Page 29 of Off Pitch

Her mouth falls open. “You think you’re slick, don’t you, Knox?”

“I know I am.” She shakes her head as I wink at her. “Don’t look at any more comments, okay?”

“Promise. Never doing that again.”

“Good. Have a good night, Freckles.”

“Have fun at practice tomorrow, Slick.”

I laugh as I make my way to the door and walk out with an actual smile on my face.

“Why the fuck are you two in my bed?” I ask Lane and Josh as I walk back into my room.

“Cole doesn’t want to cuddle, and Josh and I want to see how Harlow is doing.”

“How is she?” Cole asks as he sits up on his own bed. “There’s some really awful shit out there right now.”

“She’s doing better now,” I say as I sit on the edge of my bed. “She was pretty rough when I first got there, but then she ordered some onion rings, and we just talked. It seemed to help keep her mind off of what people are saying.”

“I would’ve come with you if you didn’t take off like a bat outta hell, but thanks for cheering her up, man. My sister’s an emotional person—I should’ve known something like this could happen.”

“It’s the least I could do, honestly. She’s going through this shit because of me. Helping her feel better is at the bottom of the barrel regarding what I could do. But I’m glad it seemed to work.”

“I think she’ll be okay,” Lane chimes in. “She’s emotional, yes, but she’s tough. She’ll find a way to adjust to all this attention.”

“She’s come a long way after her fucking ex,” Cole adds. “I think she’s in the right headspace now to handle it. It’ll just be hard at first while she’s getting used to it.”

“She has a shitty ex?” I ask.

Cole takes a deep breath. “Yeah, but it’s not my story to tell. I’m sure Harlow will open up about that in the future. She’s spent a lot of the past year healing and getting back to the person she was.”

“Damn,” is all I can say. The Harlow I know now is outgoing, happy, and fucking confident. It’s hard to believe there was atime when she may not have been that way. I wonder what that asshole did. And I wonder if he’s the reason she hides those pretty freckles…

“So, what did you talk about?” Josh asks, cocking an eyebrow. “Anything fun?”

“Dude,” Cole says, throwing a pillow that smacks Josh across the face. “Shut the fuck up, will you?”

“We didn’t talk about anything like that, asshole. We just hung out and spent more time getting to know each other.” Since Josh doesn’t know this isn’t real, I add, “I need to know more about her if this is going to last.”

“So, what did you talk about then?” Lane asks.

“We shared some embarrassing stories.”

“Like?” Cole says, lifting his brow.

I sigh and tell them our stories. They weren’t nearly as interested in Harlow’s story as they were in mine, of course. In fact, the volume of the laughter in the room right now can probably be heard in the entire damn hotel. Cole, Lane, and Josh are dabbing tears from their eyes and trying to catch their breath.

“Fucking naked outside in the bushes. That’s fucking gold, man,” Cole says.

“It was fucking mortifying, prick,” I reply, using the pillow Cole tossed at Josh to throw right back at him. “I didn’t know she had a boyfriend.”

“Okay, okay,” Lane says, trying to compose himself. “Let’s not rag on Spence here. We can just enjoy the fact that he has now admitted he’s sharing things with Harlow. A big step from the man who doesn’t even talk to his friends.”

“I hate you all,” I say, shaking my head. “We’re getting to know each other. She’s my... girlfriend. I’m supposed to be sharing things with her.”

I know that’s the main reason I shared that with her today, but I can’t say it’s the only reason. I wanted to cheer her up, and if telling her an embarrassing story about myself did that, that was fine with me. I like her smile—I needed to put it back on her face.

It’s kind of scary how easy it is to talk to Harlow. I don’t know her well, but I can already find myself wanting to share things with her. She has such an inviting personality. And that personality seems to have already roped in the man they call Fort Knox.

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