Chapter Eighteen
Jake
Friday morning, I lie in bed and stare at the ceiling.
I wonder if I’d been more of a bro, a big dumbass fuckboy, going out every night to strip clubs and having random hook-ups with women I met on Instagram, whether I would have gotten laid a shit ton more in my life by now and Serenity would still be talking to me, because, hey, I’d be fucking irresistible to women.
Except I’m not irresistible to women. At least, not to the one that I want.
I haven’t spoken to Serenity since Monday night when she hung up on me.
I’m trying not to be a selfish asshole here. And yet, I can’t shake the feeling that there’s something more to her keeping her distance from me.
My whole life, I’ve toed the line. High school star athlete. The steady, reliable, nice guy who never drank too much, never slept around, ignored all the girls who slid into my DMs. I don’t even know why anymore.
Serenity. There’s another story. She’s beautiful, and I’m not the only guy who knows it. And I know she’s not a rulebreaker, but it’s like, even if there was no contract, she doesn’t seem to have time for me.
It makes my heart ache that maybe there’s something in her life I don’t know about.
Or maybe someone.
My phone lights up on the nightstand. I reach for it, and squint at the screen.
‘S’up, Cap?’ I answer to Dalt Briar.
‘Hey, man. Just checking in. Checking you’re cool with… you know… the news this morning.’
I sit up in bed. ‘What news?’
‘Oh, crap. You ain’t seen it. Ally did say to me that I should ask you that first. I figured you would have already.’
‘I don’t get what you’re talking about,’ I say.
‘Pictures of you and Lemon Conway are all over the local news. It’s just… you know… stupid paparazzi shit.’
My eyes close. ‘Fuck,’ I grind out.
‘You took her out again?’
‘Yesterday, for lunch. It was warm, we sat outside.’
‘Yeah, well, there must have been a photographer pitched up. The pictures are pretty clear.’
‘Goddamn it,’ I snap, and push the sheets back. I go to my desk and open my laptop. This week cannot get any worse.
‘Look, if you want, I can ask the guys to go easy on you. Tell ’em you didn’t have a choice.’
‘I didn’t.’
‘That sucks, man. You shouldn’t have to put up with that.’
I wince, because it feels like he might be referring to Lemon, rather than Sam Conway. I’m sure he can take a guess at the latter’s behavior. But Lemon’s got a good nature, despite me having zero attraction toward her.
I rub my eyes. ‘I can handle myself. With the guys. There’s no need to say anything. I’m more pissed at the photographer.’
‘Okay, so long as you’re sure. See you at practice.’
I bid Dalton goodbye, hang up and go online.
NFL RUNNING BACK JAKE WALSH SPARKS ROMANCE RUMOURS WITH MUTINEERS’ OWNER HANK CONWAY’S GRANDDAUGHTER
I sigh when I see the photo, because of course it looks like I’m completely smitten with Lemon. Her head is thrown back, laughing at something I’ve just said. To the outside world, it looks like we’re into one another.
I rest my elbows on my knees, bury my face in my palms. What with losing Monday night’s game, getting knocked back by Serenity and having my picture taken with Lemon for the local gossip pages, it’s not been the best week of my life.
I call Lemon.
‘I’m so happy I wore a pretty dress!’ is her reaction when I tell her.
‘I’m serious, Lemon, people are gonna ask you if we’re together. I need to know what you plan on telling them. This whole dating thing… it was never meant to be public knowledge.’
Plus, Lemon doesn’t know about Serenity.
‘Nobody’s asked me anything,’ Lemon says.
I can’t help but roll my eyes. She’s a sweet enough girl but not always the sharpest tool in the shed.
She seems to have no inclination that her mother might have had a photographer waiting near the venue of our date on purpose, so she could hold me hostage, knowing it would be harder for me to wriggle out of taking her daughter out again if people were talking about us like we’re a couple in real life.
I bite my lip, infuriated. ‘But they will, Lemon. We need to get our story straight.’
The ‘date’ itself was fine, I guess. I was honest with her, stopping short of speaking about Serenity.
I told her that I was interested in someone else.
And while I used to think Lemon had a crush on me, something about her behavior around me no longer fits that theory.
While at her brother’s wedding, she was making it obvious that she was staring at me, yet I can’t help but wonder whether those initial flirtatious glances were the result of her mother pressuring her into showing an interest. But since we’ve had a few dates, Lemon seems uninterested in me as a potential partner.
I’ll be the first to admit it’s confusing.
It all boils down to this being part of her mother’s masterplan. The woman who right now already has my cajónes in a vice. My golden boy reputation doesn’t exactly help. So, while I can’t deny anything, I don’t want to confirm anything either.
‘I’ll call the Mutineers’ publicity team,’ I tell her. ‘If any journalist asks for a statement, we can just say we’re friends and we’re having fun and exploring whether there might be more there. How does that sound?’
Lemon giggles. ‘That sounds fine to me.’
‘Uhhh, Lemon?’
‘Yes?’ she says.
‘Just so we’re clear. We’re not interested in one another, are we? We’re doing this for your mother’s sake, yes? So she gets off your back about finding a serious relationship and I get to keep my spot on the Mutineers. Smoke and mirrors.’
We talked about this. On our so-called date. I don’t know why, but – a little like Serenity – I always get the feeling there’s something Lemon ain’t telling me. ‘Yes, yes, of course,’ she says. ‘Smoke and mirrors.’
‘I’ll call the publicity team now, right?’
‘Right. Right.’
‘Stick to that line, okay?’
‘I sure will.’
When I hang up, I toss my phone and place two hands behind the back of my head.
I’m beginning to really dislike Samantha Conway. There’s no way in any possible universe she didn’t set this up.
It makes me wonder what else is going on that I don’t know about.
I want to talk to someone about the situation I’ve found myself in. I could talk to my teammates but they’ll just give me shit.
I look at the other phone. The Serenity phone.
It remains charging and unused on my desk.
I haven’t switched it off since Serenity blew me off on Monday.
She’s the only other person who I can talk to about this freaking weird Lemon situation.
I wonder if she’s seen the news, and what she makes of it.
I pick up the phone and unlock it, thinking about sending a message.
I blow out my cheeks and think the better of it.
If she wanted to change her mind, she could contact me.
And she hasn’t.
Dalton Briar must have said something to my teammates, because at our non-contact training session for team drills, nobody even whispered a word about Lemon. Not even Hud Briar, and that’s saying something about Hudson.
When I get home around three, I’m hunting round in the fridge when I hear the front door slam. The next thing I know, River is racing up the stairs in what sounds like floods of tears. I inhale a hastily made sandwich before heading up to her room.
When I bang on the door, she shrieks at me, ‘Go away!’
I hover outside in the corridor. A weird sensation washes over me. River never really had too many hormones flying around as a fourteen- or fifteen-year-old and I wonder if they’re just hitting now. I’ve never really seen her cry before. At least, not like this.
‘Come on, Riv…’ I say softly, knocking on the door again.
‘Go away! I fucking hate you!’
‘Woah, what did I do?’
Her voice comes back through the door. ‘You brought me to this damn place! You’re the reason I have zero friends and nobody wants to go near me!
You’re never even here anyway, you’re always busy doing somethin’ else!
Why couldn’t you have signed with the Eagles?
Then I could have stayed with my real friends! ’
I’m through with being yelled at, so I barge into her room. She’s on the bed with her shoes off, the quilt all crumpled, her eyes puffy and black makeup staining her tear-streaked cheeks.
‘What’s goin’ on?’
Big soft plushies come flying at my face. ‘Get out!’ she hollers again. ‘Get out, get out, get out!’
‘Not until you tell me what the hell is up.’
She breaks down then and buries her face in her hands. I sit down on her bed and rub her back. Girls like that when they’re crying. Gracie Olavsen was a crier, especially when she was on her period. I got pretty good at soothing her.
I snort. This is why women don’t find me sexy. Because I’m soft. I’m too fucking nice.
‘Don’t laugh at me,’ River snaps through her tears.
‘I wasn’t.’
‘Then what was that noise you just made?’
‘Nothing, I just… I was thinking about something else, sorry. You gonna tell me what’s with the ugly crying?’
Another plushie hits me square in the face.
River takes some breaths. ‘Something happened at school today.’
‘I take it, it wasn’t good?’
River wipes her tears, tries to compose herself. She gives a big sigh. ‘You remember I told you about the winter formal?’ she asks.
‘Winter formal? Sure, yeah. What about it?’
‘You remember when we went to that wedding, and I told you there was a waiter there who I recognized from school?’
‘Uh. Sure.’
‘Scottie Lincoln. Today I found out that he told every guy at school not to invite me to the winter formal.’
I blink at her. ‘Wait, what?’
‘You heard me. And the worst thing about it? I found out in the bathroom, while I was inside a stall when some girls came in and started talking about how nobody was gonna invite me because Scottie told them not to. And they were laughing about it.’
More tears spill over onto her cheeks and her face crumples. Anger balloons in my chest.
‘Why would a guy do that? Because he wanted to ask you?’
‘No, he already has a date!’