Chapter 12
— Remmy —
“I’m gonna fucking kill him,” I hissed through my teeth to Bastian when the camera had finally shifted back to the game.
Bass snorted. “He set you up big time, Rems,” he drawled around the edge of his beer cup. “Gotta admit, dude’s got bigger balls than me to pull a stunt like that.”
“Eww.” I wrinkled my nose. “I don’t need to know about your balls.”
“Meh.” My brother shrugged, not giving a fuck, then scoffed again. “He’s a fucking attention whore, ain’t he?”
I laughed and shook my head, amused now that my pulse had returned to normal. Despite being a confident woman, I didn’t enjoy being thrust into the spotlight.
The umpire called Scout’s name. I watched from above as Scout glanced his way, then halted. A gasp of shock left my mouth as the umpire threw a ghost ball gesture toward the dugout.
“Oh my god, is Scout getting tossed?” I yelled over the disapproving rise of booing from the crowd. Guilt hit me hard even though him getting booted was his fault.
Bastian laughed. “Yeah, and I’m not even surprised. Oh look out, here comes the coach.”
“Do you reckon they’ll reverse it?”
“Nope,” he quipped after Scout nodded, then threw another salute off his brow, aimed my way. Bastian’s amused eyes cut to me. “Welp, I hope that was worth it for him.”
“I called him, so I guess he’ll call back.” I shrugged, trying to hide my inner unease. “He’s gonna find it awkward as shit when we don’t work out, though.”
A girl could dream, but girls like me didn’t end up with guys like Scout. I had too much baggage. Too many red flags that I kept stored tightly within my soul. I couldn’t think of anything worse than the entire world knowing about those.
“You’re too hard on yourself, Rems. Guys like him don’t want girls like that—” Bass brazenly pointed at a base bunny with her tits all but out “—they want and need a strong independent woman like yourself. One that’s gonna drive them fucking insane, but one that has their back and won’t leave when shit gets hard.”
“Wow, it actually sounds like you know what you’re talking about,” I teased. “When are you going to put this advice into practice, little brother?”
He simply shrugged. “I haven’t found my forever hurricane yet.”
Feeling my affection for him swell, I leaned into him and laid my head on his shoulder. “Love you, Bass.”
“You too, Rems,” he murmured, keeping his eyes on the field as the play resumed, purposefully not getting caught up in the emotional vulnerability of the moment.
Unexpectedly, my phone vibrated in my hand, and my heart dropped into the sea of butterflies in my stomach.
“Oh my god. It’s him. Do I answer or—”
Without warning, Bastian snatched it from my hand and answered while blocking me with his raised arm.
“Hey, stud, nice moves out there.” He grinned while Scout replied, then burst out laughing and offered the phone my way. “Apparently, he doesn’t want to talk to me.”
I glared while snatching back my phone. “Neither do I. Asshole,” I hissed while bringing the phone to my ear.
Scout’s voice held confusion. “Uhhh… hi?”
I giggled, far too breathless and girly for my liking. “I’m so sorry, that was for Bass.” I outwardly cringed, then shot daggers at Bastian when he sniggered.
Scout’s tone turned smug. “Do I make you nervous, honey?”
Yes.
“No. Do I make you desperate, Ace?” I threw back at him.
“Nope.”
“Lies.”
“Then we’re both liars—again,” he drawled.
The silent pause drew out, growing a little awkward before Scout took back control. “Wanna hang out later?”
While my body screamed fuck yes , my head urged caution.
He cut through the hesitation again. “Wasn’t really a question, more of a we’re hanging out , so your place or mine?”
“Yours,” I immediately said. Less risky for me that way.
“Cool. I’ll pick you up. What’s your address?”
My pulse kicked. “I can make my own way over. What’s your address?”
He snorted and chuckled under his breath. “I’ll message it to you. Come by after six, and I’ll have dinner ready.”
“What if six doesn’t work for me?” I teased.
“Come by at five then.”
I leaned back in my seat and crossed my legs, feeling much more like my usual assertive self.
“Needy, aren’t you?”
“No, I’m bossy. See you tonight, Remmy.”
With that, the phone disconnected, leaving my jaw slack and me staring at the screen in disbelief.
I glanced at Bass, who arched a brow. “Well?”
“He just hung up on me.”
My brother paused taking another sip of beer, and grinned. “That’a boy. He’s gotta keep you in line right from the start.”
“Oh, he does not want to play that game with me.” I snickered darkly with absolutely zero humor. Carefully, I clamped my juice bottle between my thighs, then combed both hands through my hair while releasing a conflicted sigh. “What am I going to do, Bass?”
His sharp hazel eyes held mine for a beat while he mulled over the question at a deeper level than I intended. It took a blink for the ghosts to clear from his expression. He then smirked. “You’re gonna go get laid and not tell me a damn thing about it, that’s what.”
I lifted both brows. “He might want me for my intellectual conversation.”
Bass cracked a laugh. “I doubt that very much, Rems. And you’re smart enough to not believe your own bullshit.”
“You’re right. Right now he only wants me for this—” I motioned up and down my body, then leaned closer to him and dropped my voice “—and I’m going to give it to him.”
“Argh, Remmy!” Bastian frowned while rubbing his ear. “Now I’m gonna have to bleach those unwanted images from my brain.”
In recent years, we’d come to a mutual understanding: I didn’t tell him about the dudes I sleep with, and he didn’t ask about how I made my living. It was a system we’d stuck to thanks to dual investment into not hearing or divulging things we wished we’d never heard or said, but when it came to Scout, neither of us had played by the rules.
Both Bass and I knew one thing for sure without uttering another word on the subject: I was gonna get an encore of my hookup with Scout at Merce and Beckett’s wedding, and I wasn’t one bit sorry.
~
That evening, having cruised through Portland Heights, I slowly drove the streets of Goose Hollow feeling both flustered and out of my comfort zone. I’d never been in this part of town, but it was nice .
Parking outside of a condo block, I studied the large brick building of various shades of brown, nestled back from the road among pretty gardens. Not what I expected, but I rolled with it as I locked my car and picked my way along the entrance path. I checked my messages to make sure I didn’t get lost and hung a left toward the left wing of the building. Once there, I double-checked the door number, then pressed a manicured finger to the doorbell.
The tone echoed on repeat throughout the quiet interior, then fell silent. I was about to press it again when I spotted Scout through the tall, frosted window beside the door, jogging over to let me in.
I held my breath as the locks disengaged, anticipating his dazzling wide grin but not the kick in my chest when the door whipped open.
“Hi,” I breathed out.
His warm brown eyes shone under the bill of his baseball cap. “Hey. I wasn’t a thousand percent sure you were coming around tonight. I kind of bullied you into it.”
I smiled back and took in his broad shoulders and chest underneath the fitted khaki green tee, then his shapely calves below his knee-length gray shorts. He sure did make comfy clothing look sexy.
He stepped aside and welcomed me into his condo with a wide sweep of one arm. “Come in.”
I held his gaze and grinned as I stepped into the tiled entryway. “I thought about leaving you hanging, but after that stunt you pulled today…”
He flicked the door shut while laughing. “Knew you wouldn’t be able to resist.”
I turned on my high-heeled ankle boot and popped a hip. “Oh no, I could. I came here to get your apology, then make you beg for forgiveness.”