Chapter 53
Chapter Fifty-Three
Penelope
Leighton: OMG…what a guy!!!
Callie: GO DECKER!!!
Leighton: Pen, you must be swooning hard.
Are you kidding? I’m pissed.
Callie:
Leighton: He just confessed his love for you in a press conference.
When he doesn’t have a damn contract for next year. This is not a good look for him.
Callie: I guess, but you guys deserve to be out in the open.
She’s not wrong. I’ve been going stir crazy, and lying to my dad wasn’t great. Although he’s been oddly busy lately, even asking Decker to pick the last stuffed animal and bring it home to Hazel.
Leighton: Callie’s got a point, but I really hope Whitaker sees all the love he’s getting on socials and at all the local businesses. I was at a small café, and they had The Decker Defender drink.
Callie: I was at the deli in Lincoln Park, and they had Goldie’s Grinder. The entire city wants him to play here.
And I think he just blew it all up.
Callie: I don’t think so.
I’m the manager’s daughter.
Leighton: Love is love, there no actual rule, right?
I think it’s an ethics thing.
Leighton: Gotcha. Oh…they’re done.
I check my television and send them a quick text.
I’m calling him.
Callie: Be nice, he just loves you.
Leighton: I cried, that means something.
Callie: You cry at everything these days.
I leave the group text chain.
I give Decker fifteen minutes, knowing he’s probably with the team, and they just lost. All of us were going to fly out there tomorrow since we thought for sure they’d make it to the next game, but I guess we’ll be waiting for them to come home instead.
“Hey, Pen,” he says when he answers.
“Are you crazy?”
“Hello to you too.”
“Decker. Jordan Blake is going to run that on every platform she has by tonight, and my dad is going to—”
“I already talked to your dad.”
My head rocks back. “You talked to my dad?”
“Yeah, turns out he’s been Team Pecker all along.”
“Did you just make a couple name for us?”
“I did. Well, I didn’t. Technically Easton did.”
My eyes squeeze shut for a second. “Then tell him to figure out another one. We are not going to be known as Pecker.”
“I thought it was okay. And there really aren’t any other options. I mean… Denelope sounds like a species of deer. Declope sounds like a drug. Pecker is really the only option.”
“Decker…stop saying it, or it’s going to stick.”
“Okay.” His warm chuckle echoes in my ear.
“I wish you wouldn’t have let that Jordan get it out of you.”
I hear his sigh through the phone. “It was time.”
I get it. I do. I want to be out too, but not at his expense.
“Hey, we all want to get the hell out of here and get home. Can you take it out on me in bed, preferably naked?” There’s a calmness in his voice.
“Decker!”
“It’s starting to turn me on when you call me by my full name. Does it turn you on when I call you Penelope?”
“Actually, it doesn’t.”
“I’ll stick to Pen. I’m by the locker room. Call you when we take off, and we can discuss all this when I get home. Okay?”
I blow out a breath, but I can’t have him missing the bus or the plane. “Fine.”
“I love you, Pen.”
“I love you.”
“Say it.”
“Say what?” I ask.
“You know what.”
“No, Decker, I do not know.”
He just laughs. “Love you so much, and I can’t wait to kiss you on the streets of Chicago in front of everyone.”
Oh boy, he’s too good. I have no response to that.
“And carry Hazel when she gets sleepy at the zoo.”
“You’re too smooth for your own good.”
“And just think, I’m all yours. Pecker forever.”
“Decker!”
He laughs and hangs up.
I grab my laptop, sending another email with the hopes that the asshole answers this time. Especially since he’s going to hear about my relationship with Decker. Then again, maybe he’ll actually respond to me now. Bastard.