Chapter Twenty-Eight Ruby #2
Lauren saw me and laid a hand on Marcus’s arm. She whispered something by his ear, and he gave her a quick kiss and a smack on the ass and went to talk to the media.
“Hey,” she said. “Good to see you, Griffin.”
Under any other circumstance, I’d attempt polite conversation. “Where is she? Did she come?”
Lauren blew out a slow breath, narrowing her eyes a little as she looked over my shoulder. “I’m guessing you didn’t check your phone?”
“No. I left it in my locker. Why? What’d she say?”
Lauren gave a small shake of her head. “I don’t know what she sent you, exactly. But the gist of my text was that she freaked out. Couldn’t do it.”
“Do what?” I asked, feeling more than a touch exasperated. “It’s training camp.”
“Don’t be obtuse; it doesn’t suit you.”
I slicked my tongue over my teeth. “I’m not trying to be. It was just . . . I wanted to see her.”
Her eyebrows arched slowly. “Is that all? You didn’t mean anything by this invitation?”
I pinched the bridge of my nose and then let my hand drop. Lauren’s gaze was unflinching, like she was daring me to brush this aside, to make it less than it was. Make Ruby less than she was.
That, I wouldn’t do.
“I meant something by it,” I admitted in a gruff voice. “I don’t know what she’s even open to, or . . . if she’s willing to try. But I fucking miss her. And I’m sick of feeling that way.”
Lauren exhaled quietly. “It’s gratifying to know that I didn’t read you wrong.” She leaned in, angling us away from the crowds of people with a gentle touch of her arm. “Ruby isn’t just cautious, Griffin. She’s terrified to get hurt. To hurt you.”
“How would she hurt me?”
Her smile was sad. “I think this is a conversation you should have with her.”
It was the sadness in that smile that had my chest caving in on itself.
“Her heart. She doesn’t think it makes sense to fall in love with anyone.
” I ran a hand through my sweat-soaked hair, my muscles humming with the need to run and find her and kiss her and try to take this away for her.
Humming with the need to tell her I was in love with her and I’d never leave her if she let me stay.
Lauren didn’t give me any verbal affirmation. She didn’t need to.
“Fuck,” I muttered. “That’s a hell of a reason not to want a relationship, Lauren—especially for a guy who doesn’t know how the fuck to be in one.”
She gripped my arm. “She’s never had anyone try to push past that.
She doesn’t know how it would feel if someone cared enough to work through her fears.
” Her eyes were hard, and I had the distinct feeling that if I took one wrong step, Lauren would castrate me with a smile on her face.
“You just have to ask yourself if you’re strong enough to be the one to do that for her.
Do that with her. And if you’re not, then leave her be, because she doesn’t need someone playing games because they’re bored. ”
“That’s not what I’m doing.”
“I’m glad to hear that, but I’m not the one you need to prove that to,” Lauren warned. “All she knows is what you’ve told her. That you didn’t want serious either. That you wouldn’t fall in love with her. You think you’re scared to admit how you feel? Imagine how it feels for her.”
All it took was conjuring the image of her face, and a pang of love tore through me so strong that it almost knocked the breath from my lungs. Was I still scared? Hell yeah, I was.
But it was nothing—nothing—compared to how I felt about her.
Ruby and I, we could be scared of this together.
“Thank you,” I told her, then kissed her hard on the cheek.
Somehow, I kept my head through one more play, then bolted to the locker room when Coach said we were done with official team activities. Marcus yelled my name. So did Liam. I ignored them both.
The building was quiet when I shoved through the door, so quiet that all I could hear was the blood roaring through my ears.
Inside the locker room, I ripped my bag open and found my phone in the side pocket as I tore off my sweaty practice gear with my other hand.
As I shucked off my shorts, I tapped the home screen and saw her text come into view, throat clenching when I did.
Ruby: I’m sorry. I can’t come today. It’s . . . too much. It shouldn’t be, but it is, and I don’t know how to change that. Please don’t hate me.
The text from Ruby didn’t make my heart stop. Didn’t make my stomach sink. A smile spread over my face before I could stop it.
She loved me.
She fucking loved me, and it scared the absolute hell out of her.
I took the fastest shower known to man, then yanked on my clothes while my skin was still damp.
As I left the locker room, I hit the screen to call her.
While the phone rang endlessly in my ear, I jogged toward the exit.
Why were the parking lots so fucking far away?
The ringing stopped, and I swore under my breath while I waited for her voicemail to pick up.
“Ruby? It’s me. God, I don’t hate you. I could never fucking hate you, birdy.
” I sucked in a breath, but it was almost impossible because my heart was racing so fast. “I’m coming to you.
I just . . . I need to see you. Please, don’t shut me out because you’re scared, sweetheart.
I’m scared too. Just talk to me. I’ll be there as soon as I can, okay? ”
I love you.
The words were on the tip of my tongue, but I swallowed them. She deserved so much more than a frantic voicemail to hear them from me for the first time. I hopped into my truck and cranked the engine on, fumbling with my seat belt as I threw the gear into reverse.
I eyed the clock, hoping I could get there in less than ninety minutes. I’d be there before dinner. We’d have all night.
I didn’t care if we didn’t kiss, if we didn’t have sex. I’d sit on that couch and do nothing more than hold her hand and be the happiest man in the universe.
It was that thought that had me distracted as I pulled the truck out onto the road, going too fast.
The blare of a car horn was what I heard first, and then the sickening crash of glass before everything went black.