Page 272 of Vegas Heat

“Let’s get this boy fucked up!” AJ says.

I shake my head as I think about what he really means—his real motives here. He wants to go out drinking with the boys, and he wants to find someone to hook up with. Maybe he wants that for me, too, but that’s definitely not something I’m game for.

“I just want to focus on ball,” I say.

“Anyone else want to go get fucked up tonight?” he asks as he looks around the table, clearly not understanding my predicament.

Danny raises his hand, and AJ fist bumps him from across the table.

I’m glad they’re going out and having fun, but I’m not here for that shit. I’m too old at this point.

Instead, I’m going to study the teams we’ll be playing. It’s what I’m here to do anyway. I’m going to look over our practice plans and tweak what needs to be tweaked before emailing my notes off to Troy because fuck if I’m going to sit in a meeting with him right now to make these decisions and have these conversations.

And then I’m going to stare out at the view this house offers and wonder how the fuck it all went so terribly wrong.

CHAPTER 7: GABBY

My dad calls me on Sunday, but I don’t pick up. I’m not ready to talk to him yet.

I know I can’t hold grudges against him. Who knows how limited our time together might be given his recent heart attack, but I need a little space and time before I’m ready to chat.

He texts me instead, and I read them all but I don’t reply.

Thinking about you.

Are you okay?

Talk to me, Gabriella.

I haven’t heard from Joanie. She didn’t come home last night, but her stuff is all still here—including her car—so she’ll be back at some point, surely, unless she ended up traveling with the team as she was planning to.

I doubt it.

Last night I pretended I was drunk along with the rest of them, and I seriously deserve an Oscar for my performance. Or maybe they were all so drunk they didn’t realize I wasn’t and my acting isn’t really that good.

Justin went home with Brian, and I can’t really fault him for that. If Cooper was here and we were still together, I would’ve gone home with him, too.

I didn’t expect Justin to choose me over Brian, and I didn’t ask him to. Still, I wish he would have.

I wish I wasn’t alone.

I wish my chest didn’t ache as badly as it does.

I wish I knew what was going on with Cooper, and that’s when I decide to punish myself further by checking the team’s Instagram page.

There’s a post from an hour ago with several photos taken from the team bus as they ride in style down to Phoenix.

I flip through them until I find one of Cooper. He’s talking to Danny in it, a candid shot where they seem to be deep in conversation—so deep that they don’t even realize their photo has been taken.

I wonder what they’re talking about. I wonder if he told Danny he’s single now, and I wonder if the two of them will hit the bars in Scottsdale and take women back to their rental and have sex all night only to wake up in the morning and do it all over again.

It doesn’t sound like my Cooper at all, but my Cooper also wouldn’t have walked away from us the way he did yesterday.

I go through the motions to get through the day, and I can’t help but wonder whether I’m supposed to go into work tomorrow. Am I still taking over the marketing department for the next month as planned?

Do I even still have an internship?

Do I even stillwantone?

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