Chapter 10
Levi
Iline up, grinning at the second-stringer on defense who has me for coverage. You have to be good to make it into the NFL…but I’m better.
“Man, I hate it when you get that look in your eye. You’re about to smoke me, aren’t you? Just don’t make me look too bad.”
My grin widens. “Ready or not.”
Parker starts his cadence and ends with “hit.” My feet take off before my brain even sends the signal. Lucky for me, I’ve always been like that. I’m already five yards past the defenseman, which is a good thing because the dude’s fast.
After twenty yards, I peer over my shoulder, and there she is, spiraling toward me. Unfortunately, so is my defender. I leap forward to catch the ball, and it falls into my hands seconds before I hit the ground.
I slide for a bit, then jump to my feet, tossing the ball to my coverage. “Smoked.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
While I walk back to line up again, Coach calls it, so I head toward the drink table. As fast as we can drink the little paper cups, support staff is filling them with water or all different flavors of Gatorade.
Farmer walks up, grabs the yellow flavor, and shoots it back before smiling at me. “How’d that last catch feel?”
The knowing look on his face makes me chuckle. I rub my sore stomach. Pads or not, it’s never fun on your body to lay out and slam into the field. “About as good as you imagine.”
Parker comes up next to us and gives me knuckles. “Nice catch.”
“Nice throw.”
He shrugs. As with all good quarterbacks, he’s kind of a perfectionist.
One of our teammates shouts, “Wildcats!” And we all respond with “Hoo! Hoo! Hoo!”
We start to walk toward the locker room, when Farmer asks, “So, who’s this girl you’re into?”
Reid cuts in. “If you still remember her name.”
“Oh, I remember her name.”
He looks at me expectantly, and it’s then that I realize I can’t share her name because they’ll instantly recognize it, and if I lie and call her a different name, I’ll have a lot of explaining to do when we go public.
I grin at him. “Your mom.”
Reid rolls his eyes. “My mom is way too classy for your ass.”
Unease tightens my stomach. In one way, sneaking around is a hell of a lot of fun, but in this way, it’s not.
I want to tell them all about Tab. I’ve seen them with their girls, and I was never jealous, but there’s this way that they all stare at each other.
It’s like there are so many emotions tied up in one glance, and now all I really want is to see if Tab will look at me that way.
“You told me to get back to you in a few days, so that’s what I’ll do,” I remind them. “But it’ll still be her.”
“Now I’m intrigued,” Farmer says. “Where’d you meet her?”
“Out.”
“What does she look like?”
“Pretty.”
“You woo her with those one-word sentences, Newb?” Micah interjects.
One thing he’s not going to like is when he finds out I’ve been seeing Tab right under his nose, scaling his penthouse, intruding his space.
I wish I could say I was unbothered by it, but it’s important to me that my teammates respect me.
And though he might not be bothered otherwise, Raeann will care, which will make him care.
“Trust me, she has no complaints.” Except for one, apparently.
Loyalty. Her words yesterday filter through my brain again, and I have to swallow hard.
She thinks I just woke up one day and decided it was her, but I’ve been drawn to her since the fire in ways I’m not sure I could express clearly.
It’s not fascination as if she’s a circus show to be gawked at.
I’m not jumping around with a billboard and shouting, Come see the girl who survived the fire.
It’s something so much deeper, and I’ll just have to take the time to prove it to her.
We enter the locker room, and I open my locker and grab a towel to dry the sweat dripping down my face.
Then I check my phone. The restraint not to carry it onto the field with me earlier was amazing.
Phones are prohibited on the field, as they should be, but that didn’t make me stop thinking about whether she was going to text me once the flowers were delivered.
My heart jumps in my chest when I see a notification waiting.
I press on it, and it brings up a picture.
I quickly shut the screen off, then peer around to make sure no one is looking.
With a sigh of relief, I step closer to my locker and hide the screen within it to find a selfie of Tab with the flowers.
Tab: An admirer got me these.
Me: He has good taste.
I wait to see if she’ll text me back, but she doesn’t.
She’s probably busy at work. Man, what a huge step for her to go back today.
I scan the picture again and notice she’s added a long-sleeved layer under the shirt I picked out for her.
I’m not surprised, but also, I wish she didn’t feel the need to cover up. Regardless, she looks gorgeous.
I Cash App her some money and message again.
Me: Get yourself some coffee and doughnuts on me.
Tab: Sorry, I had to sneak away.
Tab: Ooh, big spender.
I chuckle. I really thought coffee and doughnuts would only cost twenty bucks, but if she wants more…
I Cash App her some more money.
Tab: WTF, Levi. I was joking. I don’t need $5,000.
Me: My girl doesn’t have a wallet anymore.
Tab: Raeann actually told me where it was this morning. I have it with me now.
Me: In that case…
Tab: Oh, thank God. Take it back.
I grin while sending her more money. She wants me to show her loyalty, and that’s what I’ll do.
Tab: The fuck are you doing, Levi? I don’t need $25,000 on a random weekday.
Me: Just being your sugar daddy. Buy yourself something nice. *kiss face emoji*
Tab: I could buy a fucking car with that.
Tab: By definition, I think sugar daddies are supposed to be old.
Me: Lucky you, you got me, and if you want a car, get one.
I put the phone down in my locker and grab my gear to take a shower.
If she’s going to argue about it again, she can argue about it with herself.
I wash up, then do my hair, making sure it’s styled just so.
When I return to my locker, I hear Micah say Tab.
I move closer and hear him tell Reid that Tab went to work today.
“She did?” I ask. “That’s great. Is this her first day back?”
“Yeah,” Micah says, scrolling through messages on his phone.
“Raeann worried?” I guess.
“She’s sending me hourly updates. Apparently, she’s tried to make her go home five times.”
“She’s a good friend.”
“When Tab is up to it, we should all get together,” Reid offers. “I’m sure Briar would like to see her again.”
“Maybe a nice dinner at Davis’s place?” I suggest.
“Yeah, you can bring your girl,” Micah states, giving me a glare.
“I will.” Everyone laughs, but I think I’ll be the one getting the last chuckle.
“You never bring girls to team things.”
It’s true. The girls I previously dated were for fun. I didn’t bring them to team things because I realized that most of the time, that’s all they wanted anyway. “Told you she was special.”
“Now this I gotta see,” Micah answers. “I’ll bring it up to Raeann.”
“Let us know,” Parker says.
I change back into my clothes and decide I’m going to do a drop-in at the store.
It’ll be casual. I just heard she was up and around today, and I hadn’t seen her in so long type of thing.
For all everyone else knows, I haven’t seen Tab since the day they dragged her out of the building. Of course I would be curious.
After calling out a goodbye to the guys, I’m out of there.
Knowing Micah might be hot on my heels makes me pick up the speed.
Luckily, the shop isn’t far from the arena, so the drive is quick.
I spend longer trying to find a spot to park, and when I finally do, I jump out and take a deep breath. Here we go…
I cross the street and pull open the door. A bell goes off above and a smiling girl pops into view. Her face goes from a customer service smile to a bigger one. “Welcome to Pet Threads… Levi Soucy.”
I grin at her. “Thanks,” then hold my hand out, and she shakes it.
“Did I just hear…” Raeann pokes her head around a display. “Levi, hey. I thought that’s what she said.”
She comes out, and I walk forward to give her a quick hug.
I spot Tab behind the counter then, mouth agape.
I guess she really didn’t think I was going to come.
I wink at her and pull away from Raeann.
“I heard Tab was out and about today, and I haven’t seen her in so long.
I thought I’d pop by to see how she’s doing. ”
“Aw, that’s so nice.”
Yep, that’s me. Mr. Nice Guy.
Raeann leads me toward the counter where Tab has now schooled her face into something more normal.
“Hey,” she says, cheeks turning pink.
Either she’s a tremendous actress or I still fluster her. I hope it’s the latter. “Hey,” I say back. “You look good.”
“I feel good,” she says.
I bet she does. Just getting a change of scenery should do wonders for her.
“Raeann,” a male voice calls. He peeks around a door in the back. “Colby’s on the line for you.”
He trails off when he sees me.
I grin at him. “You must be Jace. The guy Micah doesn’t like.”
Jace’s face falls, and he cuts his gaze to Raeann’s. “You said he was getting over that.”
“It’s all good, buddy,” I try to tell him. I didn’t realize I would be stepping into something when I said that. “If it makes you feel better, he hasn’t mentioned you in a while.”
Tab swats my arm, and Raeann blinks at me.
“I’m sorry,” I whisper to her.
She gives Tab a look, and then turns to walk toward Jace. “Sorry, Levi, I’ve got to take this. That’s one of our suppliers.”
“Take your time. I’ll ask Tab to give me a tour.”
When Raeann and Jace are behind a door and the other girl is somewhere in the front of the store, I lean over the counter and give Tab a grimace. “How much did I just blow shit up?”
“He’ll be fine. Raeann is just a people pleaser running around trying to make sure people don’t dislike each other.” She leans forward and whispers, “We both know Micah is over-the-top jealous of anyone with a penis who gets within a foot of her.”
I lower my voice to match hers. “I think I know the feeling. Maybe I don’t like Jace either.”
She rolls her eyes, then talks in a party voice as if she’s trying to talk over a room full of people. “So you want a tour, huh?”
I chuckle. She really can’t act, can she? “Yeah, preferably someplace private.”
“You know what you might find interesting,” she says even more loudly, “our stock room. We didn’t have one in the old store.” She walks around the counter. “Be right back, Katya.”
“You got it,” a feminine voice calls out.
Before I follow, I lightly touch the lilies that are still at the front counter. “Wow, these are beautiful. Someone must be special.”
“It’s me,” Tab says, beaming. “I’m special.”
She walks me toward the back of the store and beyond a door labeled Employees Only. The space is pretty large, actually. I wouldn’t have guessed it.
Once the door is closed, Tab hisses, “What are you doing here?”
“Checking on my girl.”
I take her hand and pull, maneuvering so her back is against the door and crowding into her space. “I thought about you all practice.”
She peers from my lips to my eyes. “You did?” Then she shakes her head. “I thought I told you to back off.”
“Is that what you said? What I heard was that I needed to prove my feelings for you.”
“And you think flowers and money will do that?”
“Actually, I was thinking telling you all of my darkest, deepest thoughts would help. I thread my fingers through the hair at the nape of her neck. “Tab Riley, I can’t stop thinking about you. I nearly dropped a pass today because I was wondering what it would be like to kiss you.”
“Really?”
I peer at her plush lips, then into her searching blue eyes. “You want to know what I think? I think you’re wondering the same thing.”
I press my body against hers. Her flesh yields to me in the best of ways, like molding together to become a complete whole. My heart pounds in my chest. An upbeat rhythm of all the things I want to say to her.
You’re gorgeous.
You’re so strong.
See? I’m a goner for you.
Let me love you.
Then the doorknob turns…