23. Chapter 23
Chapter 23
S till riding the high from his meeting with his agent, Gonzo pushed open the apartment door, eager to see Bailey. When he saw her sitting on the floor at the coffee table, papers spread out in every direction around her, he smiled. “We do have a table, you know,” he teased.
Bailey looked up and smiled. “I know, but I like to have everything within arm’s reach when I’m marking and sitting on the floor makes it feel less like work than being at a table.”
He leaned down and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Has anyone ever told you you’re weird?”
“Just you.” She scrunched up her nose, her eyes twinkled with amusement as she looked up at him. Bailey shifted herself so her back rested against the sofa. “How come you look so happy?”
“My agent stopped by the stadium this morning and we grabbed a quick bite after my workout.”
“Does he normally do that?”
“Yeah, Brian usually stops in whenever he’s in town, and we grab a beer or something.”
“That’s nice. So what did he have to say that has you looking like you’re about to bounce out of your shoes?”
“I’m not ready to bounce out of my shoes,” he grumbled. But he would be if what Brian said was true. “So not sure if you remember I’m a free agent after this season.”
Bailey’s spine stiffened. “No, I didn’t.”
“Right, well, I am. So the fact I’m having the best season of my career couldn’t be coming at a better time and Brian wanted to run some scenarios by me to start thinking about.”
Bailey pushed off the floor and onto the couch. She placed her hands in her lap nervously. “Scenarios? So, like possibly moving?”
Why’d she look so nervous? Did she really think he’d consider moving anywhere without her? He pulled the coffee table across the carpet closer to the couch and sat down on it, so he was facing her. Adjusting his thighs so they were on either side of her legs, he moved closer and picked up her hands. “This is a good thing, babe. You don’t need to look worried.”
“You possibly moving is a good thing?”
“I don’t know what’s happening yet. We won’t even start discussions until after the season is over, but Brian was in town and wanted to get a feel for what I was thinking.”
“Okay? And what are you thinking?”
“From what Brian said with the past couple seasons for the Hawks and my record, I could lock into a career making contract.” He couldn’t help the smile that split across his face. “He’s talking insane money.” He chuckled and wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her toward him. “If I can pull in even half of what Brian thinks he’ll be able to get me, this would be more money than I ever dreamed of making playing ball.”
After a couple seconds, he registered Bailey was slightly stiff in his arms. He set her back against the couch. “What?”
“So you’d be leaving San Diego?”
“Yeah probably, I don’t think San Diego will offer me the kind of money Brian is talking about.”
Bailey’s mouth tightened and she nodded her head slowly.
He grabbed her hands. “Bay, of course I want you to come with me wherever I end up.”
“You want me to come with you to wherever you end up?” She slowly spoke the words in that way she did before she blew up.
What the fuck? Why was she pissed? He’d just told her he wanted her to move with him.
“Well, yeah, of course. Did you really think I’d want to move without you?” he asked.
Bailey cleared her throat. “Do you have any idea where you think you might end up?”
He eyed her cautiously. She still sounded pissed. “Umm…Not really, Brian floated a couple of possibilities out, but it’s only the end of August. We’ve got some time before he starts negotiating, but he’s really hopeful.”
“Let me get this straight. You want me to move with you to who knows where for next season?”
“Umm, yeah,” he said warily. The vein in her forehead pulsed. That couldn’t be good. “Why are you upset?”
“Are you kidding me?” Bailey smacked his hands away from hers and stood up. Her knee bashed against his as she shoved past him.
He watched her pace around the living room. “What? I don’t get why you’re pissed. I just told you I wanted you to move with me. That shouldn’t make you mad. I kind of thought you’d be happy.”
“You thought I’d be happy that you just expect me to walk away from my job and follow you somewhere, who knows where, on a moment’s notice.”
“It wouldn’t be a moment’s notice. We’d have a couple months,” he grumbled.
“Oh well, then.” She threw up her hands. “You’re unbelievable.”
“I’m unbelievable?”
She stopped in the middle of the room and spun to face him. “Yes, you’re unbelievable. Do you not know me at all?”
“What the fuck? Of course I know you.”
“Do you? What do I teach, Gonzo?”
“Are you fucking kidding me?” he growled.
She placed her hands on her hips and stared back at him like she was waiting for him to answer.
“Sociology.”
“What’s my specialty?”
“Gender equality.”
“Exactly. So why the hell would you think you could just come in here and demand I abandon my career to follow you somewhere?”
“Jesus, I didn’t demand you abandon your career. I fucking came home excited and wanted to share it with you.”
“Seriously, Gonzo?”
“Yeah, seriously. I just fucking told you I wanted you to move with me because I can’t imagine living my life without you and this is how you act? What the hell?”
“You came home and announced we’d be moving.”
He closed his eyes and took a breath to rein in his temper. “I didn’t announce anything, Bailey. I told you what my agent said. Shoot me, I’m excited about the possibility of a kickass contract. Obviously, when the time comes, we’d discuss our options and where we wanted to move.”
“Would we?”
“Fuck,” he grumbled and shoved his hands through his hair. “Of course we would.”
“Do you have any idea how hard it is to find jobs in my field?”
He shifted uncomfortably on the sofa. Okay, so maybe finding a job in her field might take some time, but if they ended up in some place like New York, there were tons of schools. Surely someone would be hiring. “It might be tricky to find a job teaching exactly what you want, but most of what you’re teaching right now isn’t what you want to be teaching, anyway. And the kind of money I’d be making you could teach part time or hold out till something better opens up.”
Bailey glared at him. Her nostrils flared. “Oh my god, you did not just say that.”
“What?”
“Gonzo come on.” She stared at him like he just asked what 1+1 equaled. It wasn’t like it was a stupid suggestion. He was being nice. The last thing he wanted was for her to take a job she hated just to be with him.
When he didn’t say anything, she rolled her eyes. “First, I’m not going to let some man support me. Ever. Not a chance.”
“Okay, so you work. I don’t really see what the problem is here.”
“Agh,” Bailey growled. “You know what it was like for me moving here. How messed up I was about what happened with Brad.”
His spine stiffened. How the hell did him suggesting she let him pay for things become anything close to what that douche did to her? That was just insulting. Feeling his temperature spike, he took a deep breath. “Maybe you should explain that to me.”
“I’m not moving to another city with you. I can’t.”
The muscles in his spine tensed as her words hit him like a punch. “So let me get this straight. You were willing to move to San Diego for Brad, but you’re not willing to move someplace for me?” He paused and pressed his lips together tightly, then exhaled. “Wow. Okay, good to know.”
“And look where that got me,” she yelled.
“Seems to me it worked out pretty fucking well, since the only reason we’re together is because you moved here.”
“Yeah, we’re great, but so were things with Brad.” She shook her head. “I made that mistake before. I’m not doing it again.”
“Moving with me would be a mistake?” Jesus, that hurt. He swallowed past the lump in his throat. “So you aren’t even willing to discuss it?”
Tears welled in Bailey’s eyes. “I’m sorry Gonzo, I can’t.”
He scrubbed his hand over his face. “Jesus, I’m a fucking idiot,” he mumbled. The entire drive home he’d been picturing this life they could have together, exploring a new city, picking out a place together that was just theirs and she didn’t want any of it.
“You’re not an idiot, Gonzo. I just can’t move with you.”
“No, you mean you won’t move with me.” The irony of the situation wasn’t lost on him. She’d shown up at his house, broken. He’d put her back together and now he was the one broken.
“Same thing,” Bailey replied.
“Yeah, it really isn’t.” He sighed. His watch buzzed, letting him know it was time to head to the airport. He pushed off the couch. “I gotta go.”
“Go? Now?”
“I got a plane to catch.” He walked toward his bedroom.
Bailey raced after him. “But we aren’t done talking.”
He grabbed his overnight bag off the floor where he’d left it this morning. Thank god he’d packed last night. “If we keep talking, are you going to move with me?”
“No,” she whispered.
“Then not much point in talking, is there?” Pissed off, he slung his travel bag over his shoulder and tried to step around her.
“Gonzo don’t leave like this. I love you.”
“Not as much as you loved, Brad, apparently.”
Bailey reared back. He took the opportunity to step around her.
“How can you think that?” she asked.
“Umm, maybe because you were willing to change your whole life for him and move here, but you aren’t even willing to discuss moving someplace with me. Fuck, for all I know I could end up here still, but I don’t know, and you won’t even fucking discuss it.”
At the front door, he spun around. “What does that say to you? Because to me it says a hell of a lot.” He grabbed his keys out of the bowl.
Pulling open the front door, he paused. “Maybe you should start looking for a place of your own to live. I don’t know where I’m going to end up, and I sure as hell wouldn’t want you to be depending on some guy.”
Bailey gasped at the dig like he’d intended. Good, he hoped that hurt because Jesus, she’d fucking decimated him. Without waiting for her to reply, he slammed the door behind him. He punched the elevator button. “Fuck,” he cursed when he saw it go from G to 2 and stop. He stormed to the stairwell. It would probably do him some good to take the stairs.
The entire way down the stairs, he ranted to himself. By the time he hit the parking garage, he’d almost convinced himself he was better off without her. Almost. He clicked the button on the key fob and his trunk opened as he walked up. Bailey’s jacket lay on the floor of the trunk. He fingered the fabric. Who was he kidding? He wasn’t even close to feeling like he was better off without her.
Jesus, how could he have been so stupid? He’d known it was a risk getting involved with his best friend, but he’d honestly thought when they finally crossed that line it was because what they had meant something. That they had what it took to go the distance. Apparently not. He’d been working so hard to prove he was more than his reputation and in the end, that’s all she’d wanted him to be. Fuck.
He chucked his bag in the trunk. Needing the satisfaction of slamming the door, he reached up and pulled the trunk. The door resisted. Fucking technology didn’t even let you do a good rage slam anymore.
With a growl, he pushed the button on the trunk and watched the trunk slowly shut. Holy shit, that was unsatisfying. He opened the driver’s side door and slid behind the wheel. He pulled the door closed roughly. Then opened the door and slammed it shut again. Slightly better.
Maybe he could convince the guys to see if they could find some kind of bar that let you wreck shit when they landed. It was New York, after all; they had everything, so there had to be some place like that. One more reason not to cross it off his list of potential places to move. If Bailey and he broke up, he sure as hell was going to need to move some place where he could wreck shit. It was either that or curl up in a ball, and that wasn’t an option.