Page 30 of The Long Game

I quickly shut off the T.V. My heart is racing a mile per minute. I sit on the bed for a minute to steady myself.

My stomach hurts and I run for the bathroom. I think I’m going to be sick but nothing comes… except for the tears.

I did this. I pushed him away. Should I be surprised?

Someone from his P.R. team? I don’t know why that one hurts worse. It shouldn’t. But the idea of him dating someone older – someone more stable. She works for the team, and I bet she travels with them, too.

She would be the perfect girlfriend for Tucker. Close proximity, mature, her career already outlined. I bet she isn’t running away from him telling him to give her more time… years of more time.

He deserves to be happy. And I deserve to lose him.

I dry my tears, pull up my big girl panties, and board a plane for home.

But not before I send a text to Lilly to take her up on her offer to host me in her and her husband’s mansion in Hawaii this summer. I need a couple weeks in the office, and then I am jet-setting my sorry ass to drink my sorrows away with my best friend. I’ll give myself a two-week vacation (of which I’m sure I would still be working) and then I will be over Tucker Evans. I have to be.

Three weeks later…

Tucker

Luca Benson calling…

“Hey man. How’s it going?” I’m looking forward to catching up with Luca since I haven’t talked to him since before Lexi showed up the night of the Super Bowl.

He and his wife, Brielle, have been struggling to conceive. I didn’t want to take up any time he didn’t have to give.

“It’d be better if I could turn on the T.V. without seeing your face everywhere,” Luca jokes.

“Yeah, well being the best suits me,” I give back.

I’ve been getting a lot of extra press lately. Especially after winning the Super Bowl. Unwanted press, to be exact. But being in the public eye isn’t hurting my new contract negotiations. It seems the price is going up every time I talk with my Talent Manager, Paul Siezar.

“I guess so. Is that how you pick up hot P.R. chicks from your team?”

“What?”

“Mallory Stahl. You’d think the sports channel turned into a gossip column these days. They have to be camped outside your house at this point.”

Mallory? The franchises’ P.R. person? The press got one picture of us together. That’s not a relationship, it’s closer to a photo bomb.

“What about Mallory?”

“You're dating her aren’t you? Or wait, you don’t date. Sticking and moving with staff might not be the best move, Tuck. I thought you were bright,” he jabs again with a light chuckle.

“That shit isn’t anything. I’m ignoring it.”

I didn’t exactly want to broadcast the real reason I had been snapped with Mallory. She trusted me to be discrete about the situation.

“Hate to break it to you but no one else is.”

“We’re not dating.”

I can’t believe this is what Luca called about.

“Sure looks like it. What about the restaurant photos last weekend?”

Fine, this wasn’t going away and Luca was the last person I wanted to think I was still dating casually with women in the franchise. Frankly, I didn’t want him to think I was currently dating anyone. I was hoping my time to come clean about my feelings for Lexi would be coming soon.

I sigh. At least I know he’ll keep it to himself. “Her ex still works for the organization. He was harassing her. I just so happened to walk into it as I was headed to the bathroom to take a leak. She was crying, and he was yelling at her. I told her I would drop her off at her house. She had taken a cab, and I didn’t want her waiting out on the curb for that dick to harass her again…or try to take her home. That’s it.”

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