Chapter 12
CHAPTER TWELVE
Chase
By the time I flopped down into a chair after the parade, I felt like I'd played a full game of football. The catwalk part was fine. I even managed not to fall on my ass. Bonus.
What Ashley hadn't mentioned was that just about everyone in the crowd wanted to meet us guys afterward.
I'm not talking about a quick hello and a handshake either. They all wanted to talk like we were old friends. Poor Ollie had it the worst. He had women flocking to fawn all over him.
Even Bam looked overwhelmed.
Once I saw Hawk and Bec hand in hand, and the way they were left alone, I did the same with Ashley. A few people took photos of us together, but that was all. Hopefully they'd end up on social media, for Kris and Brandi to see.
"That went well," I said. "At least, I think it did."
Ashley looked exhausted, but managed a smile. "It went amazing. You guys were fantastic. The customers were eating out of your hands. The orders of mint green shirts went through the roof." She wrinkled her nose.
"There's no accounting for taste, I suppose." I grabbed the coffee I'd bought from the cafe in Lacey's and took a sip. I hadn't expected much from department store coffee, but it wasn't bad.
She snorted. "There really isn't." She pulled out her phone and started to scroll. "I know it's rude to be on this while we're sharing a coffee," she said, "but I'm dying to see what the response online is."
I waved my hand. "Go ahead. I'm curious too."
After a moment, she grimaced.
"What?" I asked.
She turned the phone around and showed a photo of us holding hands. From the angle it was taken, the photographer made it look like I had my hand on her ass.
"I thought I saw Harvey Danbury in the crowd," I said. "It must have taken him ages to get just that shot." The man gave dirtbags a bad name.
She turned the phone back around. "I suppose it could be worse," she said.
"Much worse," I agreed. "But that depends what story he put with that."
She read from the phone. "Chase McKinney with an employee of Lacey's. He makes it sound like you just walked up to someone you hardly knew and grabbed me."
"Yeah, that sounds like him," I said. "It's easy for me to say, but try to ignore him.
If you give him anything, he'll make it into something ugly.
He lives for headlines and clickbait. So do his readers.
" And he had a lot of them, for some reason.
I guessed people didn't have anything better to do.
"At least we got noticed," she said. "Will Brandi be pissed?"
I blinked. For a moment I'd forgotten about her, and why we were doing all of this.
"She's the jealous type, so yeah, probably. What about Kris? Will this get his attention?"
The more I heard about Kris, the more I realised I barely knew the guy. He hadn't even reached out to say sorry for sleeping with my girlfriend. I can't say I missed the asshole. Friends don't do that to friends. Was I the only one who saw us as friends?
"If he sees it, it will," she said. "I'm sure someone will show him."
"Yeah. There's always someone ready to rub stuff like that in a guy's face." I sounded happier about it than I probably should, but I was entitled to be pissed at the guy.
"Here's a nicer photo." She turned the phone around again.
This one was much better. Ashley stood with her head at the same height as my shoulder. The smiles on our faces looked genuine. If I didn't know better, I'd think the people in the photo were an actual couple. They sure did look cute together.
Who said the camera never lies?
I read the caption. "Chase, star wide receiver for the Humpbacks and his new girlfriend."
I glanced at the first of the comments and grimaced.
They were the usual kind of thing. 'Doesn't she know he's mine? Hands off, bitch. Angry emoji, angry emoji, angry emoji' and 'She could lose a few kilos.'
Never, ever read the comments. Honestly I can't understand the need to be so nasty to total strangers. Besides, I'd never date a woman who overused angry face emojis. Life was too short for that.
"It's a great photo," I said. It was the kind I'd hang on the wall if we were a real couple.
If Ashley read the comments, I didn't see it on her face when she went back to scrolling. Smart woman.
"It is. There's a lot of you on the catwalk. Lots of your rear end. There's another. And another." She seemed to take her time looking at each of them.
"You'll make me blush," I said after a while.
Her head jerked up. "What? Oh, I…" She blushed.
I grinned. "I don't mind. I work out. If anyone appreciates the effort I put in for hours every day…" I did it for work, to keep game-fit, but if people wanted to stare, it did me no harm. Besides, my ass was in good shape. Not as cute as hers, but I'd seen worse.
"Well, in that case." She peered more closely at the screen and then smiled at me over the top of it.
I shook my head and chuckled. I liked that I could be myself around her. I never had to try to be someone I wasn't. I could be my usual goofy self and she seemed to like it. With Brandi, I always felt like I needed to tone it down a notch. Being with Brandi was worth it.
Right?
"Am I going to be your lock screen now?" I joked.
Her smile widened. "You weren't, until you suggested it."
"If that doesn't make Kris jealous, nothing will," I said.
Her smile slipped a little. "It really would." She put her phone down and picked up her coffee. "We raised a lot for the charity. The boss is going to want you guys back every year."
"I'm happy to help out," I said. "I try to do my bit as best I can. I could do more though, especially in the off-season. Hawk is always busy doing charity stuff. He puts the rest of us to shame."
"I had heard that about him," Ashley agreed. "But it's not a competition."
I looked at her for a long moment, then burst out laughing. "You've met us all, right? We live to compete. If it's not against another team, then it's against each other. Friendly rivalry, but still a rivalry."
She looked amused. "I stand corrected. Do I need to make a chart for you guys, with every dollar you've raised?"
"That would get really ugly, really fast," I said. "Efficient and motivating as hell, but ugly."
"Okay," she said slowly. "I'll keep a tally in my head."
I laughed. "Just sign me up for whatever I can help with. I'll do what I can, when I can. When the season is finished, we can—"
I stopped. What was I doing? By the time the season was over, our act would be too. She'd get on with her life. I'd get on with mine. Why was I even thinking about making any kind of plans? I was getting caught up in the moment. That was all.
"We can see what happens then," I finished, sounding lame. "That's a ways off."
"Yeah, it is," she agreed. her gaze lingered on mine for a while and she looked like she might ask what I was thinking.
Honestly, I wasn't sure I knew. We had no future together, that was the whole point of all of this. We were friends, helping each other.
Friends could make plans too, couldn't they? Of course they could. Mine rarely went past the weekend, or a short vacation in Queensland, or somewhere warm like that. I didn't plan for months, years ahead.
So why could I see her in my life for a long time?
I sipped my coffee and tried to get my head straight.
"Our little non-prank on Bam was fun," I said finally.
"Yes," she said, as though happy to grab on to a subject that wasn't too awkward. "Not doing things can be as fun as doing them."
"A lot less messy too," I said. "And the only person glaring at me over it was Bam."
"He's still going to get you back for it though, isn't he?" she asked.
"Without a doubt." I grimaced. "He still owes me for the styrofoam ball prank."
When she looked at me questioningly, I explained what I did.
"How did you get them in there?" she asked.
I grinned. "That's a prankster's secret," I replied.
"You had help?" she guessed. "From someone with the keys?"
"A magician never tells." I tapped the side of my nose.
"You're a magician now?" she teased.
"Absolutely," I said with a nod. "Master at the magic of pranking." Bam would say I'm a master of something that rhymes with pranking, but Ashely was more kind.
"As long as you don't prank me, then I'll let you have your title," she said graciously.
"Thank you. You need one too." I thought. "How about the Queen of Mint?"
She snorted so hard a couple of drops of coffee flew out her nose. While she grabbed a tissue and wiped her now bright red face, I almost doubled over laughing.
"No mint," she said finally. "Queen of Anti-mint, maybe."
"What is anti-mint?" I asked. "Basil? Thyme? Bright pink?"
"No. No. And definitely not." She laughed. "I think I need something better than that."
"You did have a lot of footballs," I remarked, my expression deadpan.
When she realised what I was implying, I had to duck to the side to avoid being socked on the arm.
"I'll leave Ruler of Balls to one of you guys," she said dryly.
I chuckled. "But Queen of Balls has such a ring to it."
"Ding dong," she said sarcastically.
"Okay," I said. "Queen of Ding Dongs—"
"No," she cut me off. She was laughing so hard now, tears ran down her cheeks. She dabbed at her running mascara and laughed harder still.
Brandi would have flounced away and fixed her face.
"I had no idea," she said once she'd caught her breath. "No idea you were so funny."
"It's a well-kept secret," I said. "Hawk is the geeky one, Ollie is the bashful one, Bam is the clown. I'm the tall guy off to the side that no one pays much attention to."
She cocked her head. "I don't believe no one notices you. Okay, Bam is loud and in your face. He can be hard to see past, but once you do, then there you are. Besides," she added. "You're too tall to go unnoticed."
"Height has its advantages," I agreed. "I can see over crowds."
"And clouds," she said.
I chuckled. "I'm not quite that tall."
She grinned. "I'm glad. You wouldn't fit through the door."
"More than once I've been told my ego doesn't fit through the door," I said.
"I don't believe that." She frowned playfully. "It's healthy, but it's not that big."
I scratched the side of my head. "I'll have to work on that then. I'd hate to let the side down by being too humble."
"You say humble like it's a bad thing," she said. "There's nothing wrong with being grounded, which you are, for the most part. So many other guys—"
Whatever she was going to say was cut off by the sound of her phone ringing.
"It's Kris."