Chapter 8
Chapter Eight
Bellamy
I’ve stepped into an alternate reality. A dream world, that has to be what this is. There’s no way that Reid is here and works for my father. The hottest night of my life was with a football player—one of my dad’s football players.
“We should exchange numbers,” one of the women suggests. I think her name is Corie, but honestly, the last thirty minutes have been a blur. Well, not all of it. I still remember his touch and his words, but who’s who is lost on me.
“Oh, um.” I don’t want to tell them no. They seem nice, but I’m spiraling.
“For sure,” Amanda says, jumping in to save me. She rattles off each of our numbers, and our phones beep three times each. I’m guessing they’ve texted us their numbers.
“You’ll have to join us for girls’ night. The more the merrier,” another says. “We’re constantly outnumbered.” She points at the group of guys behind them over her shoulder.
“I… I need to go to the restroom.” The words are barely out of my mouth before I’m bolting away from them.
I don’t worry about the scene I’m causing.
I just need to get away. I need to breathe.
I need air that I’m not sharing with him.
Air that’s not thick with desire and memories of a night that was supposed to remain in my past.
Finally, I spot the bathroom. Slapping my hands against the door, I push inside. Thankfully, it’s empty. My legs shake as I make my way to the sink, resting my hands there, and bowing my head.
“Fuck my life,” I mutter, just as the door opens. I snap to attention, standing to my full height, trying to pretend like my world didn’t just tilt on its axis. Looking in the mirror, I watch for the newcomer, and when I see him, my breath stalls in my lungs.
He takes a few steps but stops short of being within touching distance and holds my gaze in the mirror. “Are you okay?”
“W-What are you doing in here?”
He tilts his head to the side. “You’re here.”
“Reid,” I groan.
“I see those people every day. I just found you again. You were as white as a ghost when you ran off, and I needed to make sure you were okay. Amanda and the girls are outside, but I made them let me come in first.”
“Why?” My voice cracks at the question.
My eyes never leave his in the mirror as he steps closer. His steps are soft and slow, as if he’s afraid I’ll spook, and I’m not so sure that I won’t. When he finally reaches me, he wraps his arms around me from behind, pulling me back into his chest. His eyes remain locked on mine.
“I needed to know you were okay,” he finally answers, his voice low and soothing.
“It was one night,” I remind him.
“Was it? That’s not how I remember it.”
“Your memory is lacking.”
“Hmm,” he says, burying his face in my neck and breathing me in. “I don’t think so. You smell the same. Your body feels the same wrapped in my arms, and look at us, Bell, you still fit me perfectly, just like you were made for me.”
I open my mouth to argue with him, but he’s right. His messy, dirty-blond hair, those vibrant blue eyes, and his inked-up arms look good next to me. I can admit that to myself, but not to him. Before I can form a response, there’s a knock at the door, and then footsteps as the door opens.
“Everything okay in here?” Amanda asks, stepping into the bathroom with Corie, Rowan, and Sloane on her heels.
“I’ll leave you ladies to it.” I watch in the mirror as Reid presses his lips to my temple. “Take care of my girl, yeah?” he asks as he drops his arms from around my waist and steps back. He hesitates before finally walking out of the bathroom.
I exhale a heavy breath. Damn, that sexy, infuriating, intoxicating man.
“Wow,” Amanda says, fanning her face with her hands. “You said wedding guy was hot, but you didn’t tell me he was that hot,” she says, making the other three laugh.
“Are you okay, Bellamy?” one of them asks. She steps next to me, placing her hand gently on my arm. “I’m Rowan, Landry’s wife.”
“I’m sorry,” I mumble.
“What? Why on earth are you apologizing?” she asks, her brow furrowed.
“For acting like a fool and running off like that. I just needed a minute.”
“Corie.” One of them raises her hand. “Knox’s wife,” she adds helpfully. “First of all, you didn’t act like a fool. Secondly, there’s no crime in needing a minute to catch your breath. It’s obvious that you didn’t expect to see Reid here today, or at all.”
“No. I didn’t expect him to be here, and not at all,” I agree with her.
“I know that you don’t know us,” Corie says. “I know we’re strangers to you, but I promise you, Reid’s a good man. He came home from that wedding defeated. He’s always happy and smiling, but that spark has been missing over the last month.”
“Until today,” Rowan adds. “The moment he saw you, we had the old Reid back.”
“I gotta be honest here,” the third one says.
“I’m Sloane, by the way, not married to any of the Rampage hotties, but besties with this one since we were kids”—she points at Corie—“and this one because we said so.” She laughs as she points at Rowan.
“She did marry my pseudo brother, which is her brother, after all.” She nods to Corie.
“Anyway, back to what I was saying. Honestly, it’s hot as hell to see Reid chase after you the way he did.
You should have seen that man’s face when you jogged off.
It was a mix of concern, fear, and determination. ”
“What?” I shake my head, trying to process her words.
“Concern, because he didn’t understand why you ran. Fear, because you were running again, and determination because no matter how fast you tried to run, he was always going to catch you.”
“That’s not creepy at all,” I mutter. I’m thankful they’ve reintroduced themselves now that I’m coherent enough to remember their names, but of course, they’re going to be on his side. They’re his family, after all.
“I think it’s sweet,” Amanda says. “You’re too close to this entire situation to see what we see,” my best friend says gently.
I don’t ask her what she sees because I’m not sure that I want to know.
It doesn’t matter, because Reid, whose last name I now know is Montgomery, is a professional football player, one who works for my father, or under him, I guess—I’m not exactly sure, but they’re together—mixed with the game that stole my family from me.
I’ll never do that to my potential future children.
Never. So, what they see doesn’t matter, because Reid and I can never be anything more than a night of shared passion.
“He’s a football player.”
“I’m guessing there’s a story there,” Corie muses.
“Yeah,” I say, then decide I might as well tell her. “My father left my mom and me for his career. Football ruined my life. I swore I’d never date a professional athlete.”
“Rules were meant to be broken, Bellamy,” Amanda says gently.
“Not this one.” Never this one. Football ruined my life.
“I’m sorry,” Rowan says. “But you’re wrong.
” My mouth falls open at her words. “I dated a football player, who emotionally, mentally, and physically abused me. It wasn’t his career; it was the man.
Now, here I am, married to a football player who would rather cut his own arm off than even consider ever harming me.
” She pauses, giving me time to process her words, and the bathroom is silent as I do.
“I don’t know what happened between your parents, but I can tell you it wasn’t football that’s to blame.
It could have been any career. Don’t hold someone else’s mistakes or shortcomings against Reid. ”
“He’s one of the good ones,” Sloane speaks up. “I’m not married or dating any of them, so I feel as though I can speak about this a little better. I’m not biased.”
“Your best friends are married to his teammates,” I say, still fighting like hell to maintain my hate for the game.
“They are, but I’m not. I can’t speak for all athletes, but I do know that those five men out there are loyal to a fault. Whatever you do, whatever reason you don’t want to be with Reid, don’t let it be his career.”
“We’re going to go,” Corie says. She steps forward and wraps me in a hug. “We’re planning on a girls’ night once training camp starts. You two are coming,” she tells me, then looks at Amanda, who’s standing next to me.
“That sounds fun,” Amanda replies.
“They won’t be there,” Rowan assures me.
I nod, because what else can I do? My head is spinning, and to top it off, I still have to go back out there and face my dad.
I would just leave, but I know Amanda would never let me.
Not to mention my father will have questions, and I’d rather get that particular line of questioning over with so he’s not blowing up my phone or worse, showing up on my doorstep.
“How are you?” Amanda asks once it’s just the two of us remaining in the bathroom.
“I don’t know.”
“Bellamy,” she says, in that tone that says, I know you’re lying to me.
“He made an impression on me before we ever took things back to that hotel suite.”
“I know that. You never would have offered for him to come in if he hadn’t.”
“It’s hard for me to wrap my head around the fact that the man I can’t stop thinking about is a football player,” I admit, scrunching up my nose.
“They’re right, you know? He’s not his career.”
“Everyone is their career.”
“To a certain extent, I’ll agree with you.
But, tell me this, was he the cocky asshole you imagined him to be?
Hell, your dad doesn’t even fit the bill.
” She holds her hands up in the air. “I’m not defending him.
I don’t know all the details of what went on in your parents' marriage, and honestly, neither do you, but I have been there every day since the split, and he’s never stopped trying, Bellamy.
Not once. You’ve blown him off, ignored his calls and requests to see you, but he still keeps making an effort. ”
“He left us,” I say, feeling the hot tears prick the back of my eyes.