Chapter 37
Chapter Thirty-Seven
NOAH
As I guide Audrey around the dance floor, I notice how much it’s filled up since we got here a half hour ago.
I recognize all the dudes and nearly all the ladies.
It’s nice to get out of the routine of eating lunches together in our respective position rooms and let loose a little.
Teams are supposed to work together and have fun together.
Damn if I’m not having fun tonight. Audrey is so easy to lead, so eager to lean into me during a slow song.
Always ready to be spun around. I keep spinning her because I love how the little dress she has on under a jean jacket twirls around her toned legs.
I keep our pace as we circle the floor, and when Luke Combs croons about turning the lights down low, I turn Audrey in my arms so I can dip her real slow.
She brings her knee up, exposing more of her lush thighs, like she’s been dipped a million times.
I pull her back to me and our foreheads meet.
We’re standing still as other couples continue to swirl around us, but I couldn’t breathe in this moment even if I wanted to.
We don’t speak because we don’t need to.
Her body has spent the whole song talking to mine.
If I didn’t know Audrey was sleeping at my house tonight and that I’d get what I desperately need, I would be dragging her out of this bar caveman style.
The song fades out and the next one starts.
I haven’t heard it in a million years, but you could place the beginning notes of it anywhere.
Audrey pulls away from me and looks over to the girls who are doing the little tippy-toe dance girls do when they’re excited.
The bunch of them move swiftly toward us.
I lean back, confused as to what I’m missing.
It’s just a Ke$ha song from 2013. I don’t see what the big deal is.
I realize just how wrong I am when every lady in this bar swarms on to the dance floor in mere seconds.
I think some of these women could run a forty in four-and-a-half seconds.
It’s like a flash mob. Audrey puts a manicured hand on my chest, puts her drink in my hand, and pushes me backward off the dance floor.
“Looks like it’s just the ladies!” she calls as she turns and leaves me behind.
She shimmies as she speed-walks back over to the girls.
I look next to me and see all the dudes lined up to watch.
The women are all grouped together, stomping their feet.
When Ke$ha starts singing, they start dancing.
I have never in my life seen a line dance to this song, but I’m not at all surprised it exists.
They step up in little shimmy steps, then almost skate backward.
Moving in one huge group like lionesses hunting together—and we are the lions watching hungrily.
My eyes are transfixed on the way Audrey’s hips rock, and judging by the stillness beside me, I can tell that Colin, Wyatt, and Jaden are in the same trance as me.
Then all the women simultaneously drop it low when she sings “It’s going down” in the last chorus.
I feel my cock stiffen behind these hella starched jeans.
Colin elbows me in the ribs. “Are you seeing this?”
I nod. “Yeah, I’m seeing it.”
I’m pretty sure every dude in here could die and go to heaven right now. It’s like watching the Birth of Venus in real life. I catch a pair of eyes standing a head above everyone else. It’s Mack, of course. Out there dancing his ass off with all the ladies and fucking killing it.
They repeat the same moves, facing a different direction, turning with every sequence. When they’re at one-eighty, I’m treated to the whole routine again with a perfect view of Audrey’s ass in that dress.
When the song ends and the girls all pile off the dance floor to find their dudes, I’m working on calming myself.
It’s not cool to be horned up in a bar filled with your teammates.
Audrey strolls right up to me, takes her drink out of my hand, and downs it.
I must look as dumbstruck as I feel because she looks at me and says, “What?”
“You all know that dance?”
She shrugs. “Yeah, every girl in Texas knows ‘Timber’.” Like the goddess flash-dance we just witnessed was no big deal.
She grabs me by the hand and drags me back to the bar.
I follow like a lovesick penguin. I’ll bring her as many pebbles as she wants.
I see Colin talking to Chrissy, trying to keep his tongue in his mouth like a cartoon dog.
That dance single-handedly turned every man in this room into an animal.
I want to see Audrey this happy all the time.
We belly up to the bar. The same brunette comes up to get our drink order. These margs are hitting the spot and I don’t plan on switching. Audrey is leaning over the bar to talk to the bartender. “Where do you get your nails done? They look so good!”
A linebacker walks up to us, and we greet each other with the dude hand grab/back slap combo. “Hey, man, what’s up? Having a good time?” He rubs his hands together. “Yeah, I am. There’s not many single chicks here, though.” I shake my head at him. “Just enjoy the time with your teammates then.”
“A player’s gotta play.”
I laugh as he salutes me and walks off in search of someone else to greet.
I turn back to Audrey and I immediately sense something is wrong.
Her previously languid body is ramrod straight.
Her eyes are downcast instead of confident.
I immediately hate anyone or anything that could make her look like that.
I glance from her to the people behind the bar.
The same girl as before, her hair bouncing around her face as she works, and a dude I’ve never seen before.
I tuck a piece of Audrey’s hair behind her ear, hoping to bring her back to me with my touch. “Hey…” She looks up and her eyes are uneasy. Unsettled. Her mouth makes a little O like she wants to speak up but can’t find the words.
“Are you going to introduce me to your friend?” The voice cuts through our bubble like nails on a fucking chalkboard. One sentence and I know exactly who this fucker is.
I stand back up to my full height. My focus solely on the pale, puny guy across the bar from me, currently wearing a shit-eating grin. He looks like the cat who caught the canary. His hair is so gelled it looks like a helmet.
I’m keeping my cool and my manners in check right now, so I stick my hand out across the bar for him to shake.
“Noah Fox. Nice to meet you.” I could let myself get all wound up by his insinuation that Audrey and I are just friends, but I’m secure enough in this relationship and my dick size that I’m not worried about the opinion of rats.
His hand is soft as it connects with mine.
I have the feeling that he’s trying to squeeze hard to intimidate me, but he’s not strong enough to faze me.
“Hunter Inglish.” He’s speaking to me, but his eyes are on Audrey. “I didn’t realize NFL players had to settle for leftovers.” He shakes his head in mock disbelief.
I smirk. “And Audrey didn’t mention how small you are.
” His eyes heat. He’s the kind of guy who has six feet listed on his dating profile when he’s definitely closer to five-foot ten.
I’m sure there’s other things he botches the measuring on as well.
He’s a liar, after all. What kind of asshole can look their future wife in the eyes every day for years and tell her you’re okay with something when you’re not?
“If you and your meathead friends want to stay and enjoy my bar, I suggest you not speak to me like that.” My fists clench at my sides. I don’t want to get my team thrown out, ending our fun night, but I can’t stand having Audrey around him another minute.
“You’re the manager, Hunter. Don’t act like this is your bar.” Audrey speaks up and pride soars in my chest.
I open my mouth to reply, but I’m interrupted by Colin. “We don’t need to stay.” The authority in his voice is commanding. “I’m sure there are plenty of empty bars on a Monday night eager to serve an entire NFL team.”
I chime in. “We’re happy to spend our rookies’ money elsewhere.”
Colin adds, “We can easily get out of your hair.”
Hunter is still for a second before he speaks. Surely waging an internal war between his job and his pride. He holds up his hands in surrender. “There’s no beef here. I’m a huge Hurricanes fan.” His eyes dart to Audrey. “I just didn’t realize you were too.”
That’s it.
I put my palms flat on the wooden bar with a loud smack, leaning my torso over it with the intent of grabbing this dickwad by the collar. Before I can snatch it, there are three pairs of hands on my shoulders, hauling me back.
Colin leans in. “Not worth it.”
I tap my hand on the bar twice and walk backward, not taking my eyes off the fucker. I can’t believe after getting his ring handed back, he’s still talking to her like that. Got some balls on him, that one.
I turn to look at Audrey for the first time since shit went sideways.
Her brown eyes are wide and full of conflicting emotion.
Our night out turned into a confrontation with her ex.
Being called used in front of her new friends has to sting.
The boys make sure Hunter walks away, likely crawling back into the hole he came from.
I wrap my arms around Audrey, breathing in her beachy scent.
Letting it settle my racing heart and the rage bubbling in my chest. I whisper through her hair, “Are you okay?” She’s using her auburn curls to hide her face from Colin and the gang.
Tough to have your dirty laundry aired out on a bar night, but she’s not the first. I tuck her in to my side and maneuver us away from the bar top and the crowd, back toward the restrooms.
I tilt her chin up. “I’m so sorry, Audrey.
Please look at me.” Her eyes meet mine and I try my best to read the emotion written there.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to lose it like that.
” I close my eyes against the thought. “Just—the way he was talking about you, I couldn’t take it.
” She’s still quiet and that makes me start rambling.
“I will control myself. I didn’t mean to embarrass you in front of all our friends.
You know I’m not normally like that. I was pushed past my limit.
I’ll do anything to make up for it. I know you don’t want any drama with him but—” I’m not even close to done with my word vomiting, but I’m stopped by her grabbing onto my shirt and hauling me to her, ending with the press of her lips on mine.
That was not the reaction I was expecting, but certainly is the reaction I live for.