Chapter 32
CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
SINCLAIR
Wren leaned forward, blue eyes all but bulging out of her face. "You think Aidan set you up? Why? Wait, do you think Elenna was in on it?" She sat back and shook her head. "No, she couldn't be. Could she? I suppose she could. I don't want to think that about her though."
I turned my wine glass around in my fingers and let her continue with her monologue.
Everything she said had gone through my mind multiple times already. Especially since the guys left for their away games in Canberra and Sydney.
They hadn't wanted to leave, but I’d insisted. They couldn't put their jobs on hold indefinitely, not for me. Not even for each other. They were under contract. Not to mention the fact their determination to win wouldn't let them walk away unless they were injured or tied down to my bed.
Yeah, I was tempted, but in the end I'd had to let them go, assuring them Wren and I could take care of each other in their absence. It was only a couple of nights anyway. We'd probably gossip a lot, drink and cry over romcoms.
A standard weekend before I started seeing any of the guys.
"If she was, she didn't mean anything by it," I said. "It would have been Aidan who orchestrated this. I know he doesn't like me, but to involve the guys?"
I exhaled and shook my head. "This might be all about me. Maybe they, I don’t know, got caught up in it because they're with me."
That made sense, I supposed. Aidan would do almost anything for the team, but he'd throw them all under a bus if it meant keeping Elenna safe. He wouldn't think twice or even blink. There was nothing in this world he wouldn't surrender for her.
"It might not be about you at all," Wren argued. "Someone told Kylie to say that and it might not have mattered who she said it to. Either way, she would have stirred up shit."
"Right." I couldn't argue with that logic.
"I have the strangest feeling I'm going to go into work on Monday morning and she won't be there.
Her desk will be empty and no one will remember anyone named Kylie having ever worked there.
They'll put me in the back of a white van and ship me off to…
Wherever they ship people off to when they're losing their minds. "
"If that happens, then I blame aliens," Wren said.
I arched an eyebrow at her. "Aliens?"
She shrugged one shoulder and smiled. "Yeah, aliens. Things like that only happen in science-fiction. Some alien goes through and wipes everyone's memories."
"Except mine." I propped my feet on the coffee table.
"Because you're the protagonist. You're the one who’s supposed to figure out that it's aliens. Before they ship you off in that white van. Or spaceship."
I choked back a laugh. "If that's the case, I'm not going to work on Monday. It might be better to stay here and wait to be abducted."
I believed in the existence of aliens, but not their involvement in this particular situation. Although, it would explain so many things.
"Good thing I'm here with you then," she said. "We can get abducted together. Maybe by a pair of hot alien brothers who have massive cocks and two tongues each. Or better yet, two cocks and a huge tongue." She grinned.
"I didn't think there was such a thing as reading too much, but I'm starting to wonder about that," I teased. "Especially if you're thinking of running off with some big purple alien."
"Who said he's purple?" Her eyes shone. "He might be blue."
"You might be out of your mind." How had we gone from talking about Aidan to talking about blue aliens? I knew which topic of conversation I preferred, but one was slightly more realistic than the other. Which was unfortunate, because two cocks and a big tongue sounded pretty good to me.
"I might be, but in the best way," she said. "It took your mind off things for a while, didn't it?"
I sighed. It had, but now it all came rushing back.
"Do you think we should speak to her? I don't want to talk about Elenna behind her back.
" Even if she was doing the same to us. I didn't believe she was, not really, but this whole situation was twisting my brain inside out. Okay, more so than usual.
"Let's call her and invite her to lunch tomorrow," Wren suggested. "We can talk about everything over a nice meal."
"That's a good idea." I nodded.
"I have those once in a while," she said. "Don't tell anyone, they'll start to expect things of me."
"We already expect things of you," I said. "Because we know how amazing you are."
She sat back and rested her elbow on the arm of the couch. "Are you sure you're not the alien?" A slow smile crept onto her face.
She ducked to the side, but I managed to lean over and sock her on the arm.
"I'm not an alien and you are amazing," I said. "One of these days, you're going to see it too. You should already though. I've never seen anyone make jewellery as pretty as yours. You have a natural talent for design. If I even tried, it would look like… I don't know. Terrible."
"Only because you'd try to make a pendant shaped like a dick and balls," she said.
I laughed. "I wouldn't even know where to begin to do something like that." I hesitated for a moment. "Are you projecting, by any chance? You're really the one who wants to make a pendant like that?"
"Don't knock it, they'd sell like crazy," she said. "I'd do it, but my father would lose his mind if he saw them. He can be such an old fuddy-duddy sometimes."
"The keywords here being ‘if he saw them,’" I said. Not to enable her or anything.
"You said it yourself, they'd sell like crazy. You could make a ton of money from them and set up your own business. You could call it—" I held up a hand in front of me. "Wren's Junk." I frowned. "No, that makes it sound like it's rubbish."
I lowered my hand and went on thinking for a few moments.
"I know, Dangly Dicks." I bit back a giggle.
She didn't bother to hold back her laugh. "Beautiful Balls. But then, if I did those, I'd have to do pussies as well."
"The Gilded Genital." I pressed my fingertips to my lips and chuckled.
She tipped her head back and laughed. "That sounds like a gentleman's club."
I snorted. "Scratch that then. Seriously though, you should think about it. It wouldn't hurt to make a bit of extra money, right? I'd buy one. I'd happily wear a cock right beside my heart."
She laughed even harder. "When you put it that way, I might have to. I could make ones with little piercings in them. Maybe engraved ones with things like, 'You're only allowed to touch mine,' on it."
"I'll take three," I said. What could be better than three dangly dicks next to my heart when the guys weren't around? They could each have a pussy charm to wear to their games.
"You can be my first guinea pig… I mean client," she said with a grin.
"You better make them extra-large then," I said. As if the guys didn't have big enough egos as it was.
"Three extra-large cocks coming up," she said lightly. "Pun totally intended."
I raised my glass and she clinked hers against it. "I can't wait. I'm sure they'll be gorgeous." They were dicks after all.
"You know what else would be fun?" she said thoughtfully after taking a couple of sips of wine. "Pendants of a hand with the middle finger sticking up." She demonstrated by flipping me off.
"I'd like one of those for every time I have to talk to Aidan." I looked at her speculatively. "Let me guess, you want one for every time you have to talk to Bray?"
She groaned. "You know me too well. But then, he’d have a giant rubber hand made, for when he has to talk to me. He's such a prick."
"I'm sorry," I laughed. "A giant rubber hand like that would be pretty funny. I have a feeling all of the guys would want one of those."
"Please don't tell him that." She shook her head. "He'd do it. Especially if he knew I thought it was a bad idea. He likes nothing better than to get under my skin."
"Are you sure it's your skin he wants to get under?" I teased.
She stuck out her tongue and made a face. "Probably not, but I'm telling you, it's not going to happen." She exhaled out her nose. "Right now, I'm having enough trouble with Tiger. I don't need any with Bray. Or even Lex."
"Lex?" I looked at her in surprise. "I didn't realise you were seeing him."
I saw them talking to each other in Hazards, but at the time, it just seemed friendly.
Admittedly, my attention was on my guys, rather than on who she was chatting to as we played pool. I made a mental note to pay more attention. I wouldn't be much of a friend if I was clueless.
"We've been texting a lot," she admitted. "Just friendly stuff mostly. GIFs and funny memes. But lately they're getting more and more intense."
“Intense how?" I asked. "Is he sending you dick pics?" I didn't know the coach well, but he didn't seem like the sort of guy to send unsolicited anything, much less pictures of his cock.
She shook her head vehemently. "Nothing like that. He's told me stuff about his childhood and I've told him stuff about mine. Then we share a couple of penguin GIFs and laughing face emojis and… That's about it. I have a feeling he's going to ask me out at some point."
"Where does Tiger fit into all of this?" I asked.
Her love life sounded even more complicated than mine. The situation was difficult at times, but we were starting to figure out where we stood with each other. We still had a long way to go, but I was certain we all wanted to try. That was at least half the battle, wasn't it?
"I have no idea," she said, her voice slightly higher than usual.
"We've met for drinks a couple of times and sometimes he seems really into me and sometimes he's really distant.
I have no idea what he's thinking or feeling.
Usually I'm good at figuring people out, but in his case I'm absolutely hopeless.
I think he wants more than to get into my pants, because he hasn't even tried to yet.
I keep giving him hints and inviting him in for coffee, but he always makes excuses and takes off.
He's so hot and cold I don't know if I'm coming or going. "
"It sounds like you'd be coming more often with Lex," I said. "Pun intended this time too."
"Why do men have to be so complicated?" she asked.
"Because vibrators can't talk?" I suggested.
She laughed. "Yet. Give them time."
"Let's put on a movie," I suggested. "Romcom or action? Or would you prefer some science-fiction? There must be something with hot aliens in it."
"I could do with an action movie right about now," she said.
I put my wine on the table in front of me and stood just as the lights went out, plunging us into darkness.