Page 10 of The Pump Fake

I bristle a little at her comment. I don’t respond at first, finishing up with my shoes. The longer I stay silent, the more tense the locker room becomes, waiting to see what I’m going to do. Once again, Cliff’s words run through my mind, but before I can open my mouth to reply, Jessica beats me to it. “Shut up, Diana. It’s none of our business.”

I can’t help but smirk at her words. Jessica is new this season, having transferred from New York. I haven’t had many opportunities to talk with her before this.

Standing up from the bench, I look at all of my teammates that have surrounded us. “Let me clear some things up: Jessica is right, it’s none of your business, but yes, I’m dating Cliff. He used to be my manager, but now it’s someone else at the agency.”

Before anyone else can open their mouths, Coach comes in and yells, “Let’s go, ladies. Time to stop gossiping and get to practicing.”

Thankfully, everyone disperses and heads out onto the court. Once my feet hit the wooden boards, everything within me settles. This is where I belong. I grab a ball off the rack, and begin a quick warm up.

7

Cliff

Today has been one hell of a day. I start pouring myself a drink but am interrupted when a knock on the door pulls my attention. Looking down at my watch, I see that it’s six o’clock at night, which means that it’s probably Jade.

Setting my glass down, I make my way over to the door. Opening it, my breath is knocked out of me when I see her standing in the doorway. She pushes me to the side and forces her way inside. I know I need to say something, but every ounce of brain power I have fizzled out when I saw her in a short skirt that skims her beautiful thighs on legs that go for miles. Her tank top is nothing special, just a plain black one, but all I can see is how it hugs her tits perfectly, calling to me.

“Cliff!” I hear her say, shaking me out of my stupor. My eyes go up to hers and they’re filled with so much emotion. Shit, I feel like crap. I’m over here checking her out like the ogre that I am and she obviously has something going on in her head.

“What’s wrong, Elsa?” I ask, using the nickname I’ve given her recently, hoping it will break her out of whatever thoughts she has going on.

She places her hands on her hips and purses her lips. “Don’t call me Elsa,” she snaps.

I take a step toward her, pushing a strand of her hair that has fallen out of her ponytail back behind her ear. “Why not? You’re my ice queen, right?”

Her face softens at my words, but she doesn’t let me deter her from what had her reeling when she first came in. “Cliff, I don’t want to call Mya and Taylor.”

I take a step back from her, giving us some distance before I do something stupid and move back toward the bar cart. “Do you want a drink?” I ask her.

“Yes, please. I think I might need to be drunk to get through this,” she says with a small chuckle.

“Jade. It’s going to be fine. But maybe we should order dinner. That way we have a reason to not be on the phone for too long.”

“Is it? Are you sure? Because I see this going a different way.”

“Yes. Taylor’s going to be pissed, but Mya will keep him calm. She’s going to remind us why it’s a problem and we just need to make sure that we stay firm,” I tell her as I pour each of us some whiskey. “I’ll be with you every step of the way.” I hand her the glass.

“If you say so,” she says as she sips on her whiskey.Okay, it can’t be that bad if she’s not downing her drink.

“But seriously, let’s order first,” I tell her. With my hand on her back, I guide her over to the couch. My stomach grumbles, breaking the tension slightly. Jade let’s out a cute little giggle,but I don’t let it distract us. I’m fucking hungry. I barely had time to go to the restroom today, let alone eat something.

I plop down on the couch, tapping the seat next to me. She does as I say and then pulls out her phone. “What do you want for dinner?”

“Whatever you want,” I tell her.

“Okay, how about Indian?” she asks.

My stomach sours slightly at the suggestion. Indian doesn’t sit well with me. It’s so spicy and I always end up having heartburn.

“Sure,” I say, knowing that I’ll pick the blandest thing on the menu. It’s something I’ve had to deal with all my life.

“I’m going to order from Spice Haven. What do you want?”

“I’ll take chicken biryani rice,” I tell her while grabbing the remote off the coffee table. I pull up Netflix and start scrolling through the main menu, looking for something good.

“Dinner will be here in thirty minutes,” she says, placing her phone down on the table. Jade is like that. When she’s with you, she stays present. Never distracting herself by scrolling through her phone. At least, that’s how she is with me, and I love it.

“Should we go ahead and call Taylor? I already gave him a warning that we would be calling them,” I say to her. Placing my hand on her thigh, I get an idea. “We should probably get our story straight before we call, right?”

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