Chapter Six
Max
Tonight is the monthly guys’ night I host at my place, and normally I look forward to this time with my buddies, but my head’s a jumbled mess. I’ve been going over that weekend in Vegas all afternoon and too many pieces are missing.
I’m ashamed to admit that who I was back then, in the prime of my career, isn’t someone I’m proud of today. Sure, I’m proud of who I was on the field, damn proud; I was a beast, a legend.
But the guy behind the jersey? The actual man?
Shaking my head, I rack the balls for the next game. I’m not proud of that guy at all.
“What’s eatin’ you?” Colton asks as I hang up the rack on the wall.
He hands me a beer and I down half of it in one gulp.
He’s been one of my closest friends since childhood.
Like Gray, Colt’s been by my side since middle school.
If I can’t remember something from that trip, maybe he can help fill in some of the blanks.
“You remember that Vegas trip after my second Superbowl win—”
“The Vegas trip?” he asks with an incredulous laugh. “With the bunnies?”
“That’s the one.”
“Like I’d forget. Epic fucking trip, man.” He clinks the neck of his beer bottle against mine. “Why?”
I blow out a breath as I watch Gray break. The balls scatter across the blue felt, but he doesn’t sink any. I grab the cue and step up to the table. “You remember anyone else being there?” I ask as I line up my cue and bend over the table.
“You, me, Gray—”
“Girls,” I clarify as I take the shot. The cue ball misses the five ball by a hair. I curse under my breath, then step away so Gray can take his next turn.
“Nina,” Colton says.
I groan, hating the fact that we ever brought the Bean along on those trips. Not that she’s ever been delicate, not in the slightest, but those were debauchery-filled testosterone fests, and she must have thought we were cavemen.
I mean, we were, but she shouldn’t have had to be the one wrangling our stupid asses.
Leaning against the back of the couch, I grip the cue in both hands in front of me and look at my friends. “It was a bunch of bunnies, a couple cheerleaders…” I try to remember anything else about that night, but it’s just glimpses and screenshots, everything a bit blurry around the edges.
“We did a shit ton of blow that night.”
I snort. “I don’t think the blow was the problem.” Shaking my head, I run a hand down my face. “I’m guessing the bits and pieces I can’t remember are more from the booze and the pills.”
Like I said, not proud of that guy, but I’ve come a long fucking way since then.
“Why is this coming up?” Gray asks, leaning over the table as he lines up his shot.
Dude’s about to run this game and it’s my own damn fault for being so distracted lately.
“You remember what Sutton said in that meeting with the Bratt kid?”
Gray breaks, sinks two balls, then looks up at me with a cocky grin. “You want to just give up now?”
I roll my eyes. “The meeting?”
Gray chuckles, then moves around the table, considering his next move. “Want to be more specific? Your girl said a lot that day.”
Fuck, I wish she was my girl.
“She mentioned being in a hot tub full of Playboy bunnies.”
He shrugs. “So? You were a Superbowl champion. Of course you were in a hot tub of bunnies. That’s not news.”
“No.” I shake my head. “It’s more than that. Something feels off.”
“Call Nina.”
I look at Colton and raise my eyebrows.
“She wasn’t nearly as fucked up as we were. Babysitters always know the worst of what we’ve done.”
I snort, then finish the rest of my beer and hang up my cue, leaving Gray to finish out the rack without me. I fucked up by losing that first ball; there’s no coming back from that when Gray’s at the table.
Pulling my cell phone out, I dial Nina’s number.
She picks up quickly. “It’s guys’ night, which means I’m off the clock.”
I smile and say, “Hello to you, too, kiddo.”
Nina huffs, but I know her well enough to know she’s smiling. We’ve been best friends for far too long. “I need a favor.”
“I’m not going on a beer run. They have apps for that now.”
“That’s not what I need.”
“I’m not coming over to drive Colt home because he drank too much. They have apps for that now, too.”
“Again, not what I’m calling about. But you’re getting close.”
Nina sighs, then the phone is muffled a bit before she comes back and says, “No weed runs.”
“There are apps for that.”
“Exactly.”
“Are you on a date?”
“Wouldn’t you like to know?”
“Hi, Micheal!” I shout into the phone.
Behind me, the guys yell in unison, “Hi, Micheal!”
“Oh my god.” Nina huffs. “He says hi.”
“When is he going to join us for guys’ night?”
“Literally never. The longer I can keep my husband away from you three cavemen, the better.”
“You love us.” She gives us a lot of grief, but we’ve been around her husband plenty. Hell, I was his best man when they got married.
“What do you want? I’m all out of maxi pads.”
I grin. God, I love this woman. After Sutton, she’s my second favorite ball-buster. “Remember that Vegas trip back in—”
She snorts. “Yeah. I remember that Vegas trip.”
“How do you know which one I’m talking about?”
“Women’s intuition. What’s up?”
I drag my teeth over my bottom lip, my stomach twisting about what I’m about to ask. It’s a fucked-up feeling, not remembering something. Or, if my own intuition is correct, someone. “Aside from you and the hot tub full of models—”
Nina snorts.
“—was there anyone else there? I mean, not teammates. Women.”
“You don’t remember?” Her voice has lost any hint of amusement. “Truly?”
“Fuck. What is it?” I drag my hand through my hair, then clasp it around the back of my neck. “Did I do something?” My stomach drops at the thought.
Nina sighs. “I’ll be right back, babe.” After a moment, she says, “Okay, I’m somewhere quieter. What do you remember about that night? You guys were pretty fucked up.”
I nod, then admit, “Not a whole lot.”
“For fuck’s sake, Max.” Nina laughs, but it’s a dark sound. “I should not have been friends with you this long.”
“Probably true, but where would I be without you?”
“Yeah.” She sighs, and I brace myself. “There was a girl there, I don’t know, a few years younger than us.”
My pulse accelerates. “Under age?”
“No, no, I mean, I don’t think so. She was maybe twenty-one? Twenty-two?”
I exhale, but it still doesn’t feel like I’m in the clear. Something niggles at the back of my mind. Was that young girl Sutton Hart?
Christ, not her. Please don’t let this story be about her.
“She was there with someone in the league, a coach, or maybe…” She drifts off for a second and I begin to pace. “Oh, a player, I think? A former player? Shit. That part’s foggy.”
“If you’re having trouble remembering the details, imagine how I feel.”
“Is this striking a chord at all?”
I exhale a deep breath. “No. Sort of. I don’t know, Bean, my stomach’s all fucked up.”
“Why is this coming up?”
“I think that girl was Sutton Hart.”
She sucks in a surprised breath. “Your Sutton Hart?”
I chuckle, but there’s no mirth to the sound. “I wish. I’m starting to think these black spots in my memory of that trip have something to do with why she won’t give me the time of day.”
“Oh. Oh.” Nina snorts. “Yeah, Max, if that was her?” She laughs. “I found her in your bedroom that night, bawling her eyes out.”
“Oh, fuck me.” I squeeze my eyes shut, terrified to ask but needing to know. “Why?”
“I’m like ninety-nine percent sure you had sex with her, then left her in your bed. Apparently, when she went looking for you in that gaudy ass suite, she found you making out with some Playboy bunny in the hot tub.”
I groan, scrubbing a hand down my face. “You’re kidding.”
“Nope.” She pops the p at the end of that word.
“Did I apologize?”
Nina barks out a laugh. “You didn’t even see her. And props to that girl, whoever she was, because I would have made a scene if that was me.”
I groan. Nina would have lit the place up, and rightfully so. I can’t believe I did that, but the blurry spots are starting to get a little clearer, and I feel like I can sort of recall spending time in a bedroom with someone… but fuck if I can remember who.
“I made sure she got back to her hotel safely, though, so you’re welcome.”
“Was it Sutton?”
“I don’t know. I don’t remember getting her name. She was cute though, with this long, wavy hair. Dark brown and, like, down past her ass.” She pauses, then asks, “Is that what she looks like?”
I swallow hard, emotion doing its best to imitate a boulder in my throat. “No. I mean, yeah, I guess so. Her hair is shorter though, shoulder length, I guess.”
“Hm. I wish I’d gotten her name.”
I snort. “Me too. But I don’t think it would matter. I’m pretty sure it was her. It explains so much.”
“I remember the way she looked afterwards, though,” Nina says, and I brace myself. “Just absolutely devastated.” The background noise gets louder as Nina puts the call on speaker. “I’m googling her.”
It’s too damn late for me, but I hold my breath anyway, hoping she’ll confirm that the girl from Vegas is not, in fact, the woman of my dreams.
“Oh shit.”
I grimace. “Fuck.”
“It’s definitely her.” Nina whistles lowly. “You better get on your knees for this woman, Maxipad.”
“Yeah. No shit.” Hanging my head, I thank Nina and let her get back to her evening.
I’m a full-blown asshole. No wonder Sutton wants nothing to do with me. No wonder she literally got up and left when I told her how I’ve wanted her since the first time I laid eyes on her.
That was a good ten years after the first time I actually laid eyes on her.
The night I broke her heart.
And I didn’t even care enough to remember her.
Well fucking done.
“What’s up?” Gray says, making me jump and tearing me out of my spiraling. His eyes search mine, brows furrowing when he gets a good look at me. “Something wrong with Bean?”
“No,” I say quickly. “She’s fine, but I need a fucking drink.” Passing the beverage fridge full of assorted beer from my favorite L.A.-based brewery, I open the liquor cabinet and grab a bottle of whiskey.
I can feel Gray’s penetrating gaze at my back, but I don’t turn around until I’ve poured two fingers into my favorite glass. Taking a sip, I turn around and rest my hips against the bar.
Gray’s frown deepens. “You gonna make me guess?”
“I think I slept with Sutton.”
His eyes widen. “What? When?” Chuckling, he adds, “And what do you mean, you think? Wouldn’t that be something you keep in your spank bank forever?”
I bark out a laugh, the sound miserable even to my ears. “That party in Vegas. The one she remembered so clearly it was uncanny.”
Gray’s eyes slowly widen as his eyebrows creep upward. “She’s a bunny?”
Squeezing my eyes shut, I shake my head. “No. She’s the daughter of the man that was invited to come to the game that night by our coach—his former coach.”
“Ricky Hart,” Gray says slowly.
I raise my glass toward him. “Bingo.”
“She came back to the room with us.”
I nod.
“Holy shit, I remember her.”
“Wish I did.” I bring the glass to my lips and toss it back. “Fuck me, man, I never stood a chance with this woman.”
Gray joins me on this side of the bar, grabbing himself a beer and resting his hips against the counter beside me. “That sucks, man, but you gotta let it go.”
I swivel my head to look at him.
“She’s got your head all fucked up. You’ve been out of it since Texas.” He takes a sip of his beer, then levels me with a pointed look. “You nearly cost us a deal this week.”
I take a deep breath, nodding because I’m well aware that I fucked up that meeting with the reps from Adidas yesterday. “I don’t know what it is, man. She’s just… all I can think about lately.”
“You’ve had a thing for her for a long time. I get it. And whatever happened when you saw her in Texas…” He shrugs. “I don’t know. But your little obsession with Sutton Hart is fucking with Apex and you can’t let that happen. This isn’t a game, Max.”
“I know. I know.” Shaking my head, I drag my hand through my hair.
“She’s your direct competitor right now, as wild as that sounds. She steals that kid out from under us and I’m moving forward with my petition for the board. You get that, right?”
“I do. Fuck, you know I do.”
“I love you, but I have to do what’s best for us, for Apex. We have a team of people who depend on us.”
“I know, bro. I get it.”
Gray watches me for a moment, then nods. “Then get your head in the fucking game, man.”