Page 71 of Vegas Heat

CHAPTER 6: COOPER

“Ready?” I ask Troy when I walk into the kitchen. He’s waiting at the table for me, tapping away on his phone, and I try to force enthusiasm into my voice that I just don’t feel.

This should be everything I dreamed of since the day I dislocated my elbow and thought I was out of the game forever, and instead of excitement, the shock has worn off and I’m just feeling that heavy weight on my chest, like it’s too difficult to draw in a deep breath.

It was short-lived, but it was fuckingeverything.

I really thought somehow we’d end up together. I really thought that despite all odds, somehow we were destined to be together.

With the snap of a finger, it all came to a skidding halt.

And then it gets infinitely worse. Infinitely heavier.

“Just a minute. My daughter will be joining us,” he says.

Oh.

Why?

I want to ask. I want it just to be Troy and me. I don’t want her clouding this moment for me, and instead of going to the stadium for the very first time, breathing in the air that always just somehow smells different, and feeling all the old familiar feelings that come with stepping onto the diamond, but this time for the very first time as it signals a new beginning…I’ll be feeling the grief that accompanies the end.

I’m not ready for it to be the end, but since we don’t have a choice, the least I can do is stay away from her.

But I don’t have a choice there, either.

I press my lips together and offer a nod, and then I slide into the chair across from him.

“Ready, Daddy?”

I hear her voice from around the corner before I see her.

Daddy. I remember one time when I jokingly told her to call me daddy…

I shake it out of my head.

She stops short when she sees me. “Oh, right, you mentioned Cooper’s coming along.”

AmIcoming along?

Am I coming along? Of fucking course I’m coming along.Sheis the onecoming alongon this excursion.

I’m not sure why my blood boils at her question, other than the fact that she shouldn’t be coming at all. This is a trip for a manager and his player, not for his sexy as fuck daughter.

Dammit.

I’m in real trouble here.

Nothing about what she just said should incite such anger within me, but it’s only because I have no idea how to deal with these feelings racing through me. These emotions are unfamiliar. It shouldn’t be so hard. We don’t even know each other.

Except she knows me better than anyone ever has in my entire life, and I suspect she could say the same about me…so these weak justifications are doing nothing to quiet the torrent inside me.

Up palm, down palm, time to get calm. Breathe real deep and take the leap.

“Right,” Troy says flippantly to her, completely unaware that the two of us have unfinished business. Unaware that we have any business at all between us, I suppose. “I’m taking Coop for a tour, so I figured this way I can kill two birds with one stone.” He glances over at me as he stands. “I offered Gabriella aninternship at the stadium for part of her senior coursework, so we’ll walk around and I’ll introduce you both to the staff.”

“Congratulations,” I mutter in Gabby’s general direction without looking at her.

“Thanks,” she mutters back.

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