Page 17 of One Last Time

“No, we can get a hotel,” Dahlia protests, just as I knew she would.

“No, you’re staying here with us, and that’s final,” Bianca says loudly, having overheard Dahlia’s protests.

“If you girls are sure…”

I cut her off, “We are, I wouldn’t have suggested it if we weren’t.”

She sighs, “Thank you. We’ll be there. Expect a call this evening from a very excited Mary.”

I laugh, I can’t wait. “I will. I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Bye, baby. Love you,” she sings. She has so much happiness in her voice.

“Love you too.” I end the call and focus on Bianca.

She holds up her hand, “I don’t want to hear it.”

I smirk, “Uh-huh. Tell me, who is he?” There’s a reason she’s so happy, my beautiful girl found a man.

She grins, “He’s gorgeous, his name is Tate Hemmington. I don’t really know what he does, he just said he works in Seattle.” She’s giddy as hell, and I love that she’s like this. It’s been a while since she’s shown any interest in a male.

“Tell me more, how did you meet?” Her giddiness is rubbing off on me.

“We met at the gym, he bought me coffee afterward, and we spent over two hours talking.” She smiles. “He called me beautiful.”

Damn, he sounds like a keeper.

“When are you going out?” I ask, needing to know so I can buy her a kickass outfit.

She bites her lip, and dread fills my stomach, “He said he’d call.”

I shake my head. If he doesn't call, then he’s an asshole. “His loss if he doesn’t.”

For as long as I’ve known Bianca, she’s been filled with self-doubt. Unlike most of the other models in the industry, she has bigger hips and bigger breasts. Her body is amazing, and I wish I had her curves. She has the perfect pear-shaped body, and yet she’s riddled with insecurities, and it doesn’t help when guys in the industries won’t date her because she’s ‘bigger’ than what they’re used to.

Well fuck them, Bianca can do so much better than their sorry asses. I tell her time and time again, that one day she’s going to find a man that treats her like the beautiful Goddess she truly is. She’s going to be happy, and I’ll be right here, by her side when she does. Until then, I’ll be here to give her a daily pep talk, letting her know just how truly gorgeous she really is.

“Pizza for dinner?” I ask with a smile, and the tension ebbs away from her. We really shouldn’t be eating pizza this close to a runway campaign, but desperate times call for desperate measures. Bianca and I will be spending hours in the gym during the upcoming days spending to work it off, but it’ll be worth it.

CHAPTER 10

Silas

“Silas…” I turn to look at Caston as he moves toward me with a grin on his face. “Fuck, man, can you believe that we’re starting the next game?”

I can hardly believe that I’m actually here. I’ve worked my ass off, wanting to be the very best there is, and this weekend I finally get to start a game for Seattle Silverbacks. Finally, my fucking dreams have come true. Not only am I here and have managed to make the cut, Caston and Tate have too.

“I know, I swear I almost fucking threw up when coach told us.” I’m not afraid to admit I was close to tears at his announcement. Imagine everything you’ve worked hard for, all the blood, sweat, and tears that you’ve put in finally pays off. I’m surprised that I wasn’t balling like a baby.

He slaps me on my back, “Tell me about it.”

We walk out of the building and toward my car, Caston’s is in the garage, and he’s been complaining about it nonstop. “Where’s Tate?” I haven’t seen him today.

Cas sighs, “I’ve no idea, but this shit isn’t going to go down well. You can’t miss training.”

I’ve no idea what’s going on with him lately, he’s gotten worse. When he and Kayley broke up, he’d have a few women a week, now he has a few women a day.

“Holy fuck!” Cas gasps, and I glance at him, but he’s staring at something outside of the training ground. I peer around and see that a lot of the other team members are looking at the same thing.

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