Page 50 of Gridlocked on the Gridiron

“Why aren’t you looking for a real boyfriend?”

She’d known the question was coming, but hated that she couldn’t sidestep this one. “After Max, they’re not for me. I was already pretty sure I wasn’t cut out for a relationship. He confirmed it.”

His eyes darkened, his jaw set. Dangerous. This man was dangerous, and god, did she like it.

“Do you still have feelings for him?”

She scoffed, “Colton, we’ve talked about this. You know I don’t. Love just hasn’t worked in my favor.

He looked at her like he didn’t believe her, so she continued, “I’m serious. So serious that I can honestly tell you I’m glad Max cheated on me.”

She’d had inklings of that fact for a few months, maybe from the moment the news had come out, but it’d solidified when she’d realized that Colton cared more about her than Max ever had. It hurt, but she knew it was true. She just hadn’t known it was something she was going to voice.

“What?” he asked incredulously.

“I’m not glad that it was so public or that it forced me to leave a job and friends I love. But I can’t even begin to tell you the relief I felt at finally having an out. Our college years weren’t so bad, other than around rivalry week. But once he got into the league, he changed. He’s a good quarterback, and going in the first round proved it to him. He wasn’t a very good boyfriend after that, but any time he thought I might be getting ready to leave him, he found a way to reel me back in. I won’t bore you with specifics, but any time he did something wrong, he figured out how to fix it. He’d treat me the way I should’ve always been treated for a few days, and I’d give up on the notion of leaving him. He was all I knew, and to me, it just made sense to stay.”

Whether good or bad, Max had been the constant that her father never had. In her mind, having him for as long as she had represented that she was doing everything right in her relationship.

“When he cheated on me, I finally had a valid reason to leave him. And I know that, to some, I had plenty of valid reasons before then, and I get that. But to me, at that time in my life, it wasn’t so easy. So yeah, I’m glad he cheated on me. All I was in Richmond was a numbers girl. The professional woman who worked hard, whose accomplishments had to remain quiet because Max couldn’t handle being overshadowed. But here, I’m more than that. I have Jenna and Leigh. And you. And the team. And I can be whoever I want to be.”

It felt good to get that off her chest. She hadn’t told anybody, had hardly admitted it to herself, but she knew it down to the depths of her being that it was true. It was why she hadn’t been able to voice her frustrations that first day to Isa when the news had broken and she’d been in a state of shock. She hadn’t realized then that, in addition to feeling angry, she was relieved.

Colton had stilled as she spoke, his eyes on her, eyebrows drawn. In a pained voice, he whispered, “Of course you’re more than numbers, Luc. You are the most intelligent person I have ever met, and that’s in everything, not just football and data. You—” A strangled noise left him, and she wondered if he’d been about to say something he shouldn’t. Something neither of them should have voiced.

Sensing that he needed comfort almost as much as she did, she stood and walked over to sit beside him on the bed. She kept her distance from him, but when he slid his hand across the bed toward her, she moved hers so that her pinky met his.

She hadn’t realized that he’d put on Pretty Woman until she heard Julia Roberts telling the saleswomen what a huge mistake they’d made by not helping her the day before. Lucia smiled, knowing Colton had put the movie on for her before she’d even come into the room.

His bed was twenty times more comfortable than hers, and she sank into it happily. Around the time Richard Gere threw a wad of cash on the bed, Lucia’s eyelids began to feel heavy, and her phone vibrated beside her. Colton was already glaring down at it, and before Lucia had decided whether to let it ring out or send it straight to voicemail, he’d picked it up.

“What are you doing?” she hissed at him.

“Lucia Moretti’s phone.” Colton’s voice had an angry edge to it, but she was thankful he held his temper at bay.

She heard an angry male voice on the other end, and she jumped over him to try to grab the phone that was firmly locked in his hand.

“May I ask who’s calling?” He paused. “Max?” Another pause. “Clark? Hmm, that doesn’t sound familiar. Maybe you have the wrong number?”

“Colton!” Her whole body was on top of his as she grappled with him for the phone. He wrapped his free arm tightly around her, anchoring her to him and holding her arms down in the process. His entire body was solid muscle, hard like stone, and she wiggled against him to try to pry the phone from his grasp once again.

His pupils dilated as she rubbed against him in just the right way, his brows drawing together. When she realized the reason, she rubbed her hand against his hardening cock, a smirk on her face.

“Give me the phone, big boy,” she whispered. The last thing she wanted was for Max to hear that little nickname. His arm slackened a bit, just enough for her to wiggle free and grab the phone.

“Hello,” she said coolly.

“Lucia, what the fuck was that? You’re screening my calls via that asshole? Are you blind?”

Colton’s jaw was clenched like he’d heard the words Max was yelling at her. She walked into the bathroom, ignoring the embarrassment heating her insides. Colton was probably judging her for not having Max blocked, much less speaking to him. Especially after what she’d just admitted to him.

“I don’t have him screening my calls, he’s just being silly.”

“He’s being an asshole, is what he’s doing.”

“Can you blame him?” Her words were so sharp that she surprised even herself. She’d rarely stood up for herself in her relationship with Max, but she was tired of this game he was playing. She’d finally managed to escape him, and he just wouldn’t leave her alone.

“The fuck does that mean?”

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