Page 28 of Bad & Bossy

“Calm down. She’s not as bad as you remember,” Vee pushed.

Not as bad as I remember. “You must have wiped your fucking memory then!”

A choked little sob pierced through the air and within a second, my coffee and bagel were no longer important. I went to Drew before I’d even realized I was moving, scooped him up out of his bouncer, and tucked him against my chest as he started to cry.

“You’ll have to forgive her one day,” Vee grumbled, sipping at her tea as if nothing at all had just happened. I wanted to tell her to go to hell. Wanted to tell her to grab our mother and drag her down with her on her way.

But more than that, I wanted Drew to calm down.

Chapter 9

Cole

Icouldn’t stop thinking about how cold the bed had been when I woke up yesterday morning. Despite the screaming crowd around me and the shouts from the cheerleaders down below, it was barely enough to hold my attention. Instead my mind crept toward the memories of Dana—how soft she felt beneath my fingertips, how warm and fucking heavenly her pussy felt, how easily I’d slept with the heat of her pressed against me.

Until last night, I hadn’t had a good night’s sleep in almost six months. And even so I still barely slept at all. But the little I did sleep was restful, with her body next to mine.

Grayson had convinced me that a day out watching the Colorado Buffaloes play their second home game of the early season would help me feel more alive and less like a shell of myself. I’d done everything in my power to conceal that feeling, so his ability to pick up on it had shaken me more than I expected it to.

He didn’t really give me the chance to say no.

And although it certainly gave me a much noisier environment to stew in my thoughts, it didn’t quiet them. Why did she leave? Why not wake me? No note? No text? Nothing.

“You’ve got to stop this, man,” Bobby grunted, one hand on my shoulder and one clutching a hotdog as he came around the side of me. The amount of ketchup on it made my stomach churn. “I can see it in your eyes. It’s the same look you got during group sessions.”

I raised an eyebrow at him. His long black hair swayed in its ponytail as he cast his gaze at me, shaking his head.

“Overthinking. Retreating.”

“Ah,” I sighed, resisting the urge to roll my eyes as a glob of ketchup fell onto his jersey. He didn’t even notice. “I’m fine. Don’t worry about me.”

“Look, it’s like Angie would say every time as we packed up after counseling. One step at a time.”

Buzz words. That’s what they were. Thrown around, pounded into us day after day. “Angie was a nightmare,” I deadpanned.

With a mouth full of hotdog, he laughed, spewing bits of the red condiment against the glass of the private viewing box. “Yeah, I fucking hated her. But some of the stuff she said was true.”

“She always gave me shit for coming in late even though she knew I had therapy just before her session,” I said, leaning back in the far too rigid seat for how much the private box cost. I should have brought cushions. “I swear, she hated us.”

“Sometimes I think she would have rather us relapse than be there in her group therapy,” Bobby chuckled.

The crowd erupted into cheers, and as I turned my attention back to the game, I noticed someone had scored. From the look of the jersey, I assumed it was the Buffaloes, but I wasn’t really a football guy. I could have sworn our goal post was on the other end.

The band played some kind of rallying song as the color guard spun their batons and flags. The cheer team shook their pom-poms and moved into formation. “What’s happening?” I asked.

“UC won.”

I turned in my chair toward the sound of the unknown voice. For a moment, the smallest of split seconds, my brain convinced me it was her. But the blonde hair and the toddler at her feet were anything but Dana.

Gray’s ex-wife, Halsey, stood with their three-year-old, Penelope, at the back of the box. I hadn’t even heard them come in.

“Say hi, Penny,” she said, patting the little girl on the back as she clung to her stuffed rabbit. She was wearing an oversized Buffaloes jersey and she looked just like her mother, more so than the last time I’d seen her.

“Hi,” I offered. Giving her the friendliest smile I could muster, I did a little wave. She only tucked herself in closer to her mother. “It’s nice to see you, Hals. Sorry I didn’t realize you were here sooner, I would have said hello.”

Halsey rolled her eyes as she leaned back against the wall. “It’s fine. I didn’t expect anything from you.”

The door cracked open and in walked Grayson, the volume of the cheers louder from the lack of a sound barrier. Penny’s hands covered her ears instinctively, her little stuffed rabbit falling to the floor, and Halsey took advantage of the moment to take a stab at Grayson without her hearing. “Surprised you’re not on your way to fuck a cheerleader after that win.”

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