Page 48 of King of Players

Shooting up off her chair, she angrily grabbed her purse. “I’m done.”

“By all means.” I stood up, defiantly staring with a lift of my eyebrows. “Need a ride?”

“I’m fully capable of calling one myself, thank you very much.”

“Have a good night, then!”

“Yeah.” She gave me a dirty look, one of those that belittled a man by starting at his shoes and ending with his hair. “You bet I will.”

And that was that.

Flashbacks of Kaira’s femininity mixed gracefully with strength and independence came crashing painfully into my mind, causing a whirlwind inside my skull that could have physically hurt if I dwelled on them for too long.

Instead, I headed to a party I had planned on ignoring for the sake of this ridiculous idea of a date. It was at a loud club with flashing lights, banging music beats, and fleeting faces. The feverish dancing and flowing rivers of alcohol made everything better, if only for the night. And what else did I need? I was happy to power through it, one night at a time, as long as I didn’t have to impose on Kaira or put myself in an embarrassing situation.

May she be happy with Oscar, whoever he was.

I had left the next day wide open, since I was planning—hoping—to be with Katja until the break of dawn. It was a lucky twist, however, since I woke up hungover and slightly annoyed. After a long therapeutic swim in my heated pool, I still felt like my stomach couldn’t handle anything more than a couple of slices of plain toast and a glass of fresh tomato juice. After that, I tried to burn some of my irritation away in the gym with no luck. Following a good sweat—the best that could have come out of it—I took a shower and then…

Then, nothing.

I didn’t feel like doing anything at all. Low on energy and the desire to engage in life, I went into my bedroom, put my phone on airplane mode, shut the curtains, and went to sleep.

When I opened my eyes and checked the time, it was almost nine o’clock at night. I had a few missed calls that I had no intention of returning right now, and my texts were exploding. Dakota, Sam from the office, my cousin Mike, and some others. The group chat with Abel, Nathan, and Dean caught my attention, since Abel was free and inviting us over for drinks. Dean said he was out of town, while Nathan was available. They were meeting at ten.

Sluggishly pushing off the covers, I contemplated whether or not I was good company at all at the moment. I had received the script for a new film that I was supposed to start reading, a task I had been putting off for the last three days.

But was I really in the mood for reading right now?

Not even remotely.

Hardly pulling up my own weight, I headed for the shower in hopes to actually wake up and be able to think. Drinks with the guys sounded like the best option right now, since I didn’t have the headspace for an impromptu date, nor a party. The comfortable thing about those men was that I could just sit there and get wasted without having to make any sense all the time. That brand of easy acceptance was exactly what I needed.

Stepping out, I grabbed the phone and responded on the thread. I’m in.

***

At Abel’s, he and Nathan were discussing business while I enjoyed my Virgin Mary in silence. It took them about forty-five minutes to realize that I hadn’t said anything.

“Chad?” Nathan turned to me. “You alright there?”

“Yeah.” I put down the empty glass, standing up and heading over to make another one. Since we were by the pool, the relative darkness was a comforting solace. “Long night last night.”

Abel snorted. “That much we could tell by the Virgin Mary.”

“Oh,” I drew it out as I shook my head, my hand hovering away from the flask of tomato juice and reaching for the whiskey. “That’s about to change, my friend.”

“Take it easy, will you?” he followed.

“This is me taking it easy.” I chuckled as I poured myself a generous serving. “Believe me.”

“What’s wrong? Lady trouble?” Nathan joked.

I shot him a dirty look, laden with mockery. “Like that’s a thing with me.”

Strutting back toward my chaise lounge, I saw them exchange a bemused look. Nathan shrugged, while Abel gave me a sideways gaze that held a meaning of knowing. He didn’t know anything, he only thought he did.

As they returned to their topic of work, I looked at my phone and grabbed it, checking for anything interesting. There was nothing from Kaira, not even about the foundation. Why was I still hung up on that?

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