She smiles back and gives me a wink, trying to conceal a laugh she has been holding in. The one thing about this line of business, you hear everyone’s gossip, if you want to or not.
Gwen lets out a huff and waits a moment to respond.
“That’s what I thought,” Eva says with a laugh.
“Fucking Rex Roberts, why do you always assume I am talking about him?” Gwen says as she leans up and tries to look at her friend, causing Melissa to have to ask her to sit back because she is getting shampoo and water everywhere.
“I’m just saying,” Eva shrugs. “There is a lot there that you aren’t telling me, or anyone else for that matter. Hell, I think you’re even lying to yourself.”
“When I need your holier than thou opinion I’ll ask for it, Eva Monroe,” Gwen snaps before lying back in the chair. Eva looks up at me and winks, laughing at the way it is too easy to obviously rile her friend up on the subject of whoever Rex Roberts is.
Still, the name sounds familiar, and yet I still can’t place it.
“You know, I ran into his cocky ass yesterday at the bar,” Gwen says as she settles back in the seat.
“You don’t say,” Eva says, looking up at me with a wink.
“Well, not so much as ran into him but overheard him talking to a friend. I stopped because I heard his friend ask him what happened to his nose. When I turned to look, the damn bastard sure as hell broke it, or had it broken by someone else.”
We finish wrapping the girl’s hair in towels to dry and Melissa ushers them to two chairs. She hands me a drape and I wrap it around Eva’s shoulders before stepping on the lever under the seat and adjusting her height.
“Well, who broke it? God, stupid Rex. I swear that man has given me more heart attacks with the shit he pulls throughout the years. Sometimes, I wish he wasn’t my brother’s best friend at all,” Eva says.
Gwen rolls her eyes before continuing. “I don’t know, never met him. But I swear I overheard Rex say his name was Hunter. He plays ball for the university’s baseball team.”
My heart stills and I look at Gwen. “Hunter Alexander?” I ask, dumbfounded and needing answers.
“Yeah, you know him?” Gwen asks, but I am too shocked to speak. I look up at Melissa who gives me a concerned look and starts to brush out her client’s hair. “Anyways, I guess they got in some stupid male fight because this Hunter guy is who Rex is supposed to room with next year at Ole Miss.”
The brush drops from my hand and bangs against the tile. My heart drops to the pit of my stomach. I look up at Eva in the mirror. She gives me an odd expression before turning to her friend. Grabbing another brush to use, I go back to my task, the whole time my hands shake like a leaf.
“I guess it’s been planned for a while,” Gwen continues.
“They’re both supposed to play for the Bulldogs.
Ole Miss’s baseball team. But now this Hunter guy might be pulling out.
But Rex was pissed because I guess this is a great opportunity for him and could be his ticket to the MLB.
I guess that was the guy’s dream or something. I dunno.”
“So why is he changing his mind?” Eva asks, but I already know the answer, my heart breaks having to hear it from two strangers.
“Some girl, or some shit. Whatever. That was the part I didn’t hear so well, but I gathered that much and we all know how Rex feels about giving anything up, especially for a girl.”
Gwen rolls her eyes and my heart breaks in two.
On one side I am over the moon that Hunter would give up anything just to stay with me. On the other, I know I can’t let him do it. Not when it is his dream, and not when I can’t leave my mother to go with him, even if he’d want me to.
Melissa gives me a sad look before she reaches to her right and pulls up a blow dryer to start styling Gwen’s hair. I take a moment before following suit and doing the same. With tears in my eyes, I attempt to lose myself in my work but know what I just heard changes everything.
I can’t let Hunter give up his dream. Worse, I can’t keep him if I am not willing, or able to follow.