Chapter 4
Chapter
Four
Falcon
The Next Day
“Everything was delivered, Mr. Grove,” my personal shopper confirmed.
I had her put together a care package for Eli and had it delivered to her brother’s house.
Roses, a teddy bear, a herringbone chain, champagne and chocolate covered strawberries, and a small note letting her know I was here if she wanted to talk.
I didn’t expect her to actually come to me to talk, but I wanted her to know I was here if she wanted to.
She’d been on my mind all day and last night.
Even the bottle girl I’d spent the night with didn’t have enough power in her pussy to distract me for too long.
Lauren was her name. She was a decent distraction while we fucked and she sucked, but as soon as it was over, Eli seeped her way back into my heart and mind.
“Alright. Thanks, JJ.”
“You’re welcome. Have a great day.”
“You as well.”
I decided to pack and head to the airport now so I could grab lunch on the way.
While I’d enjoyed my time away, there was no place like home.
Plus, I wanted to take full advantage of my time off before training and the preseason started.
Now was the time for me to eat whatever the fuck I wanted, smoke, and sleep in as late as my body allowed.
It fucked with me not winning the Bowl, but we’d come a long way, and I was proud of our accomplishments.
Isaac and I had been on fire this season.
We had offers from several different teams coming in left and right.
At this point in my career, I had no desire to play for another team.
I’d been playing with the Tennessee Demolishers since I was drafted in college and wanted to retire with them.
My prayer was to get a solid decade on the field before retiring, but I would play as long as my body could stand it.
Once I was done packing, I let my personal assistant know I wanted to grab lunch before heading to the airport.
Now that the season was over, I was about to go into my shell.
I wanted to deal with fans and the public as little as possible.
She suggested grabbing lunch at the hotel, and they had a bomb ass half roasted chicken that I wouldn’t mind having again before I left.
I waited until she confirmed she’d secured a table in the back of the restaurant in an empty section for me before I made my way down to the first floor of the hotel.
As I made my way down the elevator, my phone vibrated.
I didn’t bother answering, opting to wait until I was settled at the table and had my food ordered instead.
My eyes damn near bulged out of my head and heart dropped when I saw the missed call was from Eli.
I scrambled like a motherfucker trying to call her pretty ass back.
Biting back my smile, I relaxed in my seat while I waited for the call to connect.
“Hello?” she answered sweetly, causing me to bite down on my bottom lip.
“Wassup, smelly Eli?”
She giggled, and it sounded like a symphony put together by Beethoven or some shit.
“I hate I told you the kids in elementary school used to call me that. And I wasn’t even stinky!”
“I believe you,” I said through my chuckle. “Just wanted to make you smile.”
“You already did that with the gifts. Thank you so much, Falcon. I was not expecting that. Like . . . at all.”
“Yeah, your brother told me what happened. I didn’t really know what to say, but I wanted to let you know that I was thinking about you. That I’m here for you.”
She didn’t respond right away, and the longer it took, the more nervous I became. Did I overstep? Did she think I was weird? Fu—
“I appreciate the gesture,” she said softly, stopping my intrusive thoughts before she sighed.
“Isaac, God I love him, but he has no chill. As soon as his plane landed, he wanted me to pick him up and take him to Justin’s house.
” Eli chuckled. “He’s not the most compassionate man, and he doesn’t understand the concept of needing to vent or just having a person’s presence during a time like this.
All he wants to do is go beat that man up and tell me I should have known something was up.
” She sighed. “Said all that to say, I really appreciate the gesture. It made me feel good. Thank you, big head.”
“You’re welcome, Smiley.”
“I guess I’ll let you go. I’m sure you’re busy. Plus, I need to make sure this lunatic hasn’t snuck out the house. I caught him in my phone trying to see if me and Justin shared locations a few minutes ago.”
Now that made me release boisterous laughter because Isaac was a true character and really didn’t give a fuck about none of that shit. If he had a target on Justin’s back, he was going to aim at it now or later.
“I’m not busy, but you go ahead and try to put a leash on him. Won’t last forever, but I’m sure you don’t want to deal with that drama right now.”
“Right. I did yesterday. I was actually looking forward to my big brother coming home and beating him up. Now, I’m just . . . trying to work through my disbelief. The sadness. The betrayal. Isaac going to beat him up will just give me something else to worry about.”
“I feel you. I’ll give him a call and see if I can talk him down.”
“You’re the best, Falcon. Maybe I’ll see you when you get home.”
That made me smile. “Maybe you will.”
We ended the call, and before I could call Isaac, I noticed I had several missed calls from my publicist. In just a few minutes, she’d called more than three times.
Something was definitely wrong. I called her back, and the phone hadn’t even rung once before she was answering and yelling, “What on Earth were you thinking taking that girl back to your fucking hotel last night?”